Life Symphony

Today was indeed a better day

2012-02-14T18:37:00.002+08:00

Happy Valentines Day!

Hello! First of all wishing you a Happy Valentines Day! :D Nothing much, nothing lovey dovey happened today (duh) but of course I was having a great time with my bacteria samples woo la la~ Yup today was the 2nd day of my Med Micro practical test... Pretty scary I know but I felt so glad to have growth on all of my agars! And best is - single colonies! No different colonies growing. And my streaks are beautiful heh (sorry no photo).

Suspecting Psudomonas for my catheter sample. I really hope so. And E.coli for my suprapubic one. There were proteus swarming (I think) cause my agar looks fuzzy but maybe not either so yeah. Let's see tomorrow! I know I'm relatively scared of the results but bring it on. Today I trusted my gut feeling and I'm confident that I will arrive to my answer safely and smoothly :)

Just finished studying haematology just now. Well not really studying but more of reading the notes. At least now I don't feel so lost and urgh about leukemia and haemolytic anemia. Better understanding! And well yup they're quite manageable honestly speaking. If time permits and that my planning all goes well. I should be able to finish everything by tomorrow (Y).

Wouldn't say haemotology is easy. Wouldn't say it's hyper difficult either so yup. I can do this! :)

Well yesterday wasn't a good day for me. Somehow things were not going smooth, we all got so scared of our agars etc. But well at times also I always hope that the next day will be better, will get better. And it does become better! :) Today was definitely a better day than yesterday. So will tomorrow be a better day than today. Always look for the better things in life.

Tough times don't last so do not-so-tough times. Well there are times for everything right!

Well this exam is coming to an end soon, so will my year 2. I wanna end it beautifully. Like a day would end with a beautiful sunset. Yesterday's sunset made my day. I mean really made my day. After such a long and bad day seeing the sunset, the beautiful sunset, made me smile. I was telling myself well at least, at the end of the day, I have something to smile about.

I guess... Okay I know I've been telling things about this many times but.... No matter how bad your day was. Or in fact everyday, make sure you have something to smile to, to feel happy about, to feel great about. Because in every bad thing that happened, I'm sure we can find something good behind it no matter what! :)

Alright I'm heading home soon. It's been quite a long day but a great one as well. Crossing my finger to have fabulous result for tomorrow's last day of prac test! I hope I get the bacteria that I suspected heh :P

Sometimes friendship lasts longer than a relationship. And if that's the case, then we should just be friends shouldn't we? :)

Hell's gone, and coming

2012-02-12T23:52:00.001+08:00

This too shall pass

Things will get better

When you think and hope they'll get better

Well yeah. Somehow, I just realised that I've survived the 2 so-called hell week that I mentioned 2 weeks ago. How I ranted and fear that I might not pull through, how stressful I was and so on. But hey they're over now and but... We still have one more week of "hell". Yes, the TESTS and presentation and this and that. Pretty scary? Nope. If I've braced two weeks of hell. What can one week of hell do to me really?

But oh well yes I'm freaking about the tests. I'm sure everyone will.

But anyway this weekend was really productive I guess. It's the weekend I get so busy with stuff. But all for good things. Sacrifices made for better cause. So on Saturday I went to lunch with my sis in the afternoon and I headed to SP after that to study! Yes, SP on a Saturday to study (S cube). Anyway, I studied from 330 - 6.30 and then I went to watch Guang Yang Sec band concert to support Kayheng, Huiting, Edwin and Xingxia for their alumni band part. So yup!

The concert was alright I guess. Bits of intonation problems but nevertheless I enjoyed it pretty much. Cause they play the songs that I played in last 5 or 6 years ago! Yes can you believe it. I feel old at times -.- but well definitely good memories, and waves of awesome images played in my head last night. Pretty good feeling, after 3 hours of studying!

Co incidentally with the concert's title "Journey", I think my band journey has been really a good and long one. I've never regretted joining band and continuing band in poly, even though there are well some times when I told myself "I could have joined this and that". But joining band is my decision. So I won't regret it. Music has always been one of my passions. And well band is just a platform where I can share and enjoy this passion of mine, right? :)

And well in a sense, I may regret a choice. But I will never regret a decision.

Yup. And today was alright I guess. Normal Sunday. Spent the afternoon doing some work and now I'm just doing more research for tomorrow practical's test. Oh gosh why must she make our lives difficult by making it a closed book heh. But nevermind, challenge accepted~

Alas as I once told myself 2 weeks ago, this too shall pass. Well, this, too, shall pass. Tough times don't last. So do happy times. But so do they come back and go at times of our lives. It's just part and parcels of life. When things are tough, we'll hope that things will be better. And trust me, they will.

Life is never a smooth road. It may be a bumpy one, but have we forgotten the wonderful sights beside us? And the long great journey ahead of us.

I always tell myself when I run, that at the end of my run, the sun is waiting for me at the end of the track. And I'll walk home with the sun against my back. Under the blue sky, among the wind, with music blasting in my ear. And I'll tell myself, today is a beautiful day.

The end of a semester

2012-02-10T23:18:00.001+08:00

Great sunset of this last lecture day

So today... Sadly, happily, shockingly, was the last lecture of the semester! Next will it'll just be.. Exams. Or "tests" we called it. So well yup. Time flies huh! It feels like yesterday when Dr Tan asked us to gather at the exchange for our new system of learning briefing. Our ITP, our so many more things. And now we're all set for our ITPs and we just have to wait for the holiday to be over. And... Year 3 we go.

Today was alright I guess. I thought class started at 9! I woke up "in time" but well of course I was late. But apparently class started at 9 and it began with out Immuno surprise assignment. We gotta make a video! Sam and I got the concept already and this is so gonna be awesome (Y). Then it was Ms Kwek's lesson for Med micro, to wrap up everything we have done for this term.

Well alas it's been a journey this term. This semester. Awesome journey I suppose. Learnt the art of trading things off. How to get us immunised from presentations. Awesome yeah? Haha. Not in the right time to conclude the semester first. After all it's not over yet. It will though, VERY SOON.

So after class we lunched at usual and went to DSD first to take my journal. Yes finally got my journal haha. I didn't get my CLS FLP one :/ It must be somewhere in DSD but I doubt they still have it! It's one year ago heh. Journals are important to me. They're external memory cards I suppose. Whenever I need them I'll just read them.

And I studied with Candy till about 5. Actually... I didn't really study. And we ended up having "HTHT" (Heart-to-heart-talk) and well... It was really funny at times. But thank you for giving me some tips (Y). And we sssshhhh to one another ok!! :D

Ended the day by meeting Kayheng, Amanda, Mr Lawrence and 2 students from NP with Candy to discuss about YES! 2012. It's a forum about environmental problems that will be held. I feel sad for not being able to be present on the day itself as I'll be in Indo but I just went to chip in contributions and ideas to them :)

And yeah, that's all for the day! See you soon. Here's to a beautiful semester 2 of my year 2 :)

I just haven't met you yet

The skies beside

2012-02-09T18:57:00.001+08:00

Yesterday's sunset, pretty isn't it?

Hello! Currently at FC3's study area. I just finished studying! Okay not say studying but more of quizzing. Done with biostat quizzes, protein for biochem and yup! I wanna do my quizzes first cause I want to study with peace next week. It'll be a struggle, so clearing these things sure help a lot. Plus I still have many other things to settle. So yep. Less things to do sure is better.

Today was an great day I suppose. Even though I woke up late! Same thing happened. I fell asleep before I even set up my alarm etc. So what happened was I, as usual, was "taking a nap" FOR A WHILE. And my definition of a while changed to 6 hours. So yep. That's what happened. Nevertheless I made it in time for my group's debate.

The debate was pretty alright. Sorry for me getting pretty... Defensive when Joanne and Candy were speaking (I didn't know that we cannot rebut on the spot!) and alas I got banned :P Nevertheless I get to get my point across and somehow, both parties managed to get into sort of the same conclusion of the opposites. So I agree with Joanne and Joanne agrees with us. Something like that. Good I suppose?

I guess I am never good with debates. Why? Here are the reason:
- I tend to get "emotional
- I tend to be a bit hot tempered
- I tend to be stubborn
- It sucks when you get a topic you're against with, and you have to prove!

But nevertheless I think today's debate was a good one :) But urgh I hate debates.

So well after that we ended pretty early so we headed to laboratory with Ms Kwek for our last med micro practical which was on fungi! Very interesting hehe, first time seeing fungi being cultured on agar plates. They look disgustingly cute (Y). Some look like moss to me, some like cotton candy, some like shitake but I'm sure you don't want to eat them. And this was our last practical of the semester! (Before the test)

And since then after lunch, I stayed back in school to clear PBL, all the quizzes and so on. Pretty fulfilling day yes? It is indeed very fulfilling

The sky beside me looks very pretty now. Well it may not be a sort of like scenic piece of view. In fact it's kind of cloudy, just patch of yellowish golden clouds hovering over a row of block further in Clementi area there. Sometimes I truly enjoy looking at these scenes after such a long day. And if it's like fulfilling it'll even be better! Like well a mini present the sky gave me for my hardwork? :)

I guess we tend to miss out on the beautiful things in life when they're all out there. Sometimes the simple sunset sky, the floating clouds, the evening breeze. We tend to forget their existence. Or sometimes we do, but we forget to appreciate them. It's kind of a pity that we're missing them out. We all seek and search to different places to enjoy life's enjoyable things when well, they're there in front of us.

If we take love and pleasure in enjoying these "small" and seemingly insignificant things in life, life would be so much better. Because we will learn to be grateful and thankful of it. Honestly speaking, people, like me, would really love to go to different places around the world to enjoy beautiful sunsets. Places like Bali, Fiji, Maldives etc. But well, if I can enjoy the sunsets wherever I am everyday, I find it alright don't you think so?

But sure yes, hell yes, I would really love to go to those places :P Take home message is just - take the time to enjoy the beautiful things that surround you. They are there, we just don't realise them.

And what's with the seemingly weird post? Hahaha

Anyway I'll be heading home now. It's not early anymore. Gonna cook so yup! See ya all!

Those are some of the reasons why I don't want to be a doctor. And why a career is the scientific field questions me.

Sing it out, jam it out

2012-02-07T22:27:00.000+08:00

And time will fly

This too shall pass

Anyway today was another awesome day! Minus the fact that I woke up late for Biostat omg. It's like I slept at about 2 last night (considered early for me) and I overslept for one hour! Can you believe it :O Anyway I woke up at 9 and rushed to Biostat, was late for about 30 minutes I think. As I came she was finishing her lesson (N) but thankfully I could still ask her about our PBL so yeah.

Next we had our Med Micro poster presentation. Which is really awesome! I like our presentations, very... Fun and at the same time enjoyable. It's not like too formal, and it's pretty interactive. And I love Kai's design of our poster (Y). So colourful, simple yet sophisticated. Love it! Salute to her for doing it in such a really short time heh. Nevertheless a good job done to all of us :)

So we planned our jamming session like last week..? So we went jamming! Sadly when we reached Moberly the place was booked so we actually booked K1 to sing K first! Then we jammed from 4 - 5. OMG I love it! Damn singing is so therapeutic and just awesome. Kai's loving the drum now and I was singing "How Far We've Come" with Vithya on guitar. So lovely heh. Even though my voice is not as good but singing is just so good! The song may not be relaxing but I truly enjoy every second of it :D

As much of a science student I (or we) can be, music is one of the ways to de-stress ourselves really. In a way it's such a joyful thing to be able to enjoy music. It takes your mind off. Once we stopped playing, reality strikes us again. Without fail.

So well after jamming went to finish up our KK wall. I thought the "gaps" were filled already but we have another problem with the wall-gap below the velcro wall. So I went to fix them by replacing some of the photos. Oh gosh making the wall is like solving a puzzle! Thankfully the puzzle doesn't have boundaries, because we have... PEN KNIFE teehee. So cut here and there, we're good to go :)

Hopefully the visitors will love our wall tomorrow! (Y)

Oh well, time is running out. Both for the better and for the worst (I hope not). Worst because... TESTS are coming next week! Super scary but bring it on. And better because finally, all these "hells" are coming to an end. As I said, end of semester - when everything starts to falter and everything will get better. Alright (Y) Just can't wait for that day where I can take a breather. Phewwwww

And as the lyric of the song we jammed today goes...

Lets see how far we've come!

Today was beautiful

2012-02-06T22:29:00.001+08:00

Monday Morning at T11A

Today is a beautiful day!

Cheesy title? Nope! I guess today was really beautiful haha. Firstly... I wasn't late! Believe it or not, for an 8 o' clock class! :D Even though well honestly speaking I was sleeping at 4 last night, I couldn't fall asleep that well I don't feel that 3 hours of sleep was really a "sleep". When the alarm rang at 7, I just woke up feeling energetic. Not it's taking the toll though, feeling really tired and sleepy.

The day started with Biochem prac. It was really smooth sailing until something happened which caused me, Vithya and Candy to freak out! So funny but at the same time panicky haha. Practicals are always made awesome by my friends (Y). Mdm Mah was looking for volunteers for blood donation to ask some high glucose diet (AKA pineapple tarts). And I directly told her "I don't like pineapple tarts!" Haha and she was laughing. But I was full so didn't have them either.

We had Ya Kun for "brunch" I guess but it wasn't filling for me. So ended up eating Rebekah's fish dish cause she couldn't finish it. Biochem lecture was alright, Mr Woo was so funny during lecture! He kept on making funny gestures and jokes heh. And finally it ended with Biochem practical where we had a test! Vithya was my partner and she's so awesome (Y). Thankfully everything went well, even though we re-do the 2nd part. But both results were positive eventually so it's awesome :)

Then Candy and I rushed down to DSD to start with our KK wall. Firman, Alvin, Warda, Candy and I were doing the wall and it looked pretty awesome! It's 98% done though cause I need to fill the empty gaps so yep. Making the wall was really great. Get to talk with them once again, and it just brought me so many memories. Plus, it was really great looking at the photos. Realising the journey we have all went thus far. And still going.

Here is a preview! :D

Thank you to Firman, Alvin, Warda and Candy for helping out! And to Afiq, Hadi for helping me take the photo on Friday as well. Without all of you guys the wall wouldn't be there :)

Well it was kind of weird. When I woke up this morning, I just had this good feeling about today. I woke up just simple telling myself "Today will be beautiful!" somehow, somewhat. The sky outside wasn't that fantastic either, that's why I come up the that conclusion. I don't know. It's just myself, telling myself that today will be a great day.

The thing is, we can live our lives, telling ourselves everyday that today will be a good day. We can also live our lives thinking not everyday is a good day. But as I once said, how good your day is truly depends on yourself. You make how beautiful your day is, not your day make how beautiful your day was. It's pretty hard to convince yourself that today will be a good day. I guess it's in our human nature to somehow believe that in one way or another, things will screw up.

But it's also in us - faith and hope, that we believe things will change for the better.

We can make things screw up. I don't see the reason why we can't make things better :)

This too shall pass.

Sweet Lullaby

2012-02-04T23:58:00.000+08:00

"A quiet Friday afternoon in Clementi"

Solitary joy, simple indulgence

Don't mind the title, it's a new awesome song I found by Deep Forest! It's quite an old song, published in the 90s. Stumbled upon it while watching a video. I was reading more info about the song. Apparently it's a lullaby from the Solomon Islands. Oh gosh I don't even know where the Solomon Islands is but well now I know. I thought it's somewhere near Africa but I was totally wrong - it's behind Papua New Guinea!

Anyway the translation of the lyric goes like:

Young brother, young brother, be quiet You are crying, but our father has left us He has gone to the place of the dead To protect the living, to protect the orphan child

Such a sad song right? How can it be a sweet lullaby. But nevertheless, I think it's one great song. Very soothing, the melody of the lullaby reminds me of... I don't know. A scene of a grassland under a blue sky with an orange hue. Something like that. And I am sitting down and feeling really mellow. Then the wind blows and I am pondering about life. A few deers jumping in the distance.

It's quite amazing how music can create all these imageries in my mind. In a sense it's pretty true that each music creates a mood for all of us. Creates and evokes a feeling about something. Like for example Sigur Ros' Inni Mer Singur Vitleysingur reminds me of some kind of run. A marathon, or just running in the field for fun. Amazing isn't it?

Today was an ordinary Saturday I guess. I had a great like 9 hours of sleep (Y). I slept at 4 last night, doing stuff first, I decided to do my work till the late hours and sleep as much as I want on Saturday. So I did. And I woke up at 1 PM! How shiok isn't it? 9 hours of sleep, when I only had like 3-4 hours of sleep on the weekdays. I don't know why but yeah, I get insomnia since I came back from CNY.

Some is due to the fact of "sudden" assignments. Like thanks to my forgetful nature, I tend to forget that I have to do one thing for tomorrow and well have to stay up and do. Or some are just unforeseen circumstances that oh well, I don't know but yeah. Can't wait for holidays, I get to sleep as much as I want. Lovely. Tomorrow I'll wake up early to do work, promise again hehe.

I went to Orchard with my sis for lunch. We suddenly had cravings for steak and waffles -.- so we went to Marche to get them! Oh so yummy, I didn't have any of those though, rosti is like a must for me in Marche. And she also got herself salmon instead. The irony!! Haha but well we had waffles, while I had bread pudding. Yum yum.

Ordinary Saturday but I feel good. Must be the hectic week - doing these feel so enjoyable.

Hmm after exams, I'm thinking of going for a solo trip around Singapore. Just me, my camera, a notebook, a pen and yeah a great walk around Singapore. Thinking of just visiting the beaches as well. I think it'll be awesome. Planning in progress! One step closer to a solo trip overseas, perhaps after I graduate.

Alright off to do something. Something, which I promised to do last year. Yes. 2011

And not done yet!

Calm down

2012-02-02T23:32:00.000+08:00

Surely time can be your enemy

And hell yeah - it can be your best friend

You need, to, calm, down.

Thursday, is a Thursday I suppose. Quoted by Vithya, as much wrong things that happened today, a good laugh the 6 of us had at the end of the day, made our days. Well, true enough! Today was... Kind of a good day. A bit pissed throughout the day. Very rare that I rant about someone in my blog, but I guess I just have to. To let the steam out.

Anyway the morning started with Med Micro as we have no Haematology class. So it was practical and it was pretty good! This is our third prac and for the first time, I don't feel lost at all. Except... That I feel clueless about things at times. And I wasted an agar plate rawr! Ms Kwek is really critical about wastage. Which I truly agree with her. Wastage of agar plates = waste of time = waste of effort. Right?

I was having really really bad gastric this morning during the practical. Horrible. I couldn't even stand up cause when I stand up my stomach hurts. So I either bent down, squat, hunch myself forward. I guess it's the fact that I didn't take breakfast so I had empty stomach for like... 10 plus hours? Sweet. But it was all good, I gobbled down BK for lunch and it felt so good!

As the rest of the day, it just went by like that. What a rainy Thursday though.

Okay ranting time!

Personally speaking, I HATE to be rushed. Constantly, every time, especially when I'm doing work. If I'm late, if we're out of time, if we're really really like gonna die if we don't finish then fine, you have the right to rush me till I cry. The thing is, firstly, we have LOTS of time. Okay not say lots but AMPLE time. Secondly, there's no TIME LIMIT. Thirdly, this is a GROUP work. If you're rushing because of your personal reason. Do you think the group is obliged to rush with you as well? Hell no.

I'm really sorry if I sound rude to you. Our practical starts at about 9 plus. We have till about 12 (standard right? 3 hours) to do it. We have steps to follow, instructions to flow, methods to carry out. There is no point wanting to finish everything if you don't even know what is the FIRST STEP. Don't fly before you can walk. Don't even run. Relax, follow the steps as a flow. Would you really rather float safely into your destination or would you rather be gushed down by the raging river? You will suffer halfway.

And if you think you don't, we do.

Next, FYI, we stayed back till 1230 to finish up everything. Okay we end earlier than the others but we're just there with the class. Okay fine, you need to leave early. But let me ask you this, do you prioritise school or do you prioritise work? Can't you at least change your plans a bit to fix it with your school time? So when it clashes, it means NO I can't do it. Then make it don't clash.

And today is not the only day that this happened. There are other days too.

Okay Clinical Chem class. Fine we have really limited time to do the presentation. But that doesn't give you the right to rush everything to the two of us. WE CAN DO IT, CALM DOWN STOP RUSHING ME!!!! If you don't know, I was freaking annoyed when you constantly ask me to do this and that. I'm freaking doing it. RELAX. You're doing your job, fine, you finish, fine. We're given 15 minutes and not like a freaking 5 minutes to complete it! Stop rushing me! And us.

OMG so sorry but yeah I think this is my first time ranting so much in my blog. Sorry if I'm being such a bitch complaining about you but I really can't take it anymore. If I have to go against your way, I would really love to do so. This is about team. There are 4 of us in the team and 4 of us work as A TEAM. If you want to lead the team fine, but leading doesn't mean everything has to go your way.

Okay you can find me heartless, I don't know the reason why you're so hardworking that you sacrifice your break time with work etc. But in class, you're not working. In class, you're a student. You're part of us. I'm not trying to say you have to follow OUR way of doing things. But mutual respect, think win-win. Think of scenarios that we will all benefit from right?

Vithya always tell me "You need to calm your tits down". I think the world needs to do that.

I'm just letting some steam out. Don't misunderstand me. But if I have to really go against the wave. I would do it. I would seriously do it.

Slowly but surely

2012-02-01T23:56:00.000+08:00

It's good that I have these two photos on my desk

When I'm stressed I'll tell myself

"If I can do that, I can do this"

Okay I'm cheating once more. It's currently 1:54 AM, 2nd of February, and... I know the date says 1st Feb but who cares. I just want to blog about today.

In the context of today.

Anyway... Today I didn't come to school cause I woke up late. This is what happened... Maybe it's my fault too. Last night while I was submitting my med micro assignment, I was shocked by the appearance of two more questions. So I rushed and do those two questions and well all in all I went to bed at 3 AM. And I fell asleep! How great. Yes I forgot to switch on my alarm. When I woke up it was 10 and I was already 2 hours late for Immunology. Alas, I got up quickly to prepare for med micro practical.

Theeeennnnn

I was informed that the practical has been pushed to 1030, after immunology as it ended early. It was just after I left my door. So I would really find it meaningless to go to school, cause when I reach school, my friends would have been about 3/4 on the way of finishing the practical since the first day of a med micro practical is streaking of agar plates. So I decided not to come to school.

Honestly speaking I was really pissed. Pissed with myself. For well, not waking up early. For forgetting to switch on the alarm. And for the fact that my day was ruined. My morning was ruined. What an awesome way to start my February? Yes.

In the evening I went to meet Neal and Jeslyn to catch up on dinner. Wished I can stay longer, but homework is bugging me to be finished. Really enjoyed the dinner, I get to relax and just talk nothing about work. How great. But well time just goes and I have to leave already. He's going to enlist in NS soon. Time flies huh. We graduated two years ago, entered our respective school, he graduated from JC, now he's enlisting.

And I'm entering year 3 for goodness sake!

Sigh tonight was really... Stressful. I just feel that everything is happening at the wrong timing. I feel that everything is crashing down simultaneously. Why :( With so much work on my back, exams in 2 weeks time (now 1.5!) and then work, and then worries, they're all such an awesome recipe for tears. I just feel like breaking down. It feels so stressful, tiring, hurting, sulky to have all these happening at the wrong timing.

But whatever the case, I believe things will get better. They definitely will.

Well... Okay I know I think I've told you this before but I'm really someone who can't handle stress well. If I'm really reaching that maximum capacity, I would either - cry or stop whatever I'm doing, watch a TV, play piano or whatever thing even though work is piling on me. And I tend to panic, thinking of all the bizarre scenario that might happen. Paranoia. It's pretty irritating and in some way frustrating. I need to calm my tits down (thanks Vithya). I just need to calm down, but it's so hard.

I wish this sem were like last sem. Last sem I have my Inner Mongolia to look forward to but this time round, I don't have any I suppose. Except for going back home for my holiday. I'm not sure how, but I definitely will and deserve a good rest. This semester has been hell of a ride. And I will make sure it ends with a bang! I'm even planning of lone trips to somewhere. Like maybe beach visits heh.

Well whatever the case, I know I'm not alone in this hell I'm going through. We all are, it's the end of the semester where things start to falter. But also it's the end of the semester when things will get better. Slowly, but surely.

OUYEAH!

Someday

2012-01-28T23:48:00.001+08:00

One Saturday Afternoon

I've been feeling pretty poetic these days. But having a busy mind is somehow making me forget the poems that I've written in my head. Sometimes it's there, all I need is paper and pen to write them down. When I'm about to write them, I forget. I guess the human mind works like that. Good ideas come in a blink, and go in a blink. So... Do take them when you think about them.

As a Saturday as it is, well... I've always made Saturday an off day. No studying, nothing. Just a day for me to enjoy myself. I went out today with my sis and a friend. Wait, not a friend. In fact it's our first time meeting! It's my brother's friend I suppose :P But yeah, it's quite a nice day. A platform for me to break out of my cancer shell. Cause I'm one introvert person.

Saturday would well I guess be a favourite day of the week, after Friday. It's quite funny to think back how I love Saturdays when I was young. When I was still in Indo, Saturday was the official last day of school (and not Friday). In primary school, Saturday was just enjoyable. Secondary school (before Os) was really good too, after a long weel. When it comes to Os and beyond, I can't escape from "work" even on Saturdays.

But well, I guess what Mr Kwok said was right. Nowadays there isn't a single moment where we can truly "take a break". Sure we think we do, but surely as well, we don't. We can be resting, on Facebook, writing, singing and eating, whatever. But we know at the back of our mind, that work is waiting for us. That we need to do something. That we think of the things we need to do next.

Except for travelling. For me, travelling is a great way to take my mind off somewhere. I guess being in a new place, we can't think of anything else but a sense of excitement, wonder, curiosity and joy. I guess all these distract us from the world, that well, helped us to forget life. As much as I love running and walking, cause they took my mind off somewhere, I can't escape the fact that well, I still have things to do after that.

I guess writing (or blogging) is another thing I enjoy. Took my mind off, but same thing happened. At times I feel writing as something therapeutic. It relaxes my mind cause well even though I'm thinking of what to write, words just pour out of my brain. Together with the feelings I have, the emotions I bear. Same with music as well. Whenever I play the piano or sing. Amazing no?

This is my 690th post. Reaching 700 soon. Really hope I can reach 1000 before I turn (say... 22?) Or if possible 21. I think I can, provided I can blog more often. Pretty sad how my blog posts are decreasing by the year. I guess as we grow older, we get busier. And this blog is right here, available for me to unwind and relax. Yet I sort of neglect it.

Ah well, that's human for you.

Alright~ Off to do something now. It's 1:32AM. And I ain't sleeping yet!

Part of us

2012-01-27T23:48:00.001+08:00

Like the skyscape we change constantly

But like the skyscape, we're always a beauty

In our own unique ways

Today was a great Friday I suppose! Well I guess, with only like 4 hours of sleep last night, I managed to pull through everything today without falling asleep! :D Today's pathology is pretty interesting, how we can find ADMSC (adipose derived mesenchyal stem cells) from fats! OMG please I would love to donate my fat cells to save lives hahaha. But pretty interesting :)

And the rest of the day just went by pretty quickly. I've compiled the list of things we have to finish and well of course it's one long list. Seemingly endless, but it will come to an end pretty pretty soon. So yeah, how awesome isn't it? :) The next three weeks will be hell, we step into hell and one day we will emerge into paradise! Woohoo! :D

Anyway I was supposed to come for my last Sports Elective Programme training. But I ended up didn't. Anyway.... I've sort of missed the requirement to get the CCA point and the certificate as I've missed more than 2 lessons (I have reasons to miss them, not cause I purposely missed them!). One was my allergy, the other was KK briefing, then KK training, SPSB MD 35 and today. So alright I missed one today.

Nevertheless, I don't sign up for this for CCA points and certificate. My initial plan was to train for my SCMS 10K, but that was before I joined KK. When I joined the team, there were training and more events and hence I couldn't join some of the training. But no worries, I've enjoyed the sessions thus far, even though the people were a bit quiet and clique-ish (thankfully I have Doreen and Yuewei!).

I doubt they'll see this but to the trainers who had trained me for this programme, thank you so much cause even though I missed lots of lessons, I learned a lot from the lessons which I came to! All the running technique, training tips etc. Thanks a lot :) And to Fadzli? Fazli? Who's co-incidentally a PE teacher in TSS now, and who knows me thanks to my name on the banner -,- thank you for the encouragements! :)

So I've decided to meet pow and Jo straight away, and some changes made, we headed to Clementi straight away! :) Met Kelvin! OMG it's been like one year since we last met! He change a lot, his shoulder more broader. But it's good to know that there's still that part of him that never change - his jokes! Talking to him, Federick and the rest just brings me back to the sec 4 days we always had :)

Anyway wishing him all the best for his NS life! He'll be entering really soon so all the best! :D

Yep I guess that's all for today. Shall wake up early tomorrow to do work. They're waiting for me -.- alright people see you all!

There's part of us, that never change.

Blessing in disguise

2012-01-26T23:23:00.000+08:00

Disappointments are part and parcels of life
that we ought to enjoy, we ought to savour

Might be a bitter hard to taste

But a sweet one to swallow

Hello! Today was an alright day I guess! Kind of an ordinary Thursday with Haematology and so on, but well not so great day for me cause I receive a disappointing and sad news. But no worries, I'm feeling fine now even though I was kind of emo the whole afternoon today. But oh well, it's life, Part and parcel of it we ought to enjoy and to learn :)

Anyway yes, today I received the news that I will no longer go to Stanford for my OITP. But instead I'm posted to SP's Biofactory! Of course I'm disappointed and sad, I mean I've been really rooting and looking forward to my OITP cause I know it will be one great experience. But hey I've always told myself to look on the brighter side of things, and to take this as a blessing in disguise. We never know.

Actually... I sort of expected or foresee that I won't be going for an OITP. First was the long wait, which I suspect why, cause the settling of visa and etc. And two... It's just my instinct. But anyway Dr Tan said he just got the confirmation so can't be helped either. That explains the long wait I suppose. But hey no worries really, be it in Stanford, be it in SP, I really don't mind.

I always believe that things happen for a reason. If they don't then they wouldn't have happened at all. So many things happened - which I learnt this. Well in life everything has its place and has its time. We all flow in this river of time, we reach a certain point of the journey where things happen and where things don't. So this time round, my OITP doesn't happen. And so yeah, that's life isn't it?

Okay honestly it'll be a lie to say I'm not sad. But at the same time, I'm not devastated of this outcome. I've been dreaming to go for an OITP since year one, seeing the many possibilities and opportunities I can come from my seniors. When I know we only have 3 placings for OITP, I was both excited and nervous and well hopeful that I can get in. I did get in, but eventually I don't.

Nevertheless on the bright side, I can look forward to the things I'll be having for going for a local ITP instead. I'll be seeing Vithya around, hence I've a friend here. Going to Stanford alone would be an awesome experience though heh. I'll save money, hence less burden for my parents (and myself). I'll be able to do things I would have missed, like Sundown 10K (Signed up! :D), HFH 2012, and so many more.

Truthfully, every ITP be it local or overseas, is one truly unique experience we all will get in our poly life. I guess the only edge we'll have for having an OITP is the extra experience and fun we can get. Travelling overseas, who wouldn't want to do that? Exploring new places, unforgettable experience surely it will be. But at the same time, you'll also have an unforgettable experience in local. Not everyone can get the same opportunity as you - to work locally while you are studying.

So yeah... I'm sad and disappointed, but most importantly I'm excited for my ITP! 6 months of no study but pure research and work. Sounds challenging but lets go, I'm accepting the challenge :)

Be it a blessing in disguise, remember that things do happen for a reason

Year of the dragon

2012-01-24T20:11:00.001+08:00

My awesome family

That made CNYs awesome

Hello! Once again I'm currently at Jakarta Airport's Starbucks, which I was last here 22 days ago! And yes today we came too early again. But oh well, it's VERY early! Believe it or not we reached here 4 hours before our flight. That's mega early right. Anyway we went to have lunch and just waste our time there talking and chatting. Then we decided to go into the check in desk. Now we're just waiting for time to fly again.

Oh yes! I forgot to wish you....

Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the dragon FTW

Hahaha, yep. May the sorrows of the year of the rabbit be drowned in this year of the water dragon, while keeping those great lessons learnt and awesome moments spent afloat and flowing! Very cheesy I know, but poetic too right (Y).

Anyway my CNY celebrations back in my hometown was really awesome with my cousins around. Except the fact that on the first day it was really quiet. Cause some of my cousins left in the morning, leaving only a few others in the afternoon (as they left today). And in the afternoon it was just spent with some guests arriving and a few of my relatives for house visits. Was kinda busy serving cakes and more heh.

And some of my relatives came with their children whom I've never met before (Y). They're really cute cause they're so young haha. You know what, CNY always makes me feel old. One because I feel that we have all grown up. Just being surrounded with my grown-up cousins already tells me how fast time has flown. And two, because yesterday I found out I'm now officially an uncle! :D My nephew is really cute. Even though he's shy, he doesn't mind me playing and carrying him haha (he's only 2 btw). And he was sitting on my lap. Even though he's pretty shy.

I'll be a great uncle oh yeah! (Y)

And then in the evening we went to my grandma's house again. Good to see she's still in good health! Yesterday was REALLY cold I tell you. At night the temperature dips to 18 degrees! And in the afternoon it was 24. The win was really strong, and it was raining in the morning and late afternoon. Very very cold. The wind was really scary though. Pretty strong.

Yup, that's how my CNY went by. Pretty fast huh? I reached here back in Saturday, three days ago. And now I'm going back to Singapore once again. Oh well as the saying goes, one forgets time when they're having fun. And sure I did have fun when I'm back there.

I guess CNY is something that I truly enjoy and look forward to. Not the ang paos, not the new shirts etc. But the fact that all of my family gather together for that one night, or at least that few days. Thankfully this year's CNY falls on a Monday so my cousin could come on the Saturday and so we have more days to spend together with. And I'm even more thankful with the fact that I can go back for CNY for the past 6 or 7 years. Since primary 6 I remember. Or sec one.

As we all grow up, we realise we're growing away from the thing we all start from - our family. This is a fact we all can't escape from. One day we'll all get married and have our own partner, and live away from our family (except for a few handfuls whom parents live with them still). Even before our marriage, sometimes we get busy with school, friends, work, and so many more things.

And we realise as we grow up, we look for our family more. It's like it is something that we always seek and we always return to when we go back. Just look at it this way, honestly speaking, when I was young, the thing that makes me so hyped up for CNY is the red packet, the fact that I'll get a new shirt, and of course my cousins coming here.

As I grow up, like now, the thing I really look forward to for CNY is less of the two things but more of the fact that my cousins, aunts and uncles are coming together back in my hometown, back in my grandmother's house. All the laughters, the chatters and the food brought us closer together, make everything seems so fun and warm. It's something that may not occur once every 6 months or so.

I guess we all agree that it's pretty hard for one's family to gather all as one. Everyone, together, in any event. Sometimes we have people busy with work, or maybe busy with other things. Thankfully none of this happen in my family heh. I guess I must also thank the date at which CNY fall on this year. It's a long weekend!

So yeah, that's why CNY is really something I look forward to. And why do I look forward to it. I can't imagine a CNY without my whole family around. It's not CNY at all, if that happens.

Funny how when we grow up, we miss on the things, the usual things that we always have when we're young. I guess as we grow up, we start to realise the values we hold in life. What should we treasure and what should we always hold on to. So I guess, don't think of these too late. Time if flying at a rate no one can comprehend. One snap, and well you might miss those things in life, which you might have wanted and loved the most.

Alright I guess that's all for now. I should start heading to my gate now. See ya back in Singapore! And once again happy Chinese New Year! :)

Someday...

Growing

2012-01-22T22:50:00.000+08:00

The best thing about CNY is not the ang paos

But how the family gather together

Hello! Finally I got the chance to blog :) I'm now back in my hometown, in my room hehe. Waiting for time to pass by, for the clock to strike 12 and it'll be year of the dragon already! Hehe. Time flies huh, another CNY comes another goes. Well unlike the new year, CNY falls on either February or January. This year it falls on a really fast date. 23rd Jan! :)

Anyway yesterday I took a flight at 9.30AM and reached Jakarta at 1020 I think. The journey back was really good, not many jams and stuff. Reached my hometown at about 330! Met with my cousins and we were making a cake haha. Really fun and nice, proud of our work mwahaha. And then we had a cream fight! Oh my it was really fun, but at times I do feel that I'm old too. Cause doing all these remind me of being young again. And I'm turning 20 soon damn it! :P

Today was alright, we had our prayers as usual, one day before the new year. So lots of food! And sadly I woke up late so didn't get the chance to roll the "gim zhua" AKA hell's bank notes into this flower like shape before it'll be burned. But we had fun playing around and talking and chatting with my aunts and cousins. And we have food of course, one of the best parts of the celebration :P

And in the afternoon the boys went to play futsal! OMG it's been such a long time since I play soccer, let alone futsal, so I feel really "unseasoned"! Haha, well it's kind of obvious that I such at it anyway :P But nevertheless I had fun with all my cousins! Pretty nice :) Nothing beat the joy of playing sports anyway :D Then went to my dad's garden for the evening, it was really cold there but I was enjoying every moment of it. Not really everyday I can enjoy such cold and refreshing weather.

Plus there were... FOOD! No idea why but food there always taste better. Better. Better. Like really better. We ate this glutinous rice with coconut shavings and oncoms (not sure what to call it in English) but really good! Headed to town after that cause some of my cousins have not gotten their CNY shirt yet. Everyone was feeling tired after that already. It's been a long day I guess.

Yup I guess that's all for today! Still waiting for time to fly pass now. We have about one more hour so... Getting pretty excited! Hehe. I wanted to bathe now but I guess I'll just wash my hair. Cause as the belief goes, we can't wash our hair during CNY day right haha. So I'll wash my hair now and then bathe later, even after the clock strikes 12.

Yes that's how superstitious I can be, but that's me! :)

Hope you all had a great CNY eve! :)

SPSB Musical Delights XXXV

2012-01-20T23:58:00.000+08:00

Thank you SPSB for the musical delights!

I just got back from SPSB 35th Musical Delight! Really fantastic night for me and everyone else. But well I'm not a performer there. Just a photographer who help them capture theur MD 35 memories. Sigh, you know it's two totally different feel when you're on the stage playing, and on the audience seat watching? Totally different. And it feels really sad. I miss the feeling of performing. Really miss playing in a band.

Hence I make a promise...

I'll return ASAP and perform at SPSB 36th Musical Delights! I will graduate with the band. It's a promise I make to myself and others.

Anyway it's been my plan to return to the band anyway. I'm just taking a break from this semester. I hope I can return ASAP! But with ITP... Damn, I'll miss a few months of band again :(

But anyway whatever it is, returning back to band is a must. And is a yes, and is a plan for me. I'm not gonna change it :)

Just a short post tonight, cause I'll be fling off tomorrow morning back to Indo for CNY (Y)! Have not packed my stuff but soon! Alright see ya :D

I guess music is like oxygen to me. I can't live without it.

They say regrets always come too late

2012-01-18T22:40:00.000+08:00

Flow the wind, follow where it goes

We can never go against how time flows

Move on, don't dwell in sadness, in regrets

Cause in life, things happen for a reason

I'm sure all of you agree with my title above. I mean if regrets were to come early, I'm sure we all live a life that is so smooth, so easy, so peaceful and there's no challenge at all. Well, what's life without challenges right? I guess regrets are one of the best teachers we can have. Just like experience. It teaches us how to move on, how to not grudge on the decision we have made, and to turn a "bad" decision into something positive.

Many times we regret, we curse ourselves and well, we just.. Regret. And of course we learn from this experience and make sure we don't repeat it again. But also at times, regretting is different from just simply "learning from experience". At times, regretting, makes you miss a moment you'll never have again in your life. Like the most common one, I should have....

I've always told myself to do things without regret. But since the saying goes it always comes too late. And also at times in life, we gotta weigh the "future". Some times we miss things because we know it's better to miss it. Or well, we just know that we gotta miss it or we'll "regret" not missing it. The most important thing is, don't dwell in regrets. We can never turn back time and well, so we just move on.

Why am I talking about this?

Well I was making my presents for some of my band friends for their 35th MD. I'll be their photographer this Friday. I won't be sitting down on the stage of Esplenade playing my heart out. It's a decision I've made back in October. And well at times, these days, that regret is pinching my heart bit by bit. It's a decision I've made so I'll bear the consequence. That feeling of wanting to play is there, after all, I'm still a band-it.

And I'll always remind myself that well, I'm trading this off for something, for an experience of a lifetime. And that is climbing Mount Kinabalu. I've summited, I've climbed it and well, I did it basically. If I were to mix band and KK together, it's a great recipe for disaster. Cause I'm really not sure if I can cope my studies and my trainings well. Can you imagine? Mon, Wed, Fri KK, Tue and Thur band. Wow huh.

I guess it's pretty normal. I'm a music lover, and who doesn't want to perform in Esplenade? Of course I do. But the decision is made and now I can't turn back time.

Nevertheless, I'm really looking forward to a great music-filled evening this Friday, and I hope I can pull it off with my photography skills. It's another dream of mine, to cover a concert in a grandeur hall. So I'm pretty much looking forward to it :)

Alright let's not dwell in sadness and regret. I know that I will graduate with the band. And I'll perform in MD 36! :)

Good night people.

Monday

2012-01-16T23:51:00.000+08:00

If you can think of the smallest things that make you unhappy

What about the small beautiful things that can make you smile?

Have you forgotten about them?

They are there. Sometimes their days are more horrible than us

Cause we don't seem to recognise them when they're in front of us

Well uhh yeah today is Monday! What a great day... Ehh no. Ehh yeah I guess. Kind of a funny day, but at the same time well, it's just another Monday and somehow somewhat everyone seems to get the Monday blues, and yeah including me too. First I woke up late :/ Can't believe I woke up at 850 for a 9 o clock class. Rushed off to school and miraculously reach by 9.13 and thankfully we were just starting as well.

Practical was alright, but I guess we just need to sharpen our... Flowchart and bench top managements. As a result of my carelessness I got pricked twice (it was my fault anyway) and well worth the pain I guess. For the name of science. It's kind of a bad habit that I always assume things. In the science world. NEVER ASSUME. And at the same time, when I double check, people would scold me for not listening.

But anyway as the Chinese Proverb which I found today says:

"Ask a question and appear a fool for five minutes. Don't ask and remain a fool for life"

Meaning? I'd rather double check, get scolding whatever, than get everything wrong. It's the medical world after all, no spot for a single mistake. But well, I just wish... People wouldn't jump into conclusions.

ANYWAY

Okay I'm feeling pretty grumpy today. See? The Monday blues.

So after prac it was lunch and we got the super wrong timing. Went to FC3 and the queues were horrible. Went to FC5 and KFC was awesomely "fast" too. We ended up having 15 minutes for lunch, which I gobbled down all the food and suffer from heartburn and some sort of tummy ache. But pulled through C.chem presentation and lecture.

Next we have Med Micro pre-practical and we got "trolled" by Ms Kwek!!! But same thing, it's our fault for not checking the IC numbers :( Damn you James Lui or Rui or whatever hahaha! And then the long "bad" day was really over. And I met Yisheng to pass him the montage and photo, which Candy joined and we had a good time chatting together. Went to DSD and chatted with Yong An and Clement as well.

But hey! So much for complaining, and well I need to live up to my motto as always - Be grateful in life!

Today's an awesome day, you know why?

Scoldings during C.Chem lesson and Med Micro - as I once said, there's no room for error in the medical world. The scoldings we got today is just a reminder, and a training for us to not repeat these horrible mistakes which can turn lethal and complicated when we're working in the future. Look on the bright side, we'll be more careful next time. Learn from the mistakes we did today!

Long lunch crowd - Well at least I had an enjoyable time queuing up with Syaz and talking with her. And a really hearty meal with my classmate in class. Even though we were rushing, I'm grateful that Mr Ng started the lesson slightly later seeing us still having a little bit of our lunch. And at least we breezed through the lesson and presentation well. Right?

And at the end of the day, I'm given a beautiful sunset by the evening sky :) There's nothing I could wish for is there? So yeah. Today was such an awesome day! :)

You see people, the thing is, we tend to have lots of bad days. And most of the time, it is the small little bad things that make the whole day horrible. But if you have the ability to always look on the bright side and be positive of all the negative things (unless it's really negative, then just forget it), your horrible day is simply a wonderful day. Well I guess it's all in the mind. As I always believe.

So yep people, at the same time, do remember that no matter how horrible your day can be, there are thousands of other people in the world that may be having a more horrible day than yours. Be grateful, be thankful that your day went that way, and not a worst way. Right?

See, I'm being grumpy again. Monday blues!

Alright I guess that's all for now. Need to do some stuff for practical tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow's practical won't be so hellish as last week's. Remember people, if you can find the reasons why today is such a bad day, it doesn't mean tomorrow won't be an awesome day! :) Nights!

The mind sees what the eyes doesn't see. The heart hears what the ear doesn't hear.

Journey. Never. Ends

2012-01-13T23:51:00.001+08:00

I miss the feeling of being among the clouds

Above the clouds

On top of the world

Everyone seems to have a "bad" day, since it's Friday the 13th. But hey! I had an AWESOME day :D Well okay not the beginning I guess. I woke up late -.- and actually... I don't know. It felt so good to fell asleep and then sleep for 8 hours! First time after sleeping for like 4-5 hours for this week, But it was really good. So what happened was I was waiting for my montage to finish saving (it took so long) and then I remembered clearly, it was 1250! Went to bed to "lay down for a while" and woke up at 9. How sweet.

Anyway yeah I woke up late, rushed to school and then yup, went on with our changed-to-haemotology class and yup! Today's lesson is really interesting cause it's about Leukimia! I'm always interested with cancers. Well not to its negative side but well, I'm just interested about it. Hopefully can learn more things about this :) After class went to HV cause I need to print more photos. I went with Vithya! :D

Went to have lunch at the Mexican restaurant we love to go to (I mean she love to go to and I love to go to, our first time eating there haha!). And yes! What a hearty lunch... I had tacos while she had buritos! Then went to take my photos and went back to SP to meet up with my KK peeps to do the preparation! :) It was really good to meet all of them again :)

So anyway after meeting some of them in the library, printing the necessary stuff, we went to InnoV to set up the place! Thank you so much to those who were there in helping out the setting up of the place. Really great job, and we worked quick! And when the place was once set up, we prepare the slides, montages etc. Thank you Candy for working hard on the video montage! :D And then it was showtime! Mwahaha

I'm really glad that everyone seems to enjoy the montage! :) Thanks to Sigur Ros as well... Hoppipolla for the summit part is just a BRILLIANT choice :) I got goosebumps when watching it too. And I almost teared cause the music, the photos and the memories are just... Too awesome. Feels like this flood of memories just rushed through me. And it's kind of hard to control it. I guess the trip was really awesome.

Sigh, couldn't get rid of the regret I had for not taking photos AT the summit itself. And a video. Which I actually planned to do that the night before. But AMS stroke and... Too bad I guess. Hmm perhaps it's just the mountain wanting me to climb Mt Kinabalu again! And this time round with my DSLR hohoho... I will! Hehe :)

And the video montage that Candy did. OMG couldn't control my laughter! It was just too funny. My stomach was hurting at that moment cause of excessive laughing heh. But yeah it was pretty good, watching all of these. It's like as if those moments just happened yesterday. Which in fact it happened... WAIT. OMG it happened one month ago! When we summited Mt K. What a beautiful co-incidence no?

Yup after the sharing and everything, I headed home, smiling. I don't know why. Must be the fun, the memories returned, the time travelled. In a sense, it's also the joy. The triumph and glory we all have for summiting mount K. I was just reflecting back on the way home, how I ended up in the trip. How I ended up in the summit of Mt K when climbing a mountain wasn't in my agenda.

I guess when Lao-tzu says "Every journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step", he really mean it. In many ways, we all embark on a journey. I personally believe that life itself is a journey made out of small journeys. Be it a new job, a new school, a new class, a new trip, a new place. It's all a journey. Like my Mt K trip, it's a journey too. And since every journey begins with a single step, so do our KK journey!

Just ask yourself, while everyone would love to spend their holiday nicely, why would you spend it climbing a mountain? When everyone wants to study for their exams, why would you want to sacrifice precious time for trainings every week? Ask yourself, why do you want to go for this trip. And as for me? I want to challenge myself. And I want to fulfil my life-long dream of climbing a mountain. And to travel around the world.

I might not be a thrill-seeker. Nor a sporty and active person. But I sure am someone who loves to challenge myself. And travelling. Plus climbing a mountain is part of my life's to-do list. So yeah. And make more friends of course! I've been through a few school trips. And I've made great friendships with the people there (GT FTW!) and now I have more friends. Friends whom I've spent those 5 days. Or more than that, together as a team. We have a long way to go. And well, it's just great to have all these people with me :)

And I've of course learnt a lot from the trip, please refer back to my post in December. But well, I sort of thought of something. I truly believe that no journey truly ends. In one way or another, it will continue. Be it the memories you carry, or the lessons you learnt. Or the images you have in your mind, or simply the time you spent that you'll never forget.

Yes. Every journey in my life will never end. Take example my Inner Mongolia OCIP. It's been over for almost... 4 months? But I still remember the moments we have there. And definitely I still meet up with my team. I still apply what I've learnt there. And I still remember what I brought back from there. My secondary school? It's been over for almost 3 years. And I still remember the moments.

In a sense, yes, move on. The journey is over, physically. But it will never be over mentally and psychologically. It's with you all the time :)

Okay sorry for the a bit unclear post. But well yeah. Those are my thoughts. I sure have learnt a lot from this KK trip. And will surely carry what I've learnt with me. I guess the only journey that will end is life itself. But I do hope, my journey will be continued by the lives of others :)

Tarima!

Unproductive

2012-01-08T23:41:00.000+08:00

Sunset today

Pretty amazing huh

I went to another part of the rooftop

Came back, only to realise this scene was gone

Live every moment of your life - don't miss a single one

Don't forget to live it wonderfully

That's the word I hate. But something I can't avoid. Something I regretted for this weekend. Yes! Me being such a lazy ass :/ But oh well... I have time now to redeem and return my words back to my mouth. So work after blogging! Rawrrr

Anyway just a thought of a lazy Sunday... Packed my stuff cause they're all in boxes now (due to the renovation that was going on in December) and it's not done yet! Still got like 4 boxes but they're books so easy to put back. Not some huge stuff that needs manoeuvring hehe.

Shall finish em soon!

Alright short post today. Just wanna end off with a thought I came about.

Is life really worth living, to complain on the tiniest imperfections it has?

Good night :)

Give back

2012-01-07T23:40:00.000+08:00

This is so worth going up the 40th storey

I'll go the distance, to take a photograph

Today was really an awesome day I guess! It's the 3rd and last day of SP Open House and Vithya and I volunteered at the SPCC as course counsellor! It's my 2nd year doing this, and I wanna do it next year! I guess I just love interacting with people. Weird uh, even though I'm one introvert. But well I just like talking to potential Biomed-ers and their parents :)

Anyway I volunteered yesterday too. Yesterday was alright I guess, mainly O Level graduates less of parents. And as for today they are mainly parents! And students as well. But well I'm happy to see that the parents are not those "demanding" ones. And they let their children choose the course they want and not really "force" their children to take the course. They even let them explore other courses.

Met lots of potential Biomed-ers and they're reallu interested in.... RESEARCH! Teehee, But well some are really interested in cardiac, cause they wanna be those in the fore-front, interacting with patients. Sadly they're turned off by the cut-off point. But I always tell them to have faith, since they don't know their results anyway. And a common question is whether they'll get a placing in medicine. Well sure you will, if you work hard :)

Interestingly, many asked me about my poly experience. Which is really AWESOME! Haha. Told them about our practicals and CCAs, and also the OCIPs and more. And even more interestingly, one asked me if Biomed is a competitive course. How are the people? Well, I always tell them - Don't be afraid. Just do your best in school. Cause for me, I don't come to school to compete but to learn :)

Anyway after CLS duty I went for my LEAP duty with Jingjing, Yuewei and Firman! I was late cause I went for lunch first, sorry guys! :P But it was fun. At least... Well the students are more accommodating than the ones on Wednesday hahaha. They're all interested in the wall and not run away from me when I approached them :P After our duty, we went to McCafe to spend out coupons and have a great chat there :)

What a great day really! :D

Well I guess helping out in school events like SPOH is a way for me to pay back to the school, to return a favour to what the school has done for me. I know you guys will say "Like as if the school fee is not expensive enough" but well, just gratitude I guess. Anyway, I totally see nothing wrong in being a volunteer. And it's not as if I'm being forced to go for the open house.

As for those whom I've talked with today, I do hope my explanation about Biomed is enough! And I hope to see you in April this year :)

After the open house duty I went to Holland V first to develop my KK photos and my film. It was damn stupid of me to... Somehow somewhat alight one stop before my HV stop -.- not sure why, I was tweeting at that time though and then rushed off, and I was like since when HV has a market in front of the the bus stop and then I went. Right.... But anyway had a great small walk and took some nice photos :)

I then rushed off to Clementi to meet Ade, Jes, MF, WQ and Neal cause I was late. I thought the meeting was at 730 hahaha. Sorry guys! But I went off to the 40th floor first for a quick photo cause the sky was so amazing. No idea why I did that too. Just... I don't know. My mind telling myself to do it. It was good though hehe. The photos turned out wonderful.

We ate zhi char at this coffeeshop at Clementi. And then we went to Starbucks to meet Ahmeng. Damn the Zhi char was damn nice! I love the chicken, so crispy and yummy. And it's kinda cheap! 5 meals of prawn, chicken, fish head curry, veggie and you tiao for 12 bucks each a person! Not bad huh... And it was damn filling as well. Good on the tongue, good on the cash :)

And yeah I guess that's all for this wonderful day.

Alrighty, that's all for now. Gonna go do my assignments tomorrow! Gosh, I should be doing it but oh well :l we'll see how! See ya all :)

Great first week of 2012!

2nd day

2012-01-05T00:14:00.000+08:00

Taken on the walk home today

With music, under the blue sky
With my, myself and I.

A mind of peace

A soul of bliss

Whew what a tiring 2nd day was today! Anyway wanted to blog about my first day in school but I was caught up with assignment, and I was damn tired, so I ended up no blogging. Damn. But anyway here I am. The first two days were really alright I guess! Today was kinda bad, cause... Well uhh I was mad tired for staying up to do my assignment (my bad) so I was feeling damn sleepy in class. Rawrh. So gonna get a good sleep tonight!

Anyway the first day was really good! It was our first Med Micro (2nd part) lesson with Ms Kwek in Microbiology. My favourite! And so we were given bacterial names and I'm now S.aureus. How awesome :D :D My favourite bacteria! And you can find me in your armpits. And. Nostril. And. That part behind you below you. OKAY moving on anyway yeah it was fun hehe.

Then I went for dinner with my GT team! Even though there were only 6 of us, (Jess, Kwok, Shihui, KH and Azmi) it was really good. I love going dinner with them, talking with them. I guess the bond we had is just so good that it's just... I don't know. "Normal"? To talk to one another despite the fact that our trip ended months ago. That's why I love my GT! :)

Today was great too, despite of the sleepy part :l but anyway after class I went to help out in the SP Open house! Well my course counselling duty is on Fri and Sat but today I'm helping out with the NYAA and LEAP brochure. Quite fun walking around explaining to people about them, but.... Why are they so scared and shy of me? When I approached them they would just run away -.- Am I that scary mwahaha.

But well it was great fun :) Getting to know and interacting with people there :)

But anyway just to share my thoughts (in case any secondary school/O Level graduates pass by my blog, which will be very rare) why I join SP!

Well I've always told myself that I will go JC when I was in sec 3 but well my mindset changes in sec 4s after talking to a few people about taking the poly route. So I chose to go SP via the DPA way (sorry it's closed no though, but you can go through JPSAE hehe). And well I didn't know what to expect but I really enjoy my life in poly! :)

Not to scare you all but please, get rid of the mindset that poly = slacking! Well alright I have to agree that poly is less stressful than JC (even though I've never experienced a JC life but seeing from my friends....) but we also do work hard. And well, we also play hard! Life in poly is more robust and exciting I suppose. We're given more opportunities and lots of exciting activities lined up for us by the school :)

And plus now, as a research student, I've done so many things that students in JC may not have done before! All the cool gadgets we have in our laboratories enable us to do experiments that have connections with our future workplace. So well poly truly prepares us for the field we're really interested in :)

Not forgetting the aesthetic side, we do have lots of exciting opportunities too! I've been to Inner Mongolia for an OCIP trip (Seriously freaking awesome!). Korea with SP Symphonic Band for an exchange trip (imagine yourself performing overseas! Cool right :D) and To Mount Kinabalu for mountain climbing! (Which I've never thought of myself to do it before, and yes we did it!)

So yup, if you come to SP, be prepared to embark on exciting journeys like these :) Not forgetting the great camps that you can join in with your friends as well.

In SP, it's So Possible! :D

Alright yup so to those who are interested in joining SP for your next level of education, do visit out open house on 5-7 Jan! We have lots of exciting events lined up for you here :) Do pop by the SP Convention Centre for course counselling and the plaza for CCA showcases. See you in SP!

#possiblewithSP

And so I'm flying again

2012-01-02T19:45:00.000+08:00

2011 ended with a bang!

Lets start 2012 awesomely too :D

Sigh, currently in Jakarta airport's Starbucks again now. Waiting for time to slowly fly and for our flight. Cause well apparently we arrived so early! 2h50m before the flight haha. So we just went into the departure gate and we chilled in Starbucks. Great time so that I can Facebook, Tweet and blog :D

Anyway yeah schools starting tomorrow. Yaaaaay :D Yeah hate it or love it we have no choice but to accept the fact that yes, school is starting tomorrow. This week's gonna be a pretty busy for me with things like open house and well yeah, the school's-starting hypes and excitement. I guess my holiday has been a really great one so yeah... Feel so damn bleah to go back. But pretty excited with the new year :)

And... Yeah we have new groupings in class. When I see my group, I have no comment. At least I have Kai, but I'm so gonna miss my old group :( We're one awesome bunch. I know the intention is good (to mix us around in class) but well. Heh, I guess I just love my group too much. Love it hate it, I'm still going to work with that group so let's make it work! (Tim Gunn's style)

Tomorrow I shall come to school earlier to print my work and finish it. We start at 12, maybe 9 is a good time to go oh gosh T_T But nah should be fine. Can finish it on time! :) Can be done! (As Dr Tan would say it). Gonna be a long day tomorrow with practical. Hope it's a great day to distract my mind off the holiday blues and to get my ass working on the first day of school.

I know we all hate to go back to school (maybe not everyone but...) but hey, at times like this I would just remind myself that everything has its time, and everything has its place. Time keeps on going. So well yup, as much as we all want the holiday to continue or last longer, it can't. Cause there's a time for holiday, and there's definitely time for school. So don't be sad, because if there's time for school, soon, there'll be time for holiday too :)

It's just a matter of waiting, yea I know that that part sucks but well. Just wait.

Okay I shall end here. Will be heading for my gate soon so see you back in Singapore! :)

Everything has its time.

Happy New Year 2012!

2012-01-01T23:30:00.000+08:00

We all fear to go to a new place

To walk on a new road

To embark on an unknown journey

But we never stop dreaming

We don't fear to hope

Hello! First of all...

WISHING YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR! MAY 2012 BE AN AWESOME YEAR FOR ALL OF US!

And sorry but I'm cheating cause I'm actually writing this past 12 AM of 1/1/12 cause well, was playing card games with my cousins hehehe. And then I have to go and bathe and so on so well, didn't really manage tot hit before the clock hits 12. But never mind! Cause I'm writing this in the context of the first day of I-know-will-be-another-awesome-year of 2012! So yep, it's the thoughts that counts right? (How ironic, if you realise :P)

Well 2012 will be a new chapter, a new journey, a new page, a new adventure. We never know what lies ahead, but we surely know how to anticipate! And welcome the year with hopeful joy, joyful hope. Always be positive guys! I've learnt that in 2011 and well yeah it really helps. Life's just too short for you to frown. Smile, when you have problems, deal with it and not dwell in it. When there's a will, there's a way :D

I'm sure 2011 has been a great journey for us. A greatly awesome journey, a horrible journey, it's over now. But I'm sure at the same time, we could all take something from 2011 to bring with us to 2012. The bad, we learn and we make sure won't happen again. The good, we carry with us, and smile together with it as we remember them in the future.

I've definitely learnt a lot in 2011. Well uhh sadly somehow, I've realised all these thoughts AFTER writing that year-end post heh. But well, yep I've learnt lots of things. I guess I should list the major things I've learnt?

- That never doubt in yourself, cause you don't know how far you can go in life
- Life's just too short for it to be left undiscovered
- Life's just too short for you to say I can't do it
- No journey truly ends. In one way or another, every journey continues
- Things happen for a reason. If they don't, then they wouldn't have happened at all
- Be happy always. Life's too short for you to always complain, always frown.
- Be grateful with what you have. Stop whining and complaining of our inadequacies

Yup I guess all these? Hehe. Thanks to the events that happened in 2011, I've learnt all of these. And these valuable lessons will surely be carried with me always in 2012, and further. In life :) And of course these lessons will continuously be added! Hopefully everyday! :D

What do I want to make changes in 2012? Of myself, and of life? A lot I guess... And also. What do I hope to achieve in 2012? Myriad of things. Not forgetting my resolutions as well. I've listed down my resolutions (private hehehe). My main resolution will be something quite difficult. But I hope I can achieve it :) And I've written some "funny" resolutions. Hopefully can do them too!

I'm not a fortune teller. Or a sage that can see the future. Not someone who have the power to predict the year. but definitely someone who can dream and anticipate the joys and downs of 2012. Remember, how you embark on your journey is up to you. Things might happen, how you react to these things, is up to you too. And remember, you are the key to your own happiness, sadness and anger. Not others :)

Be it a great year, a so-so year, a bad year, a less-awesome year than 2011 or a better year, I'll embark on this journey with my heart and soul. I'll write this new chapter with my heart and eyes. I'll accept this challenge with a great heart and mind. I'll make 2012 a great year for me, and the people around me :)

Alright signing off now. I'll be going back to Singapore tomorrow (ah well). Been a great holiday here. So great I don't feel that I'm actually going back TOMORROW. Wow -.- must be the fun I had with my cousins the past few days! Okay see ya all then. Have a great new year and an awesome 2012 again!

New chapter. New journey. New adventure. New page. New challenge. Accepted.

Goodbye 2011

2011-12-31T00:03:00.000+08:00

Right so currently, the clock just hit 12 midnight a few minutes ago. So I guess it's right for me already to blog how my year has been. Currently I'm listening to the song "Today My Life Begins by Bruno Mars". Perfect song to end off the year and start 2012 with a big smile on my face! Teehee. But seriously, 2011 has been a great journey for me. Seriously freaking awesome. I think it's the best year of my life, maybe.

Anyway didn't blog for quite long cause I spent the past two days at Jakarta staying over in my cousin's house! We watched 2 movies, so damn nice. We watched Mission Impossible 4 in the first day, and then Sherlock Holmes 2 in the 2nd. Both movies were awesome, but I think Sherlock is the one that gave me this satisfaction feeling after I finished watching the movie! And it's been such a long time since I got that.

Then after that we all went to my hometown for a nice reunion! Today was alright (I meant yesterday, 30/12), we spent most of the day out from lunch to my dad's garden and then to some places. It's really good to you know, gather everyone together. I think cousins are... I don't know how to put it. I think they're more than friends. No matter how long you have never met them, when we all meet, it feels like the good old days! That feeling never changes, that's for sure. Pretty nice huh.

Quite a so-so 2nd last day of 2011. So didn't really do much things today I suppose.

So I will use this post to reflect on the past year! Okay I've done something to reflect per monthly basis but that will be later, you'll see hehe. I'll just summarise and write my thoughts for 2011 ok! :)

Well I suppose I've been repeating this many many times, about how awesome my 2011 has been. Of course there were road bumps here and there but well, we learnt through these bumps right? I mean as we all know, experience is the best teacher in life right :) Hmm I really don't know how to carry on writing this. But I guess there are three words that sum up my 2011: Learning, discovery, friendship.

Okay be prepared for a very, very long post.

Learning

We all learn in life. Be it in school, at home, while we're with out friends and etc. Basically, we all learn in life. And please don't stop learning in life. The day that you die would be the day you stop learning, got that! Hehe. So what's about learning? I guess in this year, I have learnt a lot. Be it from others, from myself, from my teachers and so on. But learning in life, doesn't really need to come from the outside.

I believe the best lessons in life don't come from books, but they come from yourself. And well true enough, I've learnt a lot from the things that happened this year. A freaking lot. The journeys I've went through, the events that happened, my mistakes, my wrong-doings, my right-doings. I guess we can all take something from what happened in this year. We all do.

So you know, when you feel that 2011 has been a bad year, then find out what's bad? And make 2012 a better year ahead. Learn it, and apply it. If you feel 2011 has been a good year, then keep it up. If possible apply what you did in 2011 that make this year an awesome one. Right?

What have I learnt this year? Besides learning more about mRNA translation, substitution reactions, biosafety, cholinergic drugs, siRNA (!!), sideroblastic anemia, hyperlipidemia, Hepatitis B and so on, I've learnt more about life too. I've learnt how scary people can be, I've learnt how to manage my time more, I've learnt to come back to yourself, I've learnt to.... And the list goes on basically.

But the most significant one I suppose would be: I've learnt how to not doubt myself :)

Discovery

With the so many journeys that I went this year, I've learnt to discover. To find out. To never stop being curious and explore the world. Explore life. The world is just too beautiful to be left undiscovered. So does life. There are so many wonderful things in life you can discover. And well sadly or... Actually not sadly. These things, are only discovered by YOURSELF. Well you can't expect people to help you discover something isn't it? I mean all the time. But truly, making a discovery, you have to do it yourself :)

Well yeah, for example after my Inner Mongolia OCIP trip, I've discovered more places in life that I've never been before. I may not be some adventurous fella but I really love going to new places, discovering new places, exploring them. If it's a country, I love to learn more about their culture and the people. The place, the architecture and so on. It's a great way to learn more about the world right?

Then it was my Mount Kinabalu trip. Another journey that made me think how beautiful this earth is! I've discovered another jewel of the planet. And I've enjoyed truly its beauty and majesty. The trek up, the summit part, being on top of the clouds, going down, trekking in the rain. All these experiences are so priceless I tell you! And yeah I've discovered lots of things from here.

So after discovering these beautiful places, I've realised how beautiful this world is, and it'll such a pity if you left it undiscovered. If you have the chance, the opportunity to go travelling, going overseas, or well to just simply go somewhere you've never been before, take it. But to me discovery doesn't always mean overseas. Sometimes going to new places in Singapore/Indo makes me excited too hehe.

But discovery isn't always about DISCOVERING places. It's also discovering yourself, and others. And life. I've definitely discover myself more this year. I don't know how, why and when or what. I just feel that way. I feel that I've returned to myself more. And that well I've discovered more things about myself. I guess thanks to CLS FLP camp. Habit #7 I suppose! :)

So people, never stop discovering. Never stop exploring. Just like going to new places, when you discover something new about yourself, you get that sense of joy and excitement right? Same thing happened!

Friendship

I've made LOADS of friends this year. It's good, cause I'm pretty much an introvert person (laugh as much as you want). Well I've treasured the lots of friendships that I've forged this year. The GT team, where we went to Inner Mongolia to carry out the Green Desert Project. My KK team, where we went to summit Mount Kinabalu together! CLS FLP mates, CLS FOC people, my new classmates, and many others who have crossed my path this year. In one way or another, you've made my journey!

To my GT team, I really feel we're the best team that I've worked together so far. I don't know why. Is it the fact that we've been together for 3 months before the trip? The fact that we stayed under the same roof for that short 2 weeks? We had lunch together, breakfast together, work together, and well I guess there's just that chemistry between us that created that spark which lighted our friendship?

I don't know but well, it's been great honour and pleasure to have worked with all of you in that project. It was really fun, enriching, and just unforgettable. Thank you for making that 2 weeks the best two weeks of my life. For the memories, for the stories, for everything! :)

To my KK LEAP team, congratulations that we've summited mount Kinabalu together! I was so scared that we're going to have bad weather when we climb (as told by the previous group, quite scary uh). Thankfully we were blessed with great weather. And it was really nice being there, on top of the clouds. Looking down the mountains like as if we're on top of the world.

At first yeah I feel pretty awkward to be with you all. I didn't tell everyone this - I was intimidated. Cause when we first met up together (that was the sharing session by the October group), I saw all of your and all of you looked fit and lean and muscular and either you come from a sports CCA, or you just look fit. As compared to me, a fat guy who was currently overweight. I felt so... Down heh.

Well I just didn't want to be a burden to you all. And that was the promise I make to myself, not to be your burden (which eventually did, cause of my AMS). Well I feel sad and disappointed with myself. But seeing your kindness and teamwork, I felt touched as well. Thanks especially to Clement, Kai and Chloe for being there beside me as we make our way to the summit. But honestly speaking, that pinch of guilt and disappointment of myself still lingers in my heart. I don't know how to get it out.

But thank you everyone for the wonderful trip. I once doubted myself that I can climb a mountain. But with all of you around us, the laughters, the chatters, the smiles and the encouragements just gave me that extra push to go up. And once again sorry if I were being a burden to you. If I slow you down a lot cause I kinda get tired easily. And my AMS as well. But it's not that, that truly matters. But the warmth and friendship we gave to each other were really nice :)

And to everyone else whom I've met and made friendship with. I wish I could list down but no, it will be too long heh. But yes thank you for being there, for crossing my ways in my journey of 2011. In one way or another, you've made me who I am today! Right now! :)

I guess yeah that's how much 2011 meant to me. The three words should sum it all. I wish I could talk and elaborate more but well, some things are just kind of hard to elaborate. And left in my heart for me to simply smile about again :P Well yeah, it's just hard to explain if you put it that way.

But yep, 2011 has been a great journey, one big adventure. Didn't really expect much from 2011 when 2010 ends. But well it was just a blast. And as much as I hate leaving 2011, we have to, cause we can never stop time, let alone move it back. But I sure wish that my 2012 will be a better year than the already-as-awesome-as-a-ever-2011! I've new resolutions to fulfil and well let's just hope they will be fulfillable! :)

To sum it all, here are my highlights of 2011! I've been reflecting the past 12 months for the past 12 days and here's what we've got:
- Microbiology project
- Musical Delights 34! My first concert in Esplenade!!
- IDEAS filming
- End of year one, BBQ!
- Trip to Hong Kong, Central Java
- CLS FLP! And CLS FOC as photographer
- Start of my new research life
- My GDP meetings every Wednesday at Moberly :)
- Hair for Hope 2011! (I'll be back in 2012! Promise!)
- Turning 19 (one year before 20, damn I feel old)
- IBM 29 :D
- GREEN DESERT PROJECT @ INNER MONGOLIA CHINA :D :D
- SPSB Korea trip!
- Poly50 with my GT! Damn awesome
- KK trainings :D
- Standard Chartered Marathon 10KM! DONE!
- LEAP INTERMEDIATE @ MOUNT KINABALU
- And many others! :)

And to end this last post in 2011, here's a poem I wrote about my awesome year. It's in record, the longest poem I've ever written. Enjoy! :D

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2011

And the year begins with January

As we got caught in the world of microbiology

Of garlic and ginger and chilli

Then came SPSB’s Musical Delights

One of the happiest days of my life

As we played on that grandeur stage live

Soon February came, soon it left

The last days of my year one odyssey

Came and go like the breeze of the sea

As we studied hard like there’s no tomorrow

Our hearts filled with hope, with sorrow

Hoping we can end our first chapter beautifully

February left, and March marches on

We killed the papers, flinged our pens high

As much as we hate, as we love, we say goodbye

To the beginning our poly life, we continue

Then I stepped into a camp, that taught me lessons

of life, of myself, of others, that I shall always carry with me

And time fools me like April fools people

A new chapter opens, as year two came

Filled with excitement and hope we seek

When mother nature stroke her fury on Japan

We showed our support and love through music

As we hope our songs can harbor our prayers to them

Then April left us, as May joins the year

It was an ordinary month, days of my year 2 went by

Slowly and steady time would simply fly

Then I came upon a tiny poster from DSD

That marks the beginning of an unforgettable journey

And so the 25 of us said hello, to Inner Mongolia

And June came to make its way

As we feel that time is flying away

With MSTs waiting at the end of the holiday

And assignments accompanying us everyday

But we never relinquish, we never give up

And we pulled through it all, eventually

As June says goodbye, we say hello to July

This month marked the end of 18 years

Oh hopeful joy, and hopeful tears

As the 17^th marked the beginning of my big 19

On the 23^rd I shaved my hair with hundreds others

We shaved it for hope, to be alongside children with cancers

And August came, as July had to go

To the toughest month of the year, I say hello

On the 12^th of August, I played my heart out

As we brought the audience to a journey to believe in music

And we fought a war on the second last week

Which concludes our first semester journey

September is the month I’ve been waiting for

To Inner Mongolia we go, as we wrote new stories

To give back to mother nature, we planted 1133 trees

In return, she gave a forged friendshipand memories

Then we exchange our friendships, in the land of Kimchi

As we performed overseas, a dream come true for me

9 months went by, and October came

The holiday ended, as we say hello to a new semester

It’s a month of sentimentalism as I remember

the great journeys I had back in September

But we still continue our planting legacy

“1133 trees, and still counting!”

October left, and November says hi

And on the 9^th, ten of us in a small crew

Ran a route 50 times, a distance of 30 kilometers

That day was possibly the happiest day in my poly life

And then soon we’re saying goodbye

To this year we’ve been sailing through

And last but not least, December’s here

A great month, to end of the great year

On the 4^th, my first ever 10 KM run

On the 11^th, one great journey begun

And for the last two weeks I reminisced

to give 2011 a sweet goodbye kiss

And that is all to my 2011 odyssey

It’s been one great adventure, one epic journey

I’ve learnt a lot, and discovered even more

As much as I hate to leave this wonderful year

We know life has to move on, time has to go on

Lets end off this year wonderfully, let us all open our door

And welcome 2012, with joyful hope and hopeful joy

CHEERS TO AN AWESOME 2012 PEOPLE! AND HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR'S EVE :)

Thank you 2011. Thank you :)

Merry Christmas 2011! :D

2011-12-25T22:57:00.003+08:00

Merry Christmas people! :)

First of all wishing everyone out there a Merry Christmas 2011! May the warmth and joy of this festive day brings happiness and hope to everyone! :D Okay not sure to call it warmth cause it's pretty cold here (and those in Singapore, as seen from your tweets)! But nevertheless, in the Christmas spirit, we feel warmth spread by the joy that people emanates. I guess that's the thing about Christmas. Well it may celebrated mostly by the Christians and Catholics but... Everyone loves this day. Even me, a Buddhist, loves this day too.

I don't celebrate Christmas but well yup, there's just something special and magical about this day that I really enjoy. I guess the Christmas spirit is really here :)

Today was a normal day I guess, just went out with my mum for grocery shopping. It's been raining here for almost the entire day. So it's so pretty cold now. When the wind blows, it's just like... Brrrrr. When people have white Christmas, we have cold Christmas here! And white too - cause the sky was just plain white. All the clouds above us, sending us its mighty rain.

So as a result, being in a cold weather, being surrounded with the rain, being a Sunday, I really don't feel like doing anything -.- but hmm I gotta touch on my homework again! Still 2/5 done, 3/5 is not something small yeah. Not sure how to make myself feel focussed to do it. Sometimes I just lose the drive to complete them, even though I told myself I'll finish this by ____. Well.... Well... Yeah. Well.

I guess I just hate doing homework in end of year holidays. I don't have the mood to do everything. I guess it's the fact that it's the year end, and that we don't want to do things but enjoy ourselves as we watch the year coming to a close. Or it's just the fact that it's holiday. But hey in June I was working my ass of during holiday cause actually there's exams after that so... Oh well.

Well to me, Christmas, as much as a festive day it can be, it can also be something sad for me. I'm not sure why but to me Christmas is a reminder for me that the year is coming to an end. As it falls on the 25th of December, it's just a reminder for me that I have 6 days left to the year. At times I feel... Sad. At times I feel excited of the new year. Well, what's there to be sad about leaving a year, if you think logically.

I guess 2011 has been a great year for me. In so many ways. The things that happened, the people that I've met, the things I've learnt, lots of things. So I kinda feel sad leaving this year. But as much as we human wish to stop time, we know it won't happen. I was reading my blog posts just now. From now back till January 2011. I smiled, I frowned, I think of the things that happened. But at the end of the day, it makes me smile.

It kinda sucks being a sentimental person. Feels like you can't leave the past away, the past behind. Not like those dramatic people where "OMG I can't live without my past T_T" and tears start rolling down etc. But more of that I cherish the past. To me memories are essential parts of my life. Without them, I wouldn't be who I am now. True much?

I may sound pretty dramatic and freaky. But yeah, if you know how sentimental I can get, you'll be pretty damn shocked. But I guess there really is nothing wrong to being like that. I've met some sentimental people too. So I don't feel alone, and it's not like as if this is some sort of disorder. Maybe it's called sentimentalomegaly HAHAHA.

Alright I guess that's all for now. I need to bathe and I have to continue with my work again. I'll end this post with my favourite song! I did this months ago but I'm just sharing it again cause the song involves Christmas (if you read in between the lyrics). The lyrics are pretty awesome too. Enjoy! And Merry Christmas again!

Mellow

2011-12-23T23:30:00.001+08:00

Like a day would come to a close

So would a year come to its end

Like a flowing river, time just goes

In a speed, no one can ever comprehend

Whew I finally get to blog again! I wanted to blog last night but somehow, somewhat, I didn't blog in the end. Anyway, here I am! As you can see from the title, I'm feeling kinda mellow now :/ Ever since I was listening to Sacral Nirvana by Oliver Shanti a few hours ago. I don't know why. It's such a great song, it's one of the fewest songs that can make me feel happy, sad, mellow and relaxed at the same time.

Today was an alright day I guess! I decided to decorate my room a little by putting up some photos on my wall. Now I can look up to see my photos (not my faces but photos I shot), so my room is not that boring already heh. My wall is still kinda empty so I have a long way to go in filling them up! Anyway I have a nice idea for my wall. I think I've said it before like wooden pegs. But that will be next time I guess.

Yeah I think my room needs a little more perk-up so that it can look more vibrant and nicer. Anyway my dream room is one with lots of photos! Taken by me of course hehe. In the future I'll have one wall dedicated to all my photos hehehe. Hopefully it'll be a dream come true! :)

In the evening went to my grandma's house. Yaaaaay everyone there (my grandma, my aunt and my cousin) say I slimmed down a lot! Woohoo haha. In fact everyone say the same thing to me here hehe. Good, my target is 80, I have 4 more kilos to go. But trust me, my weight will surely increase here. The food here is just too hard to resist! :D

Plus I haven't been exercising here gosh. Hmm I can't run on my treadmill -.- I think I'm too fat so... But it's alright, I still feel my stamina is still okay. Can make it! Mwahaha. I miss running though, I'll run once I get back in Singapore. Talking about running.... My right knee hurts! :/ I don't know why but it has been hurting since last night. It's like on the left side of my knee cap so yeah. Not sure what happened though.

Tomorrow is Christmas' eve. Time flies huh. Okay I know you might be getting sick of me saying how fast time flies! But it's the truth heh. Anyway, and soon it's new year's eve. Then 2012. Noooooooo :l No way! I mean yeaaaaah :D I'm not sure what lies ahead in 2012, but definitely, I'm looking forward to it and I'll try to make 2012 a better year than the hell-of-an-awesome-2011!

Anyway the past two days, the sunset has been really gorgeous. I found a spot near my house with awesome view, facing the west! Which means it's like a perfect spot for sunset shots! Here are the photos....

This one was taken yesterday!

The sky was yellowish, anyway this one, I switched my WB to cloudy so the blue sky looked a bit yellowish too. But I love the effect! The clouds especially. So lovely....

And this was taken today!

So pretty right!!! The sky was pink-purply this time. And the pattern of the clouds was just gorgeous. I really love it! Damn, two consecutive days of beautiful sunsets! I hope I can see more of this in the remaining days of the year. It's such an awesomely beautiful sight!

Alright I guess that's all for now. I have to continue doing my work, which I've been pausing for the past two days damn! Tonight I hope to finish another part of my essay! Which will then leave my to 2 more parts :D Go go go Adhi!!!

Sunsets make my day. Beautiful sunsets.

LEAP Intermediate trip - Mount Kinabalu

2011-12-21T01:11:00.000+08:00

As promised, I will blog about my trip to Mount Kinabalu alright! Finally get the chance to blog so here it is WARNING: Be prepared for a very long post :)

Anyway so we went to stay in Moberly the night before our flight (Saturday). We went to watch the lunar eclipse together! Quite cool huh, and we were there sitting down on the parapets like the scene in "You're the apple of my eye" hehehe. After briefing, packing, we went to sleep cause we gotta wake up by 4 to leave for Johor Senai aiport at 5! :)

Once we reached there we took a flight to Kinabalu which took about 2h20m. Kinabalu, my first impression was, it's like my hometown (kinda)! Quiet, empty, not so bustling but nice and modern at the same time. And then we went for lunch at this Malay restaurant. It was fried rice, so yummeh with a nice salty soup. We went to get some extra stuff and then we made our way to Strawberry Garden Hotel! :)

The boys' bunk

On the way there, it was my first time seeing Mt Kinabalu with my own eyes. Even though she was still partially covered with clouds, seeing her majestic appearance made me feel two things - fear and excitement. Seeing the height that we need to climb, and anticipating the trek we're going to do the next day. Anyway Strawberry Garden is a nice hotel, especially the view! Woo yeah :D And dinner was awesome as well. Then we tucked in to our bed and sleep to prepare for tomorrow's 6 hour trek!

The trek itself was alright I guess. We have a total of 6 huts before our destination - Pendant Hut. We stopped in hut 4 for lunch, and occasionally for water break and stuff in every other pit stops. But I think we didn't stop at pit stop 6 cause it was so near our target, we just chionged up! But uhh sadly it rained from pit stop 6 onwards. So we had to trek for about 300m to Pendant Hut. Was an interestingly-cold experience.

Group 3 before our trek!

Go go go! :D

The journey from 3 - 4 was kinda tough, cause it was rather steep so yeah... But I love hut 5! Cause somehow during that part, the sky was clear and we could see the peak of Mt Kinabalu! Pretty awesome and interesting sight to see eh. In total, we trekked for about... 6 hours I think. I know we reached Pendan Hut at about 2.50 PM or so. Then moving on with via ferrata training, dinner, and a good night sleep before summit! :D

Us at around hut 5!

Presenting, Mount Kinabalu

We woke up dark and early at 1.30 AM to prepare for our trek at 2.30 AM. We were quite late, I think we set on at about 2.50 AM instead. So we gotta meet up with the human jam. Nevertheless, we made our way up the summit (which was 2.7km in distance of trek). The danger zone was... Quite scary and exciting! We need to hold on to this rope where we climb up (like abseiling) pass through a steep rock. So envy the guide who don't need all these ropes! :P

And then... After the danger zone was when things go interesting.

I got AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). I guess it's due to my not-so-good physical level, plus fatigue, plus altitude, plus low oxygen level. I was blabbering non-sensical stuff to my team (esp Kai, Chloe and Clement). They asked me to ease my load by helping me take some stuff and I got defensive towards them. And when they're about to take my bag off, I was telling them "Don't touch my bag! Don't touch my bag!" but eventually they succeeded to get it off me.

After that, I cried. One was because I felt so touched by their kindness and care, and two was because I felt so disappointed with myself, selfish with myself cause I won't be carying my bag unlike them. It's like as if I'm a burden for them. But then Kai told me that if they were not to help me, then I would drag the team more. Clement was also saying we should all summit together, as one team.

One thing for sure is - I'm just so touched by their help. And lesson learnt - don't get AMS (but how?)

The trek up! Almost there...

The way to the summit goes as follow. First we passed by Sayat Sayat hut. Then followed by about 500m of "flat" terrain, then a 150m hike up to Low's peak. In that last part of 150m, I don't know how and why but I was making my way up there by crawling. I was just pushing myself up, telling myself whatever happens, I'll reach the summit. And then I saw the signboard, and just push myself up. Like as if I forgot what happened, my AMS, life, troubles, problems, school, everything, and push myself to the peak.

HELLOOOO~ from Low's Peak of Mount Kinabalu!

The feeling was REALLY GOOD. To stand on the peak, looking down to clouds like as if you're standing above them. Feeling like as if you're on top of the world. Feeling like as if you can do anything. Best thing was being surrounded by your friends too. The summit has taught me so many things. Of friends, of life, of everything. But being on Low's Peak was just something I can't explain through words. Just being there, is surreally unreal. At the same time.... Okay I seriously don't know how to explain in words.

But the sad thing is... Thanks to my AMS (and happiness and excitement), I didn't take much pictures on the summit. It strikes upon me when I'm back in Singapore, transferring my photos, then I realised I didn't take much pictures in the summit. Oh well, thankfully I have our summit photo with the team though! O yeah!

We made our way down for via ferrata. But since we were late, we (Chloe, Yisheng, Clement, Firman and me) decided to take the shorter via ferrata (walk the torque instead of Low's Peak circuit) instead. It was really fun and challenging man! Being on the steep side of the cliff, abseiling down, jumping here and there, walking across rocks and etc. One freaking awesome experience I'll never forget :)

Via Ferrata baby! (Photo credits to Clement's Camera)

And finally we via ferrata-ed back to Pendant Hut, and we were the first team to arrive! Mwahaha. Went for lunch and then the day just went by with each team arriving back. Poor them, some of them were caught in the rain while via ferrata-ing and they were really cold! The team quickly went to help them out by giving them hot water and taking off their bags and shoes. Thankfully they're alright after a good sleep :)

We made it down! :D

The next day, the 2nd summit team (Candy, Warda, Afiq and Helmi) went to the summit! They were really blessed with an even better weather than us there :D Kudos to the 4 of them. Even though they were not feeling well the day before, they decided not to give up and went up all the way to the summit! Especially Candy, who summited with a sprained ankle (wow, if I were her I think I would just tell myself next time). I feel really happy with the fact that all 27 of us made it up! Cheers to the awesome team :D

The second summit team arriving in Pendant Hut! :D

While waiting for the 2nd summit team to arrive, the rest of us were drying our stuff below Pendant Hut on this rocky spot. We were laying out jackets, shoes, soles, shirts etc as the sun was out. The weather was clear, and well (thankfully) my stuff were dry so I was just there to enjoy the sun and view with them. Then... It strike upon me that I will really miss this place. The view, the serenity and the weather was just amazing. Not everyday in our lives can we see them. And what's even better? Was to hear the team's chatter and laughter as I enjoy the view and the wind. It made me look back on the long journey we've went through thus far.

This is the view that I saw, as I was sitting down on the rocky spot

We made our way down to the Kinabalu park HQ. We were really late, and we were caught in the rain! So we trekked for about 1 hour plus under the rain. Pretty awesome experience heh. Weird enough, I was feeling... Rather "empty" on the way down. Not sure if it's the fact that the journey is coming to an end, or is it me just wanting to get down quickly, or... I don't know. All I know I was feeling neither happy nor sad, neither tired nor energetic on the way down. Pretty weird no?

And we boarded our bus back to Kota Kinabalu. Somehow, during the earlier part of the drive, where most people got knocked out from the trip, I couldn't fall asleep. I was just looking back, and couldn't believe myself that I've climbed mount Kinabalu. A mountain of 4095.2m in height, the highest peak in Southeast Asia. I've never climbed a mountain before. And here I am, writing this, as someone who just climbed a mountain. Sometimes is is thoughts like this, that made you feel, what's there in life, that we can't do?

Many times one would feel so insignificant, so weak, so incapable of doing this and that. But well this trip just taught me one thing: Life is just too short for us to tell ourselves "I can't do it". Initially when I saw the poster of this trip, I told myself "Nahh I shall go next year, don't think I can do it". But then I decided to go, just to tell myself, that hopefully, I get to prove myself wrong again.

So I did prove myself wrong.

And just like my Inner Mongolia OCIP trip, this trip has made me realise how wonderful and beautiful this world is. It's just such a waste for it to be left unexplored. Go out, and have an adventure. You have no idea what it can do to you, what it can teach you, and what changes it can bring to you. But of course do plan and prepare the trip before you go. Safety always comes first before fun (Thanks Mr Kwok! :D)

Well, the mountain teaches things that sometimes the school won't teach you. Life is a journey, is all about learning. There are things we get to learn through the event that happened to us, through the journeys and experiences that fell upon us. The mountain teaches me so many things about life, people, and myself. It's quite amazing isn't it. Well as the famous saying goes: The best teachers in life are your experiences.

The trip then progresses on with a night in Kota Kinabalu, which we spend eating seafood and walking around (yumz). Then the next day we had our certificate-giving ceremony, which everyone (including me) got emotional into. It's been such a great journey for everyone I guess. So great.

This trip is just another reason why my 2011 has been so awesome. I've certainly enjoyed myself from this trip (excluding getting AMS), and I've certainly LEARNT a lot from the journey as well. I've accomplished my LEAP Intermediate. And now I can't wait to finish my LEAP Advanced, before I graduate! Alright, one item from my life's to-do list stroke off, and another added!

Do you knoq how does it feel on top of world? I do :)

And you should try it one day too

Last two weeks of 2011

2011-12-18T20:41:00.000+08:00

Sunset at Mount Kinabalu

And the year is coming to an end,

Like how a day's sunset would arrive
Well c'est la vie, that's life

As a day end, another would start

Currently at gate A16 of Changi Airport T3, waiting for my delayed flight to take off. Oh well, apparently the weather is quite bad so the flight got delayed for 40 minutes. It's suppose to take off at 2020 but it's delayed for 40 minutes so it will take off at 9 instead. No worries, that means I have time to blog hehe, which... I've been wanting to do but apparently just somehow somewhat couldn't do -.-

Anyway yeah I'm supposed to blog about my KK trip right? Two days ago? Right. But well okay this is what happened. I'm supposedly supposed to wake up early, blog, have a nice breakfast, go Holland print my photos and yeah that sounds like a perfectly planned good day right? But no. I woke up at 11 T_T and I fell asleep again till 1. Horrible, I guess I was just too tired from the trip.

But I promise I'll blog when I get back okay :) Cause I need a peace of mind to blog about the whole trip, plus the photos, plus a nice calming environment for me to write. Plus I doubt I can do everything in 40 minutes :P

Anyway yesterday I went out with Ahpa in the afternoon! She'll be flying off to US for her OITP on the 29th, and by then I would be in Indo already. So need to spend a day out with her before she went there! :) Anyway we watched New Year's Eve, and... Seriously, it's my first time watching in a cinema that is freaking EMPTY. I mean seriously I think there's only 10 people watching? Or lesser or more. But definitely less than 20 :O

The movie was quite awesome. I would say it was pretty boring in the beginning, I guess the main story and theme wasn't there yet. But coming to the middle of 3/4 of the movie, everything starts to unravel and it's a pretty nice movie! Anyway it's a must-watch for those who feel 2011 isn't a good year for them, or for those who need something to push them for 2012. There's a nice meaning to the movie. Now I seriously can't wait for 2012 heh. Even though honestly speaking, 2011 was really AWESOME hehehe.

Then after that we went to shop around cause Ahpa was looking for some things. And we went to the Philatelic museum again! There was a Tin tin exhibition and I got free postcards teehee. After we got all of our stuff we bid farewell and I went to meet Adelin, Jeslyn, WQ, MF and Neal for dinner! My awesome secondary school clique, finally meeting them again after their A levels!

Felt really happy to meet them cause yeah it's been such a long time since we all meet up due to A Levels. And we're meeting again next year heh for another dinner.

Everytime I meet them, it just reminds me how fast time is flying. It feels like it was yesterday when we were sitting down on the benches of TSS' canteen laughing eating talking. Then it feels like those days when we meet, with them on their uniforms. Now, we meet with them having their A Levels finished. Time just flies huh, and it's scary.

And then 2011 is also going to end REALLY soon. Like 13 more days! OMG! Wasn't it three weeks ago when the year started? I mean yeah as a metaphor. 2011 has been a great journey and a great year with bumps here and there. But well I guess, somehow, I feel that it is in this year that I learnt the most about life, about everything, about studies and more the most.

2012 is coming, we don't know what's up ahead but we definitely know we can embrace its arrival with anticipation and joy. Don't be afraid to take the steps ahead in the coming year. A new adventure is waiting, a new chapter opens, a new journey begins. Take what we learnt from 2011 together to 2012, and make 2012 a better year than 2011! :D

So why am I writing like as if tomorrow is the 1st of Jan 2012? -.-

Anyway I guess I'll end it off here. My flight should be taking off soon cause I can see the plane has arrived. So see ya later in my cosy little room in my hometown! I wish for 2011 to end off beautifully and awesomely cause well, it's been just a wonderful journey I have in this beautiful year. And who doesn't want a wonderful journey to end off in a wonderful way right? Alrighty, see ya all, have a great year-end holiday! :)

Oh yes, hopefully I can end off 2011 beautifully with.... My assignments done heh :P

Back from the summit of Mount Kinabalu

2011-12-15T23:57:00.000+08:00

Hello from on top of the world!

The place above the clouds

Where you feel you can do anything

Hello guys! Yes I just got back. Well not just but I got back from my KK trip today! It was an awesome journey seriously. I really wish I can blog about it today but my eyes are shutting off already. But I'll blog about it tomorrow! I just finished sorting out the photos. Then I gotta tweak some photos which need adjustments. I'll put the photos inside tomorrow :)

Just to sum it all, I think the journey was really an awesome one. I've learnt so much from the trip. From the mountain, from the people, from everyone. And I really believe that all these things that I've learnt will be carried along with me in life. The journey is so awesome. And now I'm currently having some withdrawal syndrome from the trip :/

Nevertheless look out here for the update! Tomorrow I'll blog again. See ya! :D

Off climbing Mount Kinabalu!

2011-12-10T00:07:00.001+08:00

No matter how weak we all thought we are

We never know how far we can go in life

The sky, maybe a limit

But go further

Hello all! Damn I missed the time again. Wanted to blog on "Friday" but it's Saturday now so... Oh well :P But anyway! I'm finally done with my MST and Med Micro presentation! So I had Cchem on Tuesday and Haem on Thursday. Both papers were alright I guess, despite of a couple... Careless mistake oh gosh. And today we had Med Micro presentation! Pretty intense but we pulled it off so alright! :D

But well... Not sure why but I feel really demoralised during today's class. For no reason. But after hearing what Dr Tan was telling us, I feel enlightened and inspired actually :) I like his favourite phrase: Can be done! (which he seemingly repeat quite a few times today, which is true!).

And surprise surprise, on Wednesday Frank called me to ask Candy and I to do a presentation to the parents today! We did alright, despite me rushing throught he powerpoint last night -.- it was rushy but I managed to do it. And Helmi asked if it's possible to make a photo montage for today. And well I did! Within one hour whew. It's not bad I think! :)

I used the song Go Do by Jonsi, which is my favourite song these days. The lyrics are so meaningful and kind of applicable to our case this time of climbing Mount K :) So it's awesome hehe.

I think I did alright during the presentation. So did Candy. And I hope my team mates and the parents enjoyed the video montage as well! Today's session just made me realise how much we've gone so far on this journey of ours. We've trained together, bonded together, and on Sunday we're finally going for our trip. Time flies huh! It's like as if it was yesterday that I got selected for this trip. But hey the trip is tomorrow! :O

Well as I've shared perhaps in my previous posts. And as I've shared in today's session. I came back to the question - Why do I choose to go for this trip?

I'm sure we all know how short our lives are. Well, I wouldn't say, let say, 80 years a short one. But we only have one life, and we gotta live it! I'm practically someone who's not really active, not sporty, not physically active either. After all I'm just someone from SPSB, I enjoy photography and music. But well, I'm however, definitely, someone who love to challenge myself! I love to take challenges and to push myself to my limits.

Well I guess what's life without a little challenge and adventure right? :)

I've never climbed a mountain before. Hills... Yeah. Highland, maybe. But this would be my first time climbing a mountain. And this would also be my first time stepping my feet to a place with a elevation of more than 1200m above sea level? How freaking cool is that! I think the experience will be an awesome one Just hoping I won't get AMS - Acute mountain sickness.

Life is too short, seriously. As I said I don't want to grow up and die telling myself "Why didn't I do this? "I should have gone for...." "I regretted not.....". I'm fit and healthy now. This is my chance, this is when I can seize the opportunity to do things I might not in the future. In life, moments don't come twice. Neither do good opporunities. Well they might come twice, but you can never take back the first experience you get.

I promise myself that I want to live life to the fullest. I take this challenge, and I'll take it and finish it. As I once said again, no matter how weak we all thought we are, we never know how far we can go in life.

Alright! So I'll be staying in SP tomorrow night (since I have to catch a flight in Johor) so I won't be blogging and that's why I've decided to blog tonight. I'll be back on the 15th! Be sure to be back with lots of stories and memories to forge forever. And not to forget. Le photos~ :D

Hoping that I'll have a smooth and fun and safe journey for this trip! I'm praying for beautiful weather as well. I want to catch the sunrise in the summit with blue skies above me. And yes, we will reach the summit :)

See you all! Pray for us yeah :D

"I don't want to grow old and die, telling myself that I regretted not doing this and that"

Standard Chartered Marathon 2011 10KM - DONE

2011-12-04T21:41:00.001+08:00

Today was such an awesomely crazy day! Cause....

I FINISHED THE STANDARD CHARTERED MARATHON 10 KILOMETRE RACE!

It felt so awesome! It was my first marathon after all, my first 10 KM, my first race, and wow I finished it! Felt so good seriously. And the best part is I finished it in 1h 10m! Okay even though my target was one hour, but I think it's alright cause I was expecting to run for at least 1h30m :P But oh well, it's not the time that matters but the distance we've covered! :)

Anyway met Doreen, Alicia and Saeyeoh at City Hall and we make out way there. Deposit our bags and then we head to the start point. Kayheng was late so he caught up with us later. The journey to the start point was.... Quite horrible. We're supposed to start at 7.15 but I crossed the start line at about 8 AM. Wow really. But nevertheless thankfully we're not like disqualified or something like that. We're quite close to the closing of the gantry. But we made it in time.

So I ran and ran and ran. I think my run was awesome! No pain at all, just that my feet were burning woosh. And some part of the race it was rather hot cause of the sun while some is shady cause of the trees and buildings. Quite funny I always tell myself whenever I see the marking. "Oh it's just 9 KM more" "Halfway more to go...." and lastly "LAST 2 KM goddamnit!!" and then I crossed the finish line! :D

I drank on every water station. Was on the urge of peeing but I hold my urine and skipped all the toilets, just the water stations. Was quite scared that I'll get stitches while drinking but turned out nope. I think the hardest parts of the race were the 5-8 KM route, where there was quite a slope so I slowed down. And the 8-10 KM! I think the last part of the race is the determining point where you want to give up, or not.

I wanted to walk my way from 8KM onwards. But then... I decided not to cause I was just telling myself that I can do it! I can push it! And I was really looking for the finishing line, but I was deceived by the big banner. I thought it was the finishing line but turn out I have 200 metres to go. So I just sprinted to reach the line and when I crossed the finishing line, I just put my hands up and felt a wave of euphoria rushing within me. It just felt so good. Like all those you've been fighting for has been paid off. Swoosh.

I think this marathon is one life-changing experience. Firstly, it was my first marathon. So I didn't really know what to expect. Turned out my run was quite alright so it was good. The one thing that I'm super proud of myself is the fact that I didn't stop running for the ENTIRE race (minus the taking water part). I was on the verge of walking but I kept on telling myself that I can do this, I can do this, keep on running I can do this and there I go, 10KM run.

Anyway I told myself that in this marathon, I won't stop running. And I never did! :)

The race itself was also a motivational and inspirational event. While running today, I saw two people that really motivated me. First was a man with only one leg. His other leg was a prosthetic blade. I was stunned when I saw his prosthetic leg! The next person was this blind man who joined the 10KM marathon! Well even though he wasn't running, but I still salute him for taking part in the event! :)

After seeing these two people, I feel so ashamed if I were to give up in life. It feels like if they can do it, if they've the strength to pick themselves and step up in the marathon despite of their disabilities, I see no reason why we, normal human beings, can't do the same thing too. In fact after seeing these two people, I felt so energised and spirited that I ran faster! :)

I read this article in Reader Digest once and I came across this phrase: Impossibility is the state of the mind. Which is really true! After seeing the two people above, I was just telling myself impossibility is the state of the mind. I have to get rid of the thoughts and just continue running and push myself further. I won't give up till my body gives in. Which... I would never let that happen.

I guess we can all relate this marathon to life. Impossibility is the state of the mind. No matter how weak we all thought we are, we never know how far we can go in life. There are times where we would tell ourselves no I can't do it. I won't be able to do it and so on. Actually, we can. Just that our mind tells is we can't. It's all in the mind I guess, right? :)

Whenever I see advertisements of marathons in the past, I would tell myself that I won't be able to do it. Even seeing the 10KM category is like running a hundred kilo race or something like that (of course I'm just exaggerating). But hey, look, I just ran a freaking TEN KILOMETRE marathon and nothing can ever change that fact! :D

I remember when I first posted on Facebook that I'm going for this marathon, someone commented "You can meh?". And now I can happily say in front of that person's face. Yes I fcuking can (sorry for vulgarity). Isn't it just so lovely to prove yourself and prove others wrong? It's such a lovely feeling. But of course the most lovely feeling in the world is to prove yourself wrong. To realise you can do it when you once thought you couldn't. The feeling can only be enjoyed by you, hmm?

During the marathon, I purposely changed my song in the last few hundreds meter or so to "Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros". When I was running/sprinting the last 200 metres or so, yes I can honestly say this, I cried. I don't know how to explain it but I was just damn happy to be able to finish and run this marathon. With the song blasting in my ears, I feel like I can just fly to the finishing line. It feels like all my hardwork has been paid off and that my dream has come true. Such an awesome feeling.

And at the same time I think I feel this sense of accomplishment where I can reflect to in life. It's like if I can do this, I'm sure I can take up more challenges in life. I've proved myself that if I don;t give up, things that we've been working hard for will be there. I really don't know how to put it into words but yeah, just an extreme sense of euphoria and accomplishment I guess. After all it's my first marathon :)

So people, I truly recommend you to take part in a marathon. It's a life changing experience (depends how you take it actually) but yeah, it will be one. It's a motivational and inspirational event you can participate to and you can also take what you learn and put it in real life. Some people believe that life is a race, and death is the finishing line we all need to cross. How you run your race, that's life.

I'm hoping of joining the 21K marathon next year, hopefully I can take part in another 10K marathon before that. To train for my 21. If time lets me, I'll run the 42 two years later before I graduate heh. Running, as some people would say are like drugs. You'll get addicted to it! :) I'm not a runner, or someone who's into running. I just enjoy running. Just like walking, running takes my mind off somewhere. And... Who doesn't love activities that give you instant endorphins? :D

My time is running short. I guess I have to seize every opportunity in life that I can take to do things that I've been wanting to do. I've never thought I would run a marathon, but I just did. And well, what else can I say? I want to run another, and another, and as much as possible. Life is too short really. I don't want to die telling myself that I regret doing this, regret doing that.

So here I am saying that I'm a proud SCMS 10K marathon finisher! :D One item each from my new year resolution and my life's to-do-list crossed off. But getting it crossed doesn't mean I won't do it again. I'll always do it! Whenever I can. Life is a race, your race. And not others! :)

And last but not least I would like to thank the following people: Ahpa, Doreen, Alicia and Kayheng who ran today. Vjie for coming and have breakfast with us. The two people I mentioned above. All the runners who gave me motivation. Everyone who has trained with me in one way or another. Last but not least, to Coldplay, Jonsi, Sigur Ros for the wonderful songs that kept me going throughout my race. Music keeps me going! Sweet~

Zaki's first half marathon! And Saeyeoh's and my first 10K :D

And there we go kissing our medals away mwahaha

[Photos courtesy of Saeyeoh's camera]

Great job to everyone who ran today. Do take a good rest and stud hard for those who are having their MSTs and exams and tests! See ya soon :)

I run for the sake of overtaking myself. Not others.

My medal! :D

We run to be

2011-12-03T23:58:00.001+08:00

This song will be my friend tomorrow

"We should always know, that we can do anything"

Jonsi - Go do

Hello people! It's been quite a long time since I wrote here eh. Oh well, been pretty busy with two tests this week and this and that, but I'm here! So excited for tomorrow! Cause... I'll be running Standard Chartered Marathon 10KM tomorrow! Woosh, so scary and excited man. I must be crazy for joining a 10K run no? But oh well what is life without a challenge right? :)

Yup so tomorrow will be my first time running a 10K marathon, in fact, a marathon, and in fact, 10KM of distance heh. My target is to just run and give my best shot for it! And will always remember my mantra for running, don't run for the sake of overtaking others, but run for the sake of overtaking yourself! Mwahaha. Honestly speaking, I'm pretty excited for tomorrow that I'm afraid I can't sleep later. But should be fine.

In fact, I'm too excited to study tonight, so I decided not to study :/

Thankfully, my MST will start on Tuesday so I should have ample time to study on Sunday and Monday. So gonna study on Monday, full day, rawrrr. And I hope my body will recuperate enough on Monday. Should be fine though.

Alright I guess that's all for today! I don't know what else to blog and write about. Just wishing all my friends all the best for the run later! We can do it! See you all at the finishing line :D

And I found a nice quote from Facebook, I think it's by David Goggins

"I don't stop when I'm tired. I stop when I'm done"

That's such a nice quote! I think it'll be my motivation for tomorrow! :D

Alright see you all people! SCMS 10K, finally, here I come! :)

Some songs for you to enjoy! ^^

2011-11-28T22:56:00.001+08:00

Okay just wanna break the 666 chain. Oh gosh can't believe I'm so superstitious -.-

Anyway here are some awesome songs I discovered in the weekend! Enjoy and relax~

This song, I've been looking for it for the past 3 years. I FINALLY FOUND IT!

And also....

And this song, just takes me to some coastal area of Vietnam.... So blissful and relaxing! Glad to have found this song! :D

Alright relax, unwind and enjoy!

One hundred and sixty

2011-11-28T22:40:00.001+08:00

The new Clementi bus interchange!

Amazing and funny, how much time could fly huh? :)

Okay I know I'm not a Christian. But this is my 666th post... Spooky! Haha. Anyway well spooky, unlucky or whatsoever, today was an awesome day! Seriously haha. I guess superstition get a better of me.

Started the day with a 4K run! Believe it or not, yes! A morning run haha. Well I felt really guilty for not running the entire of last week. So I've decided to run in the morning :D Woke up at 8.30 and then I started running at 9. At first I just wanna run 2K, but I've decided to push myself further and bingo, that's a 4. I felt really good cause after the run, I felt really refreshed and hyped up! What an awesome way to start the week :)

Then I left for school after taking a bath and packing up. Today I took 7 to Clementi. Hmm, the bus interchange has finally made a move to the new location. Well it's much better cause it's aircon-ed! And it looks very stylish and nice. Except... The berths are kinda confusing. Like there's a berth with only one bus, I was kinda shocked, I thought I went to a wrong berth.

Time flies huh. I've been witnessing three phases of the Clementi interchange for the past 9 years of my life. IT began to move to the temporary interchange when I was in sec 1, I remembered. It was a few days before my China trip. So it has been there for like about 4 years now. The temporary interchange holds many sweet memories. It holds a sentimental value to me. Well I've been going there for almost everyday during my secondary school days. Of course, it's like my best friend :)

So well, au voir the temporary interchange :) Time goes on, and everything changes according to it.

School was alright I guess. Didn't know it was raining quite heavily in the afternoon when it was so hot in the morning. I ended up freezing outside. The wind was kinds strong and it's quite scary heh. The rain was super heavy! Out of a sudden! :O

After class went for KK stairs training! Only 9 of us were there. Well of course, with MSTs around the corner, everyone would start studying too eh. Thankfully my MSTs are splitted two-two in this week and next. So I kinda can cope with the load (I promise I'll study after this!). So we climbed 160 storeys (40x4!). The feeling was really awesome. We push one another and we help one another. Endorphins overload heh.

It's good how we all started with 3, then we increase to 4. I myself couldn't believe that I've accomplished that. But yeah sure, I think my fitness level went down quite badly with one week of no training :O But it's great to do it again! I guess life's like that. We gotta one step at a time. Before we can walk, crawl. Before we can run, walk. Before we can leap, jump. And before we can fly.... Drink red bulls.

Okay just kidding, but you get it right? :)

Alright! That's all for the day. I'm ready to tackle immunology part 2~ :D Here I come! Come to daddy :)

Hope I can break that barrier, pretty pretty soon

Let the rain

2011-11-27T21:44:00.001+08:00

Sometimes we can't deny that we're weaker than others.

But never, ever, think that we can never do the things those people can do.

Sigh, the weather has been unsupportive of me running. It's official that I didn't run at all this week :/ And my freaking marathon is next week! Argh hope my body is still conditioned. Well thanks to the KK training, I hope that somehow helps me to condition and prepare my body as well. Thinking if I should run tomorrow morning (provided I can wake up). Like maybe just around PV. Or go to the track. Hmm...

Anyway today I wanted to run at about 5. Then at 4.23 it started.... POURING. Like literally. Just a gush of sudden rain and wind. Kinda scary. So I lay on my bed to wait and I fell asleep. Gahh. But anyway I woke up at 6.30 (which was rather dark already) and the rain hasn't stopped. So I guess there's no point waiting. But hey I had an awesome nap! Heh :P

Then I cooked dinner. Yummy, pork chop (no worries it's the lean cut so very little fats) accompanied by mushroom and carrot mash, served with a cider reduction. Sounds so posh? Well it's not really posh but it sure does taste very yummy. Hmm well my guardian has re-furbished the kitchen. Instead of 4 stoves now, there are only 3. And she's very critical about the splattering oil. I guess you can't really help it no? I don't know but I find there wasn't any oil splattering with the old stove. Or I guess it's just me :P

After dinner, I did a 30 minute work out to replace my run today. Not bad! Weights, push ups, squats, bridges. All 3 sets each. Felt so hyped up now, especially I'm listening to Coldplay's newest album now (Y). Really awesome album they got there. I've always loved Coldplay. They're songs are in some way unique, and in one way uplifting! Been a fan of them since like sec 1? :P

Alright I guess that's all for now. I wanna bathe and then continue with my work. Such a sad fact but oh well. Not really sad, but now Sundays are really used for working. Last sem it was Saturday, now I changed it to Sunday. Well with school starting at 12 tomorrow, I guess there's no wrong in doing that so :)

Lots of tests this week. I can do this! :D
PS: I've shaved my head again (Y). This time number 2 though, so not so short.

Photo

2011-11-23T22:22:00.001+08:00

Well as you can see from my previous post, I've been shortlisted (or my photo I mean) for the IFDPC (International Friendship Day Photography Competition) finals! So basically I submitted my photos, let people vote, top 30 photos will pass through the voting round and will be shortlisted for the judges to judge on and choose. And.... The verdict says....

I won the merit prize under the activity category! :D

I feel really happy after hearing my name from the announcer! Well actually I have no intention of winning. I just submitted my photos in hope for people to vote and who knows what the outcome is. Having my photo displayed there is enough to make me happy! Now that I took the merit prize as well, I feel doubly happy haha. It's pretty awesome. It's my first "large scale" photography competition so getting a merit prize is awesome enough I guess! :)

Anyway congratulations to Jasmine as well! Cause she won merit prize under activity too! :D Her shot is really awesome too! Not forgetting, to all winners and contestants of the photography competition as well! In one way or another, we all have contributed to the event and we all should be proud of it yes! :)

Well I've always told myself. Expect nothing, just do your best. In one way or another, something greater will be returned to you. Even though this "something" comes from within you. To me, like joy. After I've heard the result that I won the merit prize, I feel happy. And in the bus, after pondering about more things, I feel even happier. In a way... Like I'm given better and bigger prizes from the competition - Joy, memories, stories.

Let me show you the photo which I submitted, which is also the Editor's favourite.

-Sunset Joy-

For we cherish our hard work and friendship, through the planting of 1133 fir trees in Inner Mongolia, China. With the sunset, joining in the celebration.

This photo was taken by me after we finished digging our holes for the trees. I can remember still, the sky was kinda cloudy and I was thinking "Oh man no nice sunset to celebrate our end of diggings". Then at the end of the day, the sky just turned yellow and quite clear. Everyone decided to get up to the railway track (yup that's a railway track by the way) and I decided to help them snap a shot. And here it is.

You know, when I saw this photo being displayed under the "Editor's choice" panel, I just felt this unexplainable sense of joy and pride. Well not only because my photo has been chosen, but I'm even prouder with the fact that I was there to take this photo, and also to actually know the story and memories behind this photo. A photo is not a photo when there's no story behind it. Well that's what I believe.

I came up with this today:

"It's not the prize, it's not the fame. Not the pride and not the competition that matter. What truly matters is the story and memories behind that the photo holds"

When I saw this photo just now, a wave of memories just rushed through in my head. It was as if the whole scene, in Duolun, just appeared in front of my eyes. Even tough in front of me is this black board with tiny photos on them. I guess this is how much this photo means to me. In a sense, I love this photo because it captures, it freezes, it stops the moment, that moment, we had after we finished digging.

It replays the memories I have about the trip. It restarts the feeling I was feeling during that particular moment of time. It just takes me to a place where I was once at, without moving a single step.

This is the reason why I love photography.

Photographs are boats which I used to sail the sea of memories that time forbids me to travel back. I'm pretty grateful that I have the love and passion for photography. Thankful enough to own a camera to capture these moments which are never retrievable back. It lets me travel back through time, without physically moving. But mentally walking.

Photos in one way or another evoke feelings on me. To me, my definition of a great photograph is something that evokes emotions. Be it sadness, happiness, anger or etc. It touches your heart, not only your eyes and your mind. Well it can keep you thinking, But not all photographs have the ability to touch your heart.

Here's another photo which was displayed.

-Game of yo-yo in Duolun-

It’s a cold autumn evening. And some kids are playing yo-yo at Duolun in Inner Mongolia, China. Life’s simplest pleasure which is seemingly lost in today’s world. Sometimes I envy these kids, who are able to enjoy such simplest and at the same time, joyous pleasure

This was also taken in Duolun, while I was walking around. If I'm not wrong it was the 2nd day of digging when we went back earlier due to bad weather (which somehow somewhat it was fine and clear in Duolun -.-). These kids were just playing their games of yo-yo and I decided to take a picture of them. They look so happy and blissful. It's just a yo-yo, while kids here, nowadays, indulge themselves in iPhones, iPods, PSP and this and that.

To me this photograph teaches me something - to not take life for granted. I seriously feel envious of these kids. They are able to enjoy such simple pleasures, while I'm here, looking for those simple pleasures. So I guess, we ought to take some good breaks in life. It's not about being the best, having the best, going for the best. Somehow at the end of the day, simplicity brings us back to where we're supposed to be.

Ah, what a long post huh. Anyway I just want to use this opportunity to thank everyone who has voted for my photo, and to SPP for holding this competition. To all the organisers of the IFD and to all students involved in it. To my awesome GT members for being my models in the first photo, and also for giving me those wonderful memories we all spent in Duolun for that lovely 10 days.

To my dearest girlfriend, A230, for being there with my eyes to capture those moments (muacks). To those kids from Duolun who were playing their yo-yos haha! To Green Desert project by Asian Journeys and SP, for allowing me to step into Inner Mongolia. Without this, I will never be able to take these two shots.

Most ultimately, to Duolun itself. That beautiful town where I shot both of my photos at. Thank you for the wonderful memories you have given me, which I always keep in my heart. For letting me take these two scenes, which teach me lots of new things.

Thank you.

On Cloud 9

2011-11-22T23:59:00.000+08:00

Okay just a short post to say...

I got short listed for IFDPC (International Friendship Day Photography Competition) finals! Tomorrow will be the release of result so I'm SUPER DUPER excited! :D

I won't be going for tomorrow's training :/ Cause I really really want to be part of the finals! Haha. But I won't be missing the trek on Friday! :)

My first ever "large-scale" photography competition so... How can I not be excited! :D

Alright see you! Hoping to hear some good news tomorrow :D

40th Storey heaven

2011-11-21T22:37:00.001+08:00

Rainy Monday afternoon

And the road is empty

But please do drive with care

Whew, today was kinda awesome! Alright I guess except for the part of the day where... We got bombed during clinical Biochem presentation . It's not really we but more of me! Haha. Why do they love lipids so much T_T but I guess we pulled the presentation off, well! Even though we lack of tests and that we have so little differential diagnoses, I guess we're kind of good. As seen from Sam's tweet, it's our 8th presentation. Time flies huh :/

That's for the Cchem, and I guess that's all for the day since we only have one lesson. Oh yeah let me break the news... I'm selected for OITP! Either Harvard of Stanford. But I really wish I can go to Stanford cause it's about Bioimaging! I went to the Nikon Bioimaging centre with Syaz and Yiyin last year. And I was really interested in how they are working etc. And of course, I love microscopy too! I think it's just awesome seeing those cute and lovely bacteria and virus and cells. Okay life of a science student...

Well we'll see, I feel thankful to have been chosen though :) Sometimes I wonder why am I the chosen one. Dr Tan mentioned about reviews from the other lecturers so... I'm grateful for that I guess :)

Anyway after school went back home first, cause I was supposed to borrow bag from DSD. But Zaki will be passing his to me tomorrow! Thanks a lot Zaki! :D Owe you something. So I guess I don't have to worry about bags. I wanted to buy but was wondering if it's worth the investment and the money as well. But I'm grateful that Zaki has agreed to lend it to me so yup! I guess can save some bucks to buy other things :)

Went back to school after changing my gears and "topping up" my bag's weight. Heh I cheated today. My bag is 8Kg :/ Couldn't fine anymore way to increase the weight even though I already put 2 dumbells of 2 Kg inside, 2 one litre bottle and more heh. But I guess it's better than nothing :P So we headed to the block again, and this time we did the time trial. 3 x 40 storeys!

My group consisted of Alvin, Warda, Zahin, Monika, Clement and me! We did an average of about 10 minutes to go up which I think is pretty good :D Good job guys! Glad that we're all able to push ourselves and finish the time trial. And Clement was just awesome, he sprinted from like 2nd to 10th storey? OMG, wish I could do that! :)

Well KK is in front of us soon, pretty soon. With these trainings and the support we gave to each other, I'm pretty sure we can reach the top! :) But well, I really hope we get to bond with each other more so yup. I think we're there soon to break the ice. We're there pretty soon! :)

Alright I'm going back to work, see ya all!

Some things don't come twice in life
Either you take it or you don't
And I'm taking it.

Go Do

2011-11-17T23:13:00.001+08:00

And the day comes to an end

The last day of the year is coming

Time is short, life is short

Make full use of it

Go Do!

I'm somehow, falling in love again with Jonsi's Go Do. Well actually I've been in love with the song. It's one of the rarest songs which I would get instant endorphins whil and after listening to it. Well it's quite of a bizarre phenomenon but yeah, seriously, his songs make me happy. Maybe the hyped-up beat, may be the melody, may be the words, I just love it!

Anyway today was alright I guess. We presented on haematology! Like finally. Well cause two weeks ago, I was so well prepared for the case 1 presentation . Then ended up we're only required to present some parts. Oh well, I was a bit down then but today we presented the whole thing! How awesome :) And school was okay I guess, I was a bit high during Biostat for some apparent reason. No idea why.

Yesterday it was my first time hiking to Bukit Timah! We had our training there and we did a time trial. Whew, not as easy as I thought, but definitely an awesome training for all of us. We begin with a small trek for about 45 minutes (or lesser I think). Then we start our time trial. Well it's not a time trial which requires us to climb the whole BT but it's of a certain height which is rather challenging! Wow! :)

I'm pretty happy with myself cause I didn't stop. I mean well yeah I did stop but it was only for a few secodns. To wipe my sweat, to just tell myself I can do this, then continue the climb. I mean even though we're climbing staircases, it's not those regular ones but actually of quite a long height! I feel proud of my team too, during the trial we patted each other's back and support one another. Even though it's a time trial and that we "don't have to wait for our friends", support is still support. It's amazing how pat on my bag can boost my morale :)

Well I suppose it's true what they say. When you're up there, it's not you versus the terrain. But more of you versus yourself. No matter how hard the terrain will be, as long as you keep on fighting with your negative thoughts, the hike can just be a stroll in the park. And of course, as easy as a stroll in the park can get, it can feel like a full marathon when you're not just into it.

It's all in the mind :)

Anyway today I am supposed to have my 2.4 test, but it was pushed to tomorrow. Thanks a lot, cause my leg is still aching from yesterday's climb! No idea how to remove it :/ done stretching and stuff but still there. So with my 2.4 removed, I decided to... Walk home from school! Well this is my 2nd time walking home, and this time round I know the directions and stuff. The first time was really -.- just walking round and round.

Well didn't really walk home. In fact I walked from Dover all the way to Jelita (cause I need to buy stuff for dinner). Truly enjoyed the walk, perhaps I should do this more often. Thankfully I wasn't caught in the rain. And in fact, it didn't rain at all even though the clouds were so dark and gloomy.

On the side note, look what I found while walking home!

This was just found randomly on a pathway, someone must have carved it or something like that. It's carpe diem! Which in latin means seize the day :D I learnt this from my history teacher Mr Andy haha!

Well I guess the walk I had today pretty much taught me something valuable. Life is short, there's just too little time to doubt yourself and to enclose yourself in your comfort zone. Get out of it, explore the world, and seize the opportunity. Seize the day and make full use of everything in it. Time is ticking my friend, remember we don't have much time left so enjoy it!

Funny how I never come across this before, even though I've been passing that path for a long time already (it's near the place I love to run). See? If I didn't walk home today, I wouldn't have seen this :)

Get the moral?

Philosophical

2011-11-15T23:57:00.000+08:00

Sunset today

Okay I'm damn slow. I didn't realise I can write labels for my blog posts. Which I suppose also refer to the "tags" like thouse in Youtube videos or basically what my post is about -.- oh wel, now I know so hello! Haha. And I failed too, in a sense I tell myself I want to blog at 11 but well look at the time now. It's 12:15! How awesome. Been digressing a lot just now -.-

Anyway today was alright I guess. It's an ordinary Tuesday, but med micro was kind of fun! New case today and it's pretty interesting how siRNA works and its technology etc. We get to do more research about things as well. It may seem kind of complicated at first but when I got the hang of it, it was kind of alright so yep. Anyway, can't wait to fully understand the mechanism of siRNA! :D

Well we have this Advanced immuno tutorial that was due today. The answer was kind of hard to find, so we ended up asking Dr Simon about clues and etc. Today he went into the classroom and told us "The method is too correct, that's why it is wrong". Oh my antibody, those words are seriously the most philosophical words I've ever heard in the Immunology world! Haha.

We've submitted our answer, and I'm just hoping is the right one :P

After school the sky was heavenly gorgeous (Y). I took some photos but well, the most irritating part was... the sky was even more beautiful when I was running! And also when I didn't have anything to capture the moment with! No phone, no iPod touch and camera. Oh gosh I was feeling damn sad just now, it's always like that. When the moments are beautiful, I don't have my camera to capture it :(

Anyway... I should be thankful cause at least I've caught the moment with my own eyes! :) To see the beauty of life that not everyday, everyone can see :)

And yup I went running today. Pretty worried for my 2.4 cause... I still failed the timing. Felt do disappointed with myself. But I would say that the timing was kind of better, but still failed. Sigh, don't know what to do... But I know I'll pass. That's for sure :) Ran another 4K today! I have to say I don't like running at night, but can't help it either, I went home quite late today anyway.

Today I would say... I kind of push myself more. I was listening to music and the song was C'etait Ici by Yann Tiersen. It's a fast song, I think more than allegro. But I ran according to the pace of the song! And just push myself and push and push and push. I guess I know why my timing failed. I had stitches AGAIN at the beginning. Kinda slowed down...

I've to really get rid of the negative thoughts in my mind. At once glance, running is not a 100% about body. I've always thought I can't run faster than thin people. But whenever I run, there are always people who are of bigger size than me, who run faster than me. If they can run faster than me, I see no reason why I can't run faster than the thin people, right?

In most cases, running is a matter of how much you can push yourself, how much your mind can run with you. When your mind is not there, then you won't be able to run the distance. Our body might not be able to run a thousand miles. But our mind can :)

Sigh, I'm really missing Duolun these days. I guess life is kind of stressful? But... I can do this! I was just pondering those nights, where I would watch 我要上春晚 at night in Duolun, and then dozing off unknowingly. Life was simple and sweet. A hard day of work, followed by a fulfilling dinner, then a shower, a rest and chatting session, switch on the TV, and I'll sleep unknowingly.

I remember once night where I was writing those cards for my GT team (yes I'm revealing to you guys now that I wrote the cards at night actually! While Weijie is asleep haha!), and then suddenly I woke up at 4 AM and my body was slanted to the right from the waist top! I quickly packed my stuff and then just go to sleep again. Sigh, those were the days really! :)

Alright I have to sleep now. Awesome day tomorrow! Trekking Bukit Timah for the first time :D I hope I can reach the top smoothly. I don't want to be a burden to my team, and I know I won't :) See ya!

I won't let you guys down. I won't

Another week

2011-11-14T02:12:00.000+08:00

Raindrops on my window

It's 2:12 AM in the morning and yes I know I shouldn't be blogging. But well I just finished my work, and tomorrow school starts at 12 PM anyway so... All's good. Today was a rainy Sunday. Funny how the weather was all sunny in the late morning, then it just poured throughout the whole afternoon. First was downpour, then followed by lightnings and thunder. Weather oh weather.

Thanks to the rain I couldn't run :/ But I did some work out in my room just now hehe.

Anyway I just finished my work, 3 of them. Well or can I say 2.5 of them. Damn the Monoclonal antibodies, I was really bugged by it just now so yeah. Then it was Clinical Biochem. Lesson learnt don't eat too much prata. And last but not least was CChem reference interval tutorial. Felt so damn guilty for letting Syazwani do all the work (cause we all thought it was individual and turned out it was group so...) But I'll discuss again tomorrow. Got some pointers anyway hehe.

I.... Wouldn't want to feel guilty for literally spending my Saturday free. In fact I was slacking my way through. After this semester, I've made up my mind to make Saturday my rest day. Last semester it was Sunday, but somehow Saturday works better for me now. And after all, it was like 4 days of physically-demanding days. I was really hoping for a break on Saturday.

Another week gone, another week starting. Can't believe it's week 5 now. Time flies huh, felt like it was only yesterday when I stepped into sem 4. But yes, it's been a short month now.

Alright I guess that's all for now. Pretty sleepy, and still need to pack my bag. I'll sleep by 3, that's a promise.

Good morning world.

Aches

2011-11-11T23:57:00.000+08:00

Where shall we go next?

Phew, it's the third day after Poly50 and my legs are still aching. Somehow, my hands, abdomen and chest area too heh. Perhaps it's because of the fact that I went for my KK training yesterday as well. 3 sets of 40 storey climbing! Oh gosh it felt so awesome haha. First time ever in my life that I've climbed such high storeys. But it's worth everything I guess. Pain is temporary, glory is forever! :)

Anyway yesterday was alright. Biostat got cancelled so Kai, Candy and I decided to go hunt for our trekking shoes. We went to Velocity but no shoe sizes for us. We then went to Toa Payoh! Thankfully I got it. Yayness for 30% discount! From 139 --> 83 ouyeah haha. Bought the base layer as well. There was a promotion too! Wee :) Good day to shop I guess.

I'm just left with a few more things and I'm ready (equipment wise) for the trip heh. Went back to school for the training. Was expecting myself to stop halfway cause I would feel tired. Well, I didn't! So proud of that haha. Even though yeah I sweat like a freaking pig. I guess I really do have excessive sweat glands heh. We also did sets of push ups and crunches in between the climbs.

I've got this awesome feeling about the trip, I think my team mates are awesome haha. We support each other and we're one bunch of fun-loving people. Sometimes when we're surrounded by awesome people, the hardest things in life will feel like a breeze. One, cause of the positive energy we're drawing and two, cause of the fun which takes away our fatigue.

Can't wait for my KK trip, I want to prove myself wrong again :)

Climbing a mountain is one thing I want to do before I die. I'm young, and considered "fit" so I think it's one opportunity of a lifetime for me to fulfil my wish. What's life without challenges? And yep, it's all in the mind I guess. If you don't have it, then you don't have it.

Anyway I came up with this today:

"The mind speaks louder than the body, as the heart speaks louder than the mind, just as action speaks louder than words"

Well basically, there are times in life when things go "mind over body". We might be limited by the boundaries of our body. But our mind doesn't have one. It can travel to the ends of the world while our body remains at the other end. Just like the mind, when we leave our hearts at home and go to a place. Then somehow we don't really belong to the place.

Wow I just wrote the above paragraph?! :O

Anyway yeah, that's the thing heh. Mr Helmi told us how our mind would "play" with us when we're reaching the submit. So well, I'm telling myself everyday that I will be reaching the summit, and see the sunrise with my own eyes woots! Haha.

Today was alright I guess, Biostat was cancelled again so I went home to put some stuff down, don't wanna carry my heavy bag for my sports elective in the evening. Met Doreen back in school and we went for our 2nd Sports Elective Fitness Programme! (SEP in short heh). Today we did circuit training! Not bad, quite fun :) And miraculously my aches we gone but... After we left school it's back rawr!

Then met Jolene, Sharon, WQ, Ben and YP for super belated birthday celebration for Sharon and Weilun! Ate at Char Grill bar in Clementi. So cheap and so good! I had this fish and salad which only cost 6.90! Really yummy as well. Then for dessert... YP baked a vanilla-based cake! OMG so freaking yummy, it's so fragrant and soft! Yumz, now I know who I need to look for to ask for baking stuff! Haha! :P

And we all headed home after that :)

This week has been an awesome week. Poly50 was really the highlight! I think highlight of my poly life as well, and my year two. Tomorrow I'm just going to take a break in the day, then do my work at night. Cause 4 days of physical training is no joke! But the feeling after that is simply awesome :) Alright see you soon then! Have a great weekend :D

I've gained some, I've lost some. Music is a part of my life afterall. It's my decision, and I shall bear the consequences.

Poly50! GT did it! We did it! I DID IT!

2011-11-09T23:12:00.000+08:00

Poly50 2011

DEFINITELY A RUN TO REMEMBER

Thank you so much for your hardwork my awesome GT team! :)

I hereby declare...

That the GT team finished our Poly50 today!

And I don't care which position we get, how fast we ran, if we're slower than other teams, if we are faster, cause WE HAVE FINISHED THE RACE AND NOTHING CAN CHANGE THAT FACT (Y).

It was a really awesome experience! Definitely a run to remember! :) It was my first Poly50 round, and I think most of our first runs as well. So it was quite challenging and definitely memorable for all of us. Isn't just so awesome when you do something for the first time, and just simply make this first one an awesome one? And the best part of all is to actually prove myself wrong!

When I entered poly, and saw the event poly50, I told myself straight in the face no, I won't join that as I know I can't do that. I know that we just need to roughly run 5 rounds (AKA 3 KM) but well not really run but sprint. When we decided to join this year's Poly50, I told myself yeah okay lets give it a try. And I've proved myself wrong! An event that I said I can't do, is done by me today! With my awesome team mates! :)

Seriously FABULOUS job to my GT team! We did it! With the fact that not all of us are seasoned runners, and that we have 5 girls in our team, I really feel we have done an awesome job! And to someone who feel she can only run one round, who says so! :D And to someone who looks thin and non-sporty like, well she gave it a try and ran the freaking Poly50! I really feel proud of the two of them! :D

Sometimes it's really not the time and distance that matters, but the will and effort and MINDSET we put in. Last night I was feeling really jittery about Poly50. I was thinking what if I'm the last few runners left behind. What if I dragged my team down and we lose. What if, what if, how about, and all those doubts. But hey! I did it and we all did it and we finished the race!

In the first two rounds I was feeling really sick to an extent I wanted to vomit. But I guess after consecutive rounds, I feel more "used" to it and then I can sprint more at some points of the race. It was quite bad, in a sense there are many people running at the same time. I was really scared I will knock onto someone and make he/she fall. Ended up, I'm the one getting knocked by this guy in the downhill part. Thankfully I didn't fall -.- if not the result would be disastrous.

Okay I shall enjoy my muscle aches from today! Do some stretchings before sleep and then KO till morning. I have KK training tomorrow :O Stairs here I come! But seriously, today is one of the happiest days in my life. Looking forward to have sweet dreams tonight! Today was such an awesome day, a day I'll never forget! A day that I'll mark in my heart's calendar :) Nights!

Poly50 2011, definitely a run to remember

Running with happiness

2011-11-08T23:57:00.000+08:00

Don't stop running!

When you doubt yourself.

That's when you lose the battle >:)

Okay I actually took the title from The Best Pessimist's song, Walking With Happiness. Oh well I changed it to running because tomorrow is the day! Yes Poly50 day! I've been training for it so tomorrow we shall see our fruits of labour haha. Well I'm sure we can't beat the other awesome teams like CLS etc, but I just want to make this race a run to remember. It's the journey that matters, not the position.

It's our race! So lets just have fun, finish the race, and have a blast of our poly lifetime. For most of my team, this is our first time running for poly50 so not sure if it will be exciting, tough, challenging or fun, but yes let us finish the race and seriously make this race a run, a race to remember! :)

If I'm not wrong, this would be my first race in SP. I've never participated in any sporting event before so this would be my first one! Really hope I can make it, and but yeah, I mean my aim for this event is to simply run the race, finish the race, remember the race. I've learnt from our KK briefing today. To make a decision which you doubt, is already a sign you're brave enough to step out of your comfort zone. So you should be proud!

Anyway yep today we had our KK sharing session by the October team. Had my Napfa run today as well. Damn, failed by 2 minutes. Really hope I can pass. Not hope, but I'm sure I will and I can pass!

Well honestly speaking, I'm kind of "intimidated" by the trip. Well for someone like me, who have low self esteem, seeing the team today, I feel like I'm the fattest and most unfit guy there. The others look so lean and buff! I'm just... Some "big" guy there. And after hearing the sharing session by the October team, about how tough the condition there can be... I was a bit scared.

BUT.

Then again, I tell myself. It's not the mountain you conquer, but yourself. And didn't I always tell myself? That when I doubt myself, that's when I lost my battle. I would like to take this opportunity of climbing Mount Kinabalu as a challenge to myself. I've taken up the challenge, why bothered feeling scared and unsure about yourself? I think it's better to just take the challenge, do it, and finish it!

And yes as shared previously by the October group, the experience will be something of a lifetime. Something that could change my life and something I would remember for eternity. Just like the Inner Mongolian OCIP. It may be an environmental project, but it also taught me things about life. Not just about trees and being green.

That's the thing I guess. Travelling abroad, sometimes, could just give you more experience and teach you things that you cannot learn at whatever place you're at now. Because to me, life is the world undiscovered :)

Poly50 tomorrow! Jia you my GT runners!!! We can do this! Lets make this a run we'll remember! RAWRRRRR

Running

2011-11-04T23:51:00.000+08:00

My all time favourite quote that I thought of while running last time.

My mantra for running

My third day of exercising. Whew, I'm pretty tired and shagged, and what's worst is that i'm helping at the Pol-ITE Canoe sprint event at Macritchie for the whole day. I hope I'm not too tired to last the whole event. But definitely going to take tomorrow night. Been really harsh and tiring for the past 3 days. Sure I deserve a break right whew.

Anyway today was alright I guess. It's my first fitness training programme! Signed up with Doreen hehe. The first lesson was alright I guess. It's more of an introduction to the 5 NAPFA stations etc. Hmm I wasn't expecting this. Cause in the description box of SAS, it says this programme teaches you how to exercise properly and how to keep fit properly. Didn't know it's about NAPFA training heh.

But at least we're taught how to do the stations properly and how to train for them. Sadly I couldn't do a single pull up. And do standing broad jump argh. My lap timing was rather horrible too. 2 min 10 seconds! Rawr. Not sure if I can really run within 12 minutes on Tuesday. Wait wait, I can! What's with the thought. Must be positive huh, and must be confident.

Honestly speaking, I'm not really a fan of the track :/ Somehow I run faster when I run ouside (like from my house to HV, or around Pandan Valley, or at the running track). I feel pretty confined to run in the track. Or well perhaps it's just because of the fact that I've been running for the past three days, not forgetting the gymming session as well. My muscles are tired and weary so... Argh, maybe.

Somehow, I love running. I may not be born to be a sportsman after all. But I'm really glad that I'm someone who can enjoy sports. Who enjoy running, and just simply exercising. I don't wanna be a runner too. Just someone who loves running. I know I can't make the commitment of a runner, like run everyday, train my timing etc.

Running to me is kind of similar like walking (even though they're VERY different haha). Just like walking, I get to forget about things while running. I love the feeling of running. Feels like you're free to run, to roam everywhere you want to. Too bad there's no grasslands in Singapore. If there is I would really love to run freely on the grassland. Just run as and where I want to.

Running is just a beautiful form of exercise. We humans are born to roam around the earth. For thousand of years the earlier humans have been walking here and there. Running to catch their food, running to avoid predators. Of course, running has been part of the sporting events. Ultimately, I really enjoy running. Sometimes I don't really care about my timing. I really care about my distance though.

I may be fat, and overweight. Run slower than other people, run slower than girls. But I really enjoy running. Running gives you the freedom to run. Gives you the time to get away from life. It's really one awesome feeling when you run. Feeling of freedom and liberation and at the same time, happiness. And of course, that joyful satisfaction you get after exercising.

Alright I need to sleep already, I have to wake up early tomorrow. Oh dear, hopefully I'll get enough rest and hopefully tomorrow's event will run smoothly! See you all!

Don't run for the sake of running.

Kept inside

2011-11-03T23:54:00.002+08:00

Choose the path, walk on it

Walk the miles, with your own feet

But don't you ever decide to sit

And not walk the path, that lays in front of you

Today was a really, tiring day. But I guess all the fatigue was really worth it! Anyway just wanna tell you... I'm selected for KK trip this December!!! Okay not really "selected" but some people decided not to go so there was some empty slots. Kai called me up yesterday and Mr Helmi asked if I'm interested. So I just say sure why not. I mean... It's a freaking 4000m mountain! When in life can you climb one? :D

But comes the training as well. I hope I can pull through everything, even though I can't do pull up -.- I need to train! And yes I can and I will! Hehe. I think it's a good opportunity too, I mean to train for KK, I can also train for my SCMS 10K marathon which is in 31 more days T_T be positive! I can do it :D :D So I guess I'm killing three birds with one stone. For KK, for SCMS, for being healthy! (Y)

Tomorrow I'll be starting my fitness training programme. I hope I won't regret joining that. Well after hearing Vithya's story about how tough it is I was being a bit apprehensive. But I guess, I mean hopefully, it won't be -.- but she told me since I have a mindset of training for my SCMS, it won't be that tough. I hope.

Can't believe it but I've been exercising for the past consecutive three days... Really afraid my body can't take it but I think should be fine. I really need to sleep when I need to sleep. And I think it's only for this week and (half) of next week. I'm really scared of my 2.4k test this Tuesday. Somehow my timing was inconsistent. I used to run 12, 13, and today I run 17. But today should be due to the previous gymming session. Was really tired after that and we went for a run.

I hope on Tuesday I can pass the test. But at the same time I don't want to exhaust myself. Hmph, I can do this! :) I would really love to climb mount KK though. I seriously feel it's a once in a lifetime experience. I'm not someone who LOVES climbing and adventure. But I really do enjoy doing it, and I like to accept the challenge. And as the saying goes, it's not the mountain you conquer but yourself :)

And... Let me break this shocking news.

I've decided not to play for MD next year, and thus not going for band for this semester :( I don't really wanna say the whole thing but to put it in a short simple way, I think that I can't juggle band and studies for this semester :/ And I don't want to come for band as and when I want, depending on my workload. It wouldn't just be nice and appropriate. After all, if I couldn't fulfil the attendance requirement, then I wouldn't be able to play for MD either so yeah.

I couldn't blame anything to band. I'm blaming myself for my lousy time management. But yeah, and I don't want to quite halfway through MD and disappoint the others. I'll feel really guilty. Even now, I feel guilty for making the decision. But my heart have made up his mind. So do myself. In life we gain some, we lose some. I gain more time, while I lose the joy (temporarily) of being in the band.

Life has to go on as well.

Would love to thank Vanessa for the reply to my email, and for her kind understanding. I hope the others would mind it too.

Life is such an amazing journey, filled with winding roads and forked roads. When you meet a forked road, will you regret taking the left road and not the right? And vice versa? And if you took the wrong choice, you'll have no choice but to keep on walking till you found the right path again. But what's worst is when you just sit in between the road. You're not going anywhere, you're not progressing anywhere.

Life is funny.

Alright signing off now! Continuing my work again, just blogging cause I feel like it heh. See you!

Some stories are just not meant to be shared. Only meant to be shared to your heart.

Work can't wait

2011-10-29T23:57:00.000+08:00

Wish I can escape to a dreamscape which doesn't exist

Can't believe that another week has passed by. It's the end of the second week now and... Whew, really well I mean it's okay I guess hehe. This week seems to fly really quickly! I guess thanks to Deepavali, which took place in Wednesday (that doesn't make sense but hmm). Anyway yep the week was not bad! I guess that's another reason why it's flying really quickly.

On Deepavali Candy, Kai and I went to Vithya's house for Deepavali! Not bad, the food is really yummy especially the mutton curry. And not forgetting the snacks as well. And the booze! Haha. Made some Vodka + Cranberry juice heh, and some beer as well. Drank but... I wasn't high so yeah. A bit high but not drunk. Maybe my resistance has levelled up! Hahaha.

The rest of the week was alright I guess. Went for band on Thursday and we played Pomps. Oh my Buddha seriously, it's one challenging piece! Haha. Why are my favourite songs so difficult to play? :/ But well I finally get to play that song! It's one of my favourite classical songs hehe.

Well somehow somewhat, as I said, this week flies pretty quickly. I guess it's due to the fact that it has been an awesome week or maybe it's just time. Time is a mystery no one can comprehend after all. How it flows, nobody knows. Sometimes it's just like that, like nothing can explain why a certain moment flies faster or yeah. Pretty weird.

Hmm work is coming along fine, and I kinda like the new way of teaching :) It feels like we're being doctors trying to solve a case and it's pretty exciting and fun. Like what Dr Tan said, how we're narrowing big chunks of information down and down. And then boom, we got that answer. It's pretty fun just bombing our brains with out guesses. This guys must be suffering from this! And this! And maybe he's suffering -that-

Even though I feel we become more "anti-social" with the fact that we're only staying in a classroom for the whole day. I kinda miss the days where we have to spend time walking from one class to another. Well yeah in a good way we don't have to do that, but in another it's bad cause we're sitting in one room for one whole day. But oh well! Like the fact we have a place to eat too ^^

Alright I guess that's all for today! Gonna continue with work cause tomorrow I'll be going to Halloween Night at Sentosa with some GT members! Woots! :D See you!

I'm pretty bothered with some things on my mind right now. I don't know what to do. I'm pretty selfish but at the same time, I have my own dreams too.

We All Need Music

2011-10-25T23:45:00.000+08:00

Okay I'm cheating here. It's 1:16 AM now but I'm writing in the context of 11.45 yesterday. Cause yes that was my plan of blogging but it apparently failed so too bad! Anyway I need to blog about today cause... I just went to SPCO concert! Qixin and Leslie were playing in the concert so I went to support there with Ahpa, Ms Yulia, Rachelle, Yingsin, Huijun, Chloe and Chongying! :D

It was my first "official" CO concert cause the past CO concerts I went to were like combined concert with band, choir etc. Now is just purely CO! So it's pretty awesome. Two hours of wholesome CO music! Woo la la haha. It's really nice though, I enjoyed almost all of the songs. I particularly love the Zhong Ruan solo piece, and the terracotta fantasia too. Almost all of the songs basically! Really awesome...

That's the thing about me. I might be a band member, someone who loves classical music, post-rock, contemporary classic and instrumental songs, but I still do enjoy listening to CO songs. And watching CO performances. I remember the first CO song that I fell in love with was "Dance of the Yao people". It was so beautiful and I was really mesmerised by it. It's played by NYJC CO by the way, when I was in P5 (that's like 7 years ago O.O)

Damn I feel old.

But no worries, being in the band, or the CO, they're both music-making activities which is the main thing that I'm looking for. I've no regrets joining band, even though I really wanted to join CO back when I was in P6. I feel CO songs are more "robust" and colourful as compared to band songs. I guess the different instruments, and the different styles, cultures, histories and stories make western and Chinese music different huh.

Anyway I just want to end this post with something. I think it's a lie for someone to say you can't live without music. Cause in one way or another, we need music in our lives. True? :)

And this is dedicated to someone!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear You

I can see you were pretty emo for the past few days, or during the past few days, or a few days ago. And I hope this song will cheer you up. I'm sorry for there are a few mistake here and there but trust me, this is the best recording I could take after so many tries. It may not be a perfect recording you're looking for, but I do hope it can CARRY YOU up (that's the title of the song in English by the way) and cheer you up from the troubles you have been going through. And sure, lets find one day where you can watch me play live :) See you and enjoy!

Adhi

The end of a beginning

2011-10-22T23:57:00.000+08:00

Us, Mr Lawrence and Kwang Yi upon completion of our post-trip! :)

[Photo credit to Shihui :D]

Please don't call me weird. But I have a sudden interest in Chinese songs! Not pop ones, more like songs about China kind of songs! But seriously they're all so beautiful! Aww! In particular I'm hooked with Han Hong's Tian Lu or Heavenly Road. If you don't know, please listen to it in Youtube. It's brilliant! It's a song a bout the Qinghai railway to Tibet. And yes I want to go to Tibet! :O

Anyway today was a great day with the GTs! We had our post trip today, even though there were only 14 of us there. We went to Villa Francis Home! It's an old folks home and we went there to do some gardening work hehe. First we plogh the soil, clear the weeds and an ants' nest, top up the top soil and compost and then plant the seeds! We planted green bean, honeydew, capsicum, bittergourd I think.

Even though today was really a hot day, we worked our sweat out and finished it quite quickly! It felt good to have planted the seeds again, just like those GT days we had in Duolun. Just that this time round we plant seeds instead of saplings, and... The weather is so humid ad HOT! Oh well we're near the equator afterall, no longer in northern hemisphere. But yup nevertheless, we had fun and we worked hard! :)

I really hope the elderlies there cane enjoy our fruits of labour soon :) Umm not so soon but soon heh.

After the post trip some of us went back, while the rest of us went to Lot 1 for lunch! We had lunch at the foodcourt. And then some of us had to leave as well, then the 7 of us went to MOF for result. Phew! What a delightful and filling afternoon. But I've really enjoyed my time with them :) After MOF Elijah, Joel and Ardin stayed while Candy, Doreen, Nic and me headed home.

Sigh, it's kind of sad to know that today, the Green Desert @ SP Fall 2011 project has come to an end. Well today was the post trip so officially, the project has come to a close. But definitely not our friendship and memories! And our efforts of making mother earth greener. You know I feel so blessed to have been chosen into the trip, and to be given the chance to embark in such a wonderful journey :)

This is so gonna be one experience I'll never forget in my life! :)

I'm suppose to write more write-ups about my OCIP trip but argh. I will! Soon okay :P Nevertheless please enjoy this video I make! Postcards from Beijing :D

Green Desert. Memory of a lifetime. Experience of a lifetime.

I do wonder

2011-10-21T16:18:00.002+08:00

Keep moving forward

Today is the 5th day of school! Can't believe I've finished a week of my 4th semester already. Pretty fast huh, and what seems like a long day in class, seems pretty fast when we see in weeks. Human nature at its best. But I guess the week was great! Except for yesterday, woke up from my nap and I was feeling rather feverish. Thanks to my walking in the rain yesterday maybe :/ But thankfully I'm feeling alright today :)

Oh by the way I'm currently in school! Waiting for Ahpa to end lesson cause we're running together. Oh man can't believe our 10K marathon is like in less than two months! We have to start training so we decided to train together hehe.

Today was alright I guess. I didn't wake up late! Thankfully, cause somehow I couldn't sleep last night. Was doing "something" for my JC friends teehee. Plus thanks to my nap (and my slight fever) I couldn't sleep either I guess. So I ended up sleeping at like 2.30 AM. And woke up at 7 without snoozing or so. Well I snoozed a bit but not too much mwahaha.

Today we had pathology and we're given a research article where we're supposed to analyse the results and figures given inside. Kind of fun, cause the article is about cancer. They're using anthrax toxin to target thyroid cancer cells! How cool. I'm always intrigued about cancer, I mean how to cure them. Who knows I can one day find a cure for it! (I know it sounds impossible but...)

I'm supposed to meet a teacher at 11 about my Japan trip (which Kwok nominated Shihui, Nic and I) but he was out for a meeting. So ended up going to class and wanted to meet him again in the afternoon and when I went there just now, he wasn't there either. Oh gosh, maybe we're not fated to meet. Even though I hope I can go to Japan with them! It's Japan for goodness' sake haha.

And since Syaz, Vith and Candy had left the school (they've nothing on anyway) so I've been sitting here at FC3 since uhh 2 PM. And I've done most of my work, so I've decided to go and blog :)

Well it's October now. My JC friends are all busy preparing for their A Levels. Wishing them all the best! :)

You know sometimes I wonder what if I took the JC route? Afterall, I used to be a student who really wish I could make it to SAJC. And well my result can bring me there. But I took the DPA route instead, even before my O Level result was released. What makes me take that route? Well I've somehow changed my mind in early Sec 4 about going to poly. So there I go.

But well yeah, back to the question. If I were to be in JC now, I suppose I would be preparing for my A Levels now. Would my life be better? Would my life be happier? Would I regret not going to a poly instead? Would I prefer being in a JC? Would I be doing as well (or better) as how I'm doing currently? Or would I do worst and is now struggling to prepare for my As.

Honestly speaking? I don't want to know any answer to the above questions :)

I guess life is all about flow. I'm here, I'm in SP Biomed, and I'm typing this in FC3 on a cloudy Friday afternoon. Why didn't I go to JC, why did I go to poly, why I made this choice, nobody knows I guess? So long I know, that I'm enjoying what I'm doing. That's fine by me. And even if I were to go to JC, who knows I'm enjoying what I'm doing too right?

Some of the people in JC wish they were in poly. Some people in poly felt they made the wrong choice of not going JC. But hey, there's no point regretting the choice you make (unless you just put your school choices anyhow-ly and get into a wrong choice). I think it's better for us to actually put our best in everything we do. Life is about living. Not about regretting and complaining. So give your bestest shot!

And at the same time I was thinking too. If I were to be in JC now, I guess I wouldn't be able to meet, some of the awesome people I've met in poly. I wouldn't be able to go and experience some of the awesome experiences I've been (like my Inner Mongolia OCIP!). And at the same time, I wouldn't be able to experience the things I could have experienced in JC as well. But who knows what they truly are.

Well I guess it's too late to turn back time or to simply bask in the choices I didn't make in the past. But it's never too late to savour the present and to work hard for the future. If you are still wondering of the little choices you didn't do in the past, which you regretted now. Think of the line above!

Alright it's 4:14 now. The wait is getting shorter so awesome I guess. Actually I wonder, why did I even wonder what will happen if I'm in a JC now. Just a thought that comes to my mind. Okay I'll go and find more things to do :P See you soon! :)

I do wonder...

1st Day

2011-10-17T23:56:00.001+08:00

To let go, or not to let go

Whew today was kind of a great first day I guess! :) But a rather "shocking" one at the beginning of the day heh. Anyway and I'm somehow, now, mentally tired too. Not sure why :/

Well I met Syazwani, Rebekah, Candy and Vithya

earlier first, Kai couldn't come so we met at FC5 and we moved to FC 3 for lunch! (Breakfast for me heh). Then we came for our first lesson of the semester which was a briefing first by Dr Tan about our new teaching system for the research people :) Hmm, I can sense that this is going to be a long and tiring semester. But I gotta keep on fighting! :)

Then it was passed over to Mr Ng who taught us clinical chem. It was our first case based learning! Woo la la, pretty interesting though. I kinda like the feel that we're solving these cases like as if we're doctors, or some investigator for a hospital heh. It's fun discussing with each other as well, where different ideas just came out from all of us. Pretty awesome aye.

After school we went to lepak under T11A while Reb and Syaz left. Vithya then left first and a few of the GT people came in! Okay this is when the fun starts -.-

So basically Vivian took a picture of me, and I didn't know she was using the fisheye effect. And I looked really funny in the photo! So then Kai came up with the brilliant idea of actually asking all of us to change out FB DP into my photo and making a "fan club" of myself. How awesome haha. And so well now you can see different people with my photo on their wall -.-

But it was really fun, I had a great laugh on my first day even till just now. And thankfully V-jie agreed to let all of us change into our respective DPs at the end of tomorrow's night. Yay!! :D

Anyway I guess that's all for today. Gonna be kind of a long day with band. And I still have to do some stuff afterwards! So yeah. Hopefully I'll survive...

Sigh, my heart is asking a question my mind can't answer. Yet alone, myself.

4th Semester

2011-10-16T23:30:00.000+08:00

Endless skies, endless possibilities

Never stop running, never stop discovering

Tomorrow will be the first day of my 4th semester, the first day of my 2nd semester of my second year. Time flies huh! I really feel that the first semester just went by like that. And I can't believe another semester is waiting for me to conquer. Yes I'll conquer it! Woohoo :D I know it's hard to accept the transition of holiday to school, but we all gotta do it! And I will do it :)

Anyway since today is the last day of my September - October holiday, I've had an awesome one! Met Nivedha first to pass her the photos I took for yesterday's event. I hope the photos turned out alright. Then I went to Scape to support Junhua and Togo along with a few GTs! They were in a competition by Starhub called the Now You Can series and well even though they didn't take home the prize, I have to say they really did a good job! Their idea is really good. So does the winner one.

If I were one of the judges, I will really have a hard time choosing the winner seriously :/

After the event, some of the GTs went for dinner at Vivo! It was difficult to find a seat at the Food Republic but we ended up going to the rooftop park and da bao our food to eat there. Good choice! The breeze was really nice just now. So peaceful, calming and refreshing. A perfect way to enjoy our last day of holiday I guess :) And I really enjoyed the company of my awesome GTs! :)

And I headed home first while the rest continued to have dessert hehe.

Oh well, I still can't believe that school is starting tomorrow. Time really flies huh. Well I guess the fact that I had an awesome holiday with my Inner Mongolia OCIP trip, SPSB Korea trip and my hometown, how could I not feel that time flies really quickly? Time flies like a blink of the eye when we're having a good time. And when we realise how fast it flew, there's nothing we could do but to laugh and smile.

And be shocked.

My JC friends just had their last day in JC last week I think. And I'm about to start my 4th Semester tomorrow. Time really flies huh. It feels like it was O Level yesterday, and now my friends are graduating from their respective JCs soon. Well I still have no regrets for not going to a JC. Even though I still have 1.5 more years in poly, well... I just want to make this 1.5 years an awesome one.

To all my JC friends, all the best for your last hurdle for A Levels! Don't stop fighting okay, it's there, it's within your grasp, you can do it!! :)

And to my poly friends, to the year 2s, lets welcome the new semester with fresh, bright optimism and joy! To the year 3s, enjoy and jia your for your last semester :D

Before I end, let me list my "New Semester Resolutions!"

- Be punctual for class!

- Manage my time better (last sem, I feel it was improved, but not fabulous :P)

- Get better grades, if I did my best last sem, then my best can be better :D

- Be more positive about things

- Make a difference in more people's lives

- As Steve Jobs once said - "Stay hungry, stay foolis" [I think it's important for a research student like me]

- Lose weight

- RUN and RUN and RUN more! (For SCMS 10K!)

- Play well in MD :D

-And the list goes on...

Alright I guess I'll stop here. Still need to pack and tidy up some stuff. Gosh, and I could have done that just now. Oh man it's not even school and I'm already procrastinating! Nooooo! Alright ciao!

Congrats once again to Vivastudio! No worries, I feel you all did great :D

Without Vision, Men Perish

Flying back, again

2011-10-14T19:53:00.000+08:00

Harrow! I'm currently at Jakarta Aiport's Starbucks. Yup I'm flying back to Singapore soon :/ Sigh two weeks fly really quickly huh? I mean it's like 14 days ago that I reached here, now it's 14 days later that I'm back here flying. I wanted to blog last night but blogger is giving me problem and I couldn't blog. Just now I couldn't blog either but well I signed out and the problem was fixed.

Yesterday was an alright day I guess. In the afternoon spent the day outside with my sis. We went to the tailor to get my pants re-sized, cause it's apparently huge -.- and we did some last minute shopping. And then we went to a restaurant where we went to get dinner for my dad. It's at this place in my hometown where there's still lots of paddy fields. It was the early evening so the view was awesome.

Of course I shot lots of photos hehe.

Anyway yeah that's all for my last day here I guess. I ended it off by accompanying my mum and sis doing some clothes shopping hehe.

Well I always have this sulky feeling on my last day of holiday in my hometown. I guess everyone has it. Don't you think it's tough for everyone to accept the transition between holiday and school? Like during holiday we get to do whatever we want and we can laze around all day long and just simply like use the computer all night long. Well sure we can do that during school, and our result will be jeopardised.

And I guess with the creation of my own room, which is really cosy and nice, I feel like nua-ing all day long haha. Even though my room is smaller than the one in Singapore, it's pretty cosy and nice. It's like my little haven. Wee.

But as the river flows and the season changes, the day goes and the birds flying in ranges, life has to move on. It all goes back to C'est la vie. It's life, and we have to move on right. There are times for fun, there are times for work. There are times to rest and there are times to study. So the holiday, as I was saying, is my time for rejuvenating after such a long period of work and stressful period of school.

Well all I could say is that my holiday has been an awesome one. Spending two weeks in Inner Mongolia and one week in Korea, then another 2 weeks in Indo is really awesome haha. I get to travel a lot, and I love exploring new places. It's one experience that I'll never forget. And well yeah, it's such an awesome holiday, I get a seriously good time to rejuvenate and take a break after a semester of stress. I mean seriously, my third semester is kinda hectic.

Alright I guess that's all for today. And that's all for this holiday. I'll be busy tomorrow and on Sunday so I guess it's a great way to take my mind off to not feel home sick, especially when I get back after my hometown. Oh well. Take a positive mind Adhi! Lets welcome the 4th semester with joy and happiness. And optimism and hope... My flight will be departing soon so see ya! :)

Ah well, what an awesome holiday it has been :)

Heavenly Road

2011-10-12T23:30:00.000+08:00

Hello all! Okay I feel guilty for not blogging, even though I promised that I will blog.Oh well was kinda busy at night doing lots of things like sorting out photos etc. And I just made a video just now :P Very nice, I'll publish it on a later date hehe.

Anyway so far my days here are alright, just that on Monday I was feeling kinda sick in the afternoon, like a bad stomach ache and nausea feeling, and then I felt sort of feverish in the evening. Somehow this always happens after I ate this bowl of porridge I used to have, like last week. My dad tells me most probably it's cause there's too much MSG inside it. And to someone who is not used to it, your tummy might not be able to accept it and yeah... Voila.

But anyway I'm good now. And I was better on Monday evening. The other two days are fine, but last night was really... Special! Okay it was 3:35 AM in the morning and my dog went missing. So my mum and I went to search for her and... She was at this 2.5m hole down below! Apparently she fell down in the dark. So I just decided to use the ladder, went down, carried her, and went up!

It was my first time saving a life, and it felt really good... It's like the best feeling I've ever felt in my life. Cause if we were not to find her, she would be left there in the cold and she might die! Oh man, she's really lucky. But poor her, she was trembling like mad when I was carrying her. And after she was rescued she was sneezing non stop. Must be really cold huh. Anyway all is well now so yup! So glad she's safe and sound.

And I went to the dentist again today, to get two holes in my teeth filled. You know I think thanks to me being a biomed student, the thought of going to a dentist is more scary than going for blood test -.- I mean seriously! Haha, actually I hate the drilling sound. In fact all the sound that the tools produce. Be it the drill, the cleaning thing or even the air gun thing. Argh haha. But my teeth is good now teehee.

Alright as promised I shall blog about my Inner Mongolia OCIP once more right? :)

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Inner Mongolia OCIP write up #4 - Grasslands

One of the things I love the most from this trip, or from Inner Mongolia itself, is the grasslands. Before the trip, I could already picture myself standing on an empty grassland enjoying the breeze, the wind, the sounds, and most importantly the freedom. Well even though we didn't get to enjoy like just standing alone on the grassland for hours, but I truly enjoy seeing the grasslands. Even though it was from the bus.

There was once where we went to the Yang Pang village, where we took a stroll at a place around the village. Then on the way back to the village, we walked on this empty grassland. It was me, Jesslyn, Junhua and Elijah. While walking alone with Jesslyn, the place was REALLY QUIET. You could hear nothing but the sound of wind blowing, and cows mooing from the distance.

It was really blissful and peaceful. Like as if time stood still while you're walking.

When asked to describe one of the best moments from the trip, I mentioned the above - the silence I had while walking on that grassland in Yang Pan village. And Jesslyn agreed as well. It was really one blissful moment I wish I could relive over and over again. It's so rare to enjoy such feeling right?

I'm making this write up short and sweet. But I just want to tell you, to share with you, how blissful the feeling of enjoying the silence of the grassland.

It's one thing you can't get to enjoy often.

It's rare.

When the silence within merges with the silence outside, peace is achieved :)

Jasmine

2011-10-08T23:53:00.000+08:00

Hello hello! The past two days have been an awesome one :D Yesterday I went to Jakarta! Even though I was there for a little while only, got the things I wanna get! Hehe. Shall explain more.

We're supposed to leave for Jakarta at 9, but due to some communication breakdown we ended up leaving at 1 :P Anyway we left at 1 and we reached Jakarta at 5! To me that's very fast, inclusive of like 45 minutes of lunch I think. Usually it takes about at least 5 hours to reach Jakarta -.- so I think we're quite fast! :) Started by going to Lotte World! It's like a huge Carefour that sells international stuff too. Lots of Korean stuff there. They even have Lotteria and Angel-in-us coffee! Wow...

Next we went to my aunt's house first to drop some stuff, and we continue our shopping hunt hoho. Got myself a new headset! Which I really love! Small, compact, simple and foldable! How sweet is that... And I got myself Lenka's new album "Two" as well. It's a great album so I went to get it :P Heard her songs in Youtube and they're really good. So it's totally worth the buy hehe.

As for food, we went to eat this.. Literally translated, bone satay. It's like small cuts of meat with bones there, and we get to like eat it and spit the bones out! :P It's pretty yummy though, and one unique experience to eat it as well. Their "soto" is very nice too, so do their other satay and grilled tofu. We spent about 5 hours out, to me it's kinda short but at least I got the stuff I want so yup! :)

It actually rained quite heavily in my hometown last night! It finally rained. Apparently, it hasn't rained here for about a month or so. So the farmers would be dancing in joy, as they bid farewell to a very long dry season :) And thanks to the rain, I really had a GREAT sleep last night! After a long day :)

And as for today there's nothing much, but went to my dad's garden and the gardeners were having a soccer match! It's really funny to watch them. It's really awesome too. Like nature soccer. No field but soil, no shoes but bare feet. Somehow, I enjoyed watching this more than watching a normal soccer match. There's joy and simplicity in it, which you won't find in normal soccer matches :)

I guess that's all for today. I should be writing another write-up about my Inner Mongolia OCIP but I'm kind of rushing now so... Tomorrow alright! :P Nights~

Simplicity in joy. Joy in finding simplicity

Happy one month anniversary to Green Desert @ SP Fall :)

2011-10-05T23:54:00.000+08:00

Hello all. As the title suggests, today marks one month since my Inner Mongolia trip! So if I were to say that 30 days ago, I was at Beijing Huairou uhh I think gathering at Elijah's room playing taiti and having fun there. Sigh time really flies huh. Somehow one month flies really quickly. I guess cause the first two weeks were so awesome (AKA my trip) and the next week was awesome too (Korea trip) so time flies really quickly I guess.

But what else can I say? The trip was really awesome. I don't think I want to repeat and type what I feel about the trip as I've written about it in the past 3 posts I think. And so yeah... I guess the trip itself is beyond words. I can't really fully describe it! In words. And I don't think I wanna write a day per day basis cause first I'm too lazy to transfer, and secondly it's gonna take a long time.

I just feel really blessed and lucky to have been chosen for this trip. I mean there are 25 of us and there were 74 students who signed up for the interview. The chances are 1/3 right? It's not even 1/2, the chance is smaller. I remember how much my eyes widened when Jess told me that statement. And how I was feeling really worried for the next about... 10 days while waiting for the result. I was telling myself how slim the chance was, I mean 74 to 25! It's a 1:3 chance after all.

Then I remembered it was a Friday, I was eating with Lizzie and Minli when I saw Kai's post on my wall saying "Adhi, Candy, Jonathan we're going to Inner Mongolia!". At first I couldn't believe, cause I didn't see the email. Just to double check, I went to my email straight away through my phone and the first thing I saw was "CONGRATULATIONS Green Desert @ SP Fall Team" or something like that, from Jesslyn.

That day was to say one of the happiest day of this year I guess :P

It's kind of funny how everything started from a Facebook banner in DSD's wall. In fact it was on my news feed. When I see the word "Inner Mongolia" I was really intrigued by it. I mean it's not really every year that we get to go for an OCIP in such a unique place of Inner Mongolia. And after all, I've never been to an OCIP before. Hence I've been always on the look of OCIP trips organised by SP. So when I saw that banner, I just signed up straight away and sent Jesslyn the email.

Then from banner to pre-trip meetings, pre-trip activity at Ubin, then finally the trip itself. I remember how excited I was on the Sunday night before the trip. Our flight was early, at 9.30 and we have to meet at 7 in Changi. I ended up sleeping for only 2 hours. I remember I slept at about 3.30 and woke up at 5.30. And I was kind of wide awake on the plane to Beijing - that's how excited I was.

Then the trip itself happened, and I was having the best two weeks of my life. I've never been involved in such a big environment project before. Apart from the usual clean-ups and collection of recyclable materials. Our effort may seem kind of "little". People may laugh at us when we tell them we're going there to plant trees. But actually we're all making quite a huge impact on the environment, as we try to combat the sand storms that Beijing is having here and there.

We turn desert green. How cool is that! :)

Kind of a pity that I wasn't really aware of the environmental issues around me before the trip. Well I do know some, and I do carry out the usual 3R habits at home, like recycling paper and reusing stuff. But after the trip, I'm kind of more aware of my surrounding. For example during the Korea trip, I was looking at how the people there carry out the recycling activities. I was happy to see recycling bins everywhere there :)

Well so to put it this way, I'm aware of the environmental issues we have before the trip, and now I'm more aware of them. So it's good right :D

But ultimately, even though we go there for an environmental project, at the same time we're all going through a journey of self-discovery. We're finding who our true self is, and well we learn more things about life as well. There's so much things we can learn from nature, so much. And as we plant our 1133 trees, we too, took back so many things these trees have taught us.

And not forgetting the friendship that we have forged together. For two weeks we went through everything together. Having breakfast together, having lunch together in the field, having dinner together in the hotel (or out with our friends). We worked together at the field. When we have problems, we work together and fix it. Basically we're really bonded with one another.

I guess that's the reason why I feel so emotionally attached to this group of people very much. Take it Duolun Grand Hotel as our "house". That's where we all took a break after a hard day's work. It feels like we're living in the same place for two weeks, under the same roof. So I guess the fact that we're living in the same place together make us bond together as well. Even stronger.

That's a reason why I feel the trip is an awesome one. We're all so bonded! So I like :)

Duolun - the beautiful town we spent for about 10 days. The friendly locals, the walks I had around the town and the food. Such a great place to be at. I'll definitely miss its slow-paced and simplistic way of life. When I got back, I feel everything is so rushed and oh well. So different. I think we all can learn from the people there. Living a simple way of life, living a "balanced" life, don't rush things.

And similar to any other overseas trip, be it just travelling, or exchange trip and OCIP trip, the thing I like about them is the fact that I'll really forget about life. Just forget everything. And be focussed on what I'm doing in that country itself - have fun and well in this case plant trees. Honestly speaking, being there makes me forget so many things. Makes me to just NOT THINK about life. And it really felt good, really do.

That's why when I returned to Singapore, the withdrawal symptom was so great. and this can be caused by two things I guess - one because I was having so much fun in Inner Mongolia and/or two I don't wanna return to reality. It's pretty rare in life, that we actually TOTALLY forget about life and just be focussed on another thing only. And when we do, I guess that's when we really feel blessed in life.

Okay I guess I've digressed quite a lot from the trip itself.

But anyway yes, the trip was one amazing journey I'll never forget. And if given the chance, I really want to relive the moments all over again. But knowing we're all human, and that we don't have the ability to return back to a certain time, I guess the only way I can relive the moments is to look at my photos once again. Right? And to read my journal all over again I suppose. Words and photos are really the best friends of a sentimental person like me.

Yan Chang Zhang told me before we left to return here and bring my grandchildren/children along, and tell them that we planted these trees in 2011. When he told me that, I felt really happy and touched. And at the same time, I feel determined to return there in the future. Oh I forgot, the watering uncle also told me something along that line too. We've only met, and he told me that. Such hospitality aye? :)

Alright I guess that's all for this post. To end it of, enjoy this video montage I created two nights ago haha. It's a video montage of the photos I took in Inner Mongolia when we were there. Hope you enjoyed it. Song used is Sacral Nirvana by Oliver Shanti and Friends. A song I always listen to when I was there on the bus, or in the hotel at night. So the song really suits the video I guess. It's like experiencing what I see, what I hear there. Well not a 100% exact but just, enjoy! :)

Cheers to a great team, a great trip, a great town, great sights, great locals, AMAZING journey :)

Clock ticking

2011-10-04T23:17:00.000+08:00

Okay I just came up with this line JUUUUST now.

As you listen to the silence of the night
Where you can only hear the clock ticking with all its might
As it reminds you of how time always fly
As you listen to life goes by

Make the fullest out of your life my friends, we only live once.

Amazing no? Haha, I realised, weirdly, how my poetic senses come alive when I'm just blanking through the air. Just like during the Korea trip, where I actually made two poems during our 2 hour bus ride back to the hotel. Back in Inner Mongolia, where I wrote a total of 4 poems, just by staring at the window. It's amazing how inspiration just come to you in a blink, yet it can also leave you in a blink. Hmm.

I take inspirations mostly from my surrounding. Or from an event that happened. From music, or from people. I wouldn't say I'm easily inspired. But I love being inspired. And when I'm inspired, I really am inspired. Really! Haha. Inspiration does wonder to so many things.

Anyway enough of inspiration talk. Today was alright I guess. I went to a dentist! Argh, I have lots of plaques he said. So today I went for a plaque-clean up heh. It was alright I guess. My teeth are now clean, shiny and plaque free! Weee. But it's also hurting. I guess plaques (or some sort of other protection) helps to protect your teeth from coldness. So now it's pretty "sensitive" to cold things, sweet things and hot things -.-

My sis told me it'll be gone in one week's time. Uhh. Okay...

My aunt came to my hometown today! She's here now so yay, I guess my house won't be so "quiet" and hopefully I have more things to do in the afternoon :P And I'm planning to go to Jakarta with her on Friday to go there and shop shop I guess :P

One more good news is that my photography hands are on the move too! Been taking a few pictures today so yay :)

Today I won't be writing about my OCIP trip. Cause... No mood! Heh. But tomorrow you'll be in for a surprise! :) And today, I'm just sharing a poem I wrote on the bus. Enjoy :)

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Inner Mongolia OCIP write up #3 - In The Grasslands of Inner Mongolia [A Poem]

In The Grasslands of Inner Mongolia

In the grasslands of Inner Mongolia

As the gentle wind blows softly

Whispering a story to my ear

As the trees dance slowly with the wind

In a graceful choreography

In the grasslands of Inner Mongolia

As cows roam everywhere freely

Munching on the grasses hungrily

As the insects play a symphony

Of interesting rhythms, a beautiful melody

In the grasslands of Inner Mongolia

There lies a picturesque scene

Filled with colours, filled with textures

Of flowers white and purple, grasses brown and green

One of the most beautiful painting, I've ever seen

In the grasslands of Inner Mongolia

As blue sky and green land stretch wild and free

In a land of peace and harmony

Let us not ruin this land of beauty

A gift given by nature, for you and me

Moodless

2011-10-02T22:48:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone! I'm back in my hometown already :D Yup actually I got back on Friday already, just that I couldn't find the time to blog. Either I fell asleep or I just simply forgot to blog. Now that I have the chance, I shall blog. I have to keep on writing about my OCIP trip anyway. I'm only done with one post. And I have more to go eh.

Anyway here I am back in my hometown. So far my days here are alright I guess. So much has changed! :D Today went shopping with my mum and sis hehe. Got myself two pairs of long pants (finally) and 3 pairs of short pants. Not bad, they are having some 50% discount thingy so it's worth it hoho. Sadly today I wasn't feeling uhh good, not sure why a bit moodless and just shen ti bu shu fu to put it that way.

I went to my dad's garden yesterday. The place changed quite a lot there. More technology hahaha. We're planning to plant more flowers to make it for CNY, cause that's when the flower sale is blooming. All I can say is that... Going there really reminds me of my Inner Mongolia OCIP again. Cause there's like soil everywhere. And plants everywhere. Plus it was chilling and windy there. Everything reminds me of Duolun and our planting days :(

Sigh, seriously, never have I felt so emotionally attached to a team, a place and a trip before.

Anyway here it is, my second OCIP trip write up.

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Inner Mongolia OCIP write up #2 - Yours Truly, Duolun

Our project is carried out in a county in Inner Mongolia, China, called Duolun. In Chinese it's called 多伦. In Mongolian (I think) the place means 7 lakes if I'm not wrong. Or place of lakes or something like that. Duolun is a beautiful city. It's actually a county, like there are small towns/villages scattered there. The county itself is huge (7 times of Singapore) and there are lots of grasslands, empty lands and hills. There's a lake there too.

Anyway during the interview, Jesslyn asked me if I'm okay living in a very simple accommodation, and I said sure I don't mind. From this question, it leads me to a conclusion that we'll be living in a very simple lifestyle kind of thing. Perhaps a very small town, no technology, no shopping etc. I once thought that the place we're going is a village, and life there is super simplistic. I didn't even think of staying in a hotel.

But alas I'm wrong. Duolun city is a decent-sized city with buildings etc. There are supermarkets, small shops, restaurants and hotels. We stayed in a nice hotel as well. The room is cosy and nice, even though the toilet is a bit too "dark" for my design liking. But at least everything is functional so it's good. Despite of its seemingly bustling state, I feel that Duolun itself is quite of a quiet town. Life there is simple, slow and nice.

Shot this when I first arrived here

It's the thing I missed the most about the town - it's simplistic and slow-paced lifestyle.

At night, the seemingly bustling town is pretty quiet and cold (as it was autumn). The shops there close at about 8.30 PM. But there are some shops that close at 10.30, like the big supermarket. The locals there are one of the friendliest locals I've ever met. Whenever we say thank you, they would say you're welcome. When we're leaving the shop, they would say please be careful, walk slowly.

The ubiquitous rows of shops

I want to mention a special local. There is an optometry shop in Duolun, and some of us (Ahpa, Clarence, Yong An) went there to get some new glasses. There was a day where Ahpa, Clarence and I were in the shop and Clarence was still making his glasses. We were supposed to meet at 7 in the hotel and we were not done yet. Looking at us to be in a rush, the owner of the shop offered to send us back to the hotel with his car. And we really did, we went back to the hotel in a local's car!

The usual laundry shop we went to

The thing is this. We're in a foreign country and we don't know anybody. At first when he offered us, part of my heart was asking "Can we trust him? We don't know each other". Yet his hospitality tells me that it's alright, we can go with him. There's just something that tells me it's okay to go with him. The other people in his shop are kind too. There was a female assistant in the shop whom we talked to the next day. While waiting for Yong An's glasses to be fixed, the 4 of us were chatting with her, just like friends.

We never met, we never talked before. And we talked like as if we know each other for a year.

Us and the super friendly optician and his assistant!

Another thing I miss about Duolun is the sights and views. The town itself it beautiful. Simplistic architecture, no grand designs. But that's the thing. Its simplicity makes it really beautiful. And the sights of the grasslands, the hills, the lake is really gorgeous as well. Making it one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I wish I could have the time to FULLY explore the town, and the county itself. Maybe in the future.

Somewhere near our planting site

Lake Duolun

Duolun is really wonderful. It's a town I'll never forget. And I'll certainly miss its slow-paced and simple lifestyle. Something that we, humans of the 21st century need. The friendly locals and the wonderful sceneries. I'll miss the weather as well. It's cooling and windy autumn in the afternoon. And cold nights with quite strong winds sometime. Everything comes to a beautiful marriage of a wonderful trip. Oh not to forget, the awesome different food I've eaten there as well.

Mr Lee's beef noodle! So delicious

Thank you so much for the wonderful memory, Duolun. And I hop that I can one day visit you again and relive all the moment I had with you back in September 2011.

Yours Truly

Adhi

Monument at Duolun

Moments, travel

2011-09-29T23:32:00.000+08:00

Finally I'm blogging now, after a few days of telling myself I'll blog and ended up not blogging. I have to blog about my OCIP trip! I have ideas in mind of what I want to blog already. But before that let me start with what happened today and yesterday alright, I went out to meet some people on both days, and I'll be going back to Indo tomorrow for the rest of the holiday. Finally home :)

Anyway yesterday I met up with Jolene, Sharon, Melissa, Carmen, Weiqi and Yang Peng! We met at Vivo and had dinner together. Finally get to meet some of the 4E1 peeps. Been a long time since we all met and talk huh :) As for today, I had lunch with Candy, her sister, Nic and Kayheng! Following a walk walk session with Doreen, Alicia and Junhua. Shihui joined us later. Yay I finally meet some of my awesome Green Transformer team! :D

And yup I'll be going back tomorrow. Finally going back home. I kinda miss it haha, my comfy room, my family, my dogs and the fooood. I hope it'll be a great way to end off my September holiday :)

Alright now I shall blog about the OCIP trip! My plan is to blog about some parts of the OCIP itself. Not day per day, cause I think it'll take a long time and I'm lazy to transfer what I wrote in my journal to here. Sorry heh, laziness at its best.

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Inner Mongolia OCIP write up #1 - 8 hours bus ride, times two

In order to reach Duolun, we had to take an 8 hours (approximately) bus ride there from Huairou, Beijing. We headed off that day, 6th of September at about 9 AM and we reached Duolun at about 6 PM. That is inclusive of lunch at Feng Ning and the occasional toilet break we had. Some in proper toilets, some just... Road side. It's a pretty interesting experience I guess.

Armed with an iPod, I was either awake or asleep or talking during the journey. The first few hours of the journey I was kinda awake. I was writing my journal and listening to my iPod, as I enjoy the scenery. The scenery of the first few parts of the journey were really plain and normal to me. More of tall rocky mountains with small shrubs growing on them. Less of what I was looking for - grasslands.

After Feng ning, which I learnt from a local that it's near Inner Mongolia, the view start to change. Tall mountains are filled with grasses. And surrounding them are grasslands or empty plots of lands. The rows or maize plants turn into wheat. Green turn into yellow. It was really a gradually awesome change. And somehow, the sky turned nicer too. From cloudy to blue, with a slight drizzle in the middle.

Then somehow something tells me that we've reached Inner Mongolia - the grasslands. Somehow we just entered this area, and a stretch of grassland greeted us. We saw a small Mongolian ger as well. And straight away, I know we're in Inner Mongolia. It was really a beautiful sight. I felt really blessed and happy to have been chosen for this trip. To be able to see all these wonderful sights.

Right after that the journey didn't come to an end. I thought Duolun was nearby and I was really anticipating the bus to stop and for me to see how Duolun looks like. In my mind, Duolun is a small sleepy town with grassland surrounding them. Like a tiny village but with a touch of modernity. And the hotel we're staying will be some super simplistic hotel where the owner is this old lady who will cook us breakfast.

Alas I was wrong :P

I've never taken a bus ride so long before. I've taken a 7 hour train ride, where the seat is comfortable, toilet is there, food is there. That was in Norway 2 years ago. But never an 8 hour bus ride. Somehow, it was really a fun and enjoyable ride I've been on. The beautiful sights, the wonderful company of my friends, and wonderful music in my ear. I was listening to Sacral Nirvana by Oliver Shanti and friends on the way.

I wrote in my journal: "With Sacral Nirvana in my ears, it feels like I'm in one now"

Which is really true, I feel really blissful and awesome to just listen to that song, and watch the grassland and everything else pass by. It's amazing how music can change everything, every mood and every feeling you have in one particular moment.

And on the last day we had in Inner Mongolia, that was the last day we had in Lanqi after we stayed one night in a Mongolian ger (16/09/2011), we had another 8 hour journey back to Beijing. This time round it was kind of faster, cause we had no lunch but we grabbed a street food pancake in Feng Ning instead of having a meal in a restaurant. So we headed off at 8 from Lanqi and we reached Beijing at 4 or so.

Same thing, we had our occasional stops for our toilet break. This time round, I got to experience peeing in a super beautiful gorge. I mean it's seriously beautiful. I think it deserved a best toilet award! :P And from Lanqi we passed by Duolun. It was a great way for me to relive the moments I had in that beautiful town. I thought we wouldn't pass by it, but we did eventually.

The thing is, I somehow feel that the ride back to Beijing was faster than the ride to Duolun. Even though by right, the time taken was almost the same. Maybe shorter by a bit but doesn't differ by a lot. The views we passed by were not exactly the same, maybe ji shi fu, our driver, took another route. Or maybe it was the same, just that I couldn't remember.

I guess it's right that they say - the journey back always feels shorter. I guess perhaps because on the way to Duolun, my heart was filled with excitement and anticipation. The wait thus felt longer. And on the way back, my heart was filled with memories and stories. The journey felt shorter, because instead of being excited, I was feeling sentimental and my thought was filled with stories instead.

A distraction that steals me away from time, that steals time away from my obvious mind.

The 8 hour journey, will be something I'll never forget :)

SPSB Korea Trip :D

2011-09-27T23:14:00.000+08:00

Hello all! I just got back from SPSB Korea trip :D I had a great time there! Kudos to all the committee who have planned this trip, especially to Zachary who is the tour co-ordinator :D I really enjoyed the trip there and wow! I couldn't believe I just performed overseas in front of a public crowd! It's like a dream come true for me :) So yup I feel really happy about that.

Anyway the trip was about 6 days long, I won't talk in complete about the trip. Maybe just a rough idea of the places etc. Anyway I'm blogging while waiting for my photos to be uploaded :P

Anyway the first day was spent out, we reached Seoul at about 7 AM and we head for breakfast first! It was udon with some fried fritter thingy. Finally I had kimchi! Yayness haha. Then we visitted DMZ AKA de-militerised zone, where we could see North Korea from there. Kind of cool actually, we saw the tall tall flag pole there. And North Korea itself! Pretty amazing, especially for a history student like me.

Clarinets! :D

The 2nd and 3rd day was our "exchange" days. The first exchange was at Yonsei university. We performed in their auditorium! They looked like they enjoyed our performance, even though it could be better I feel. I would like to apologise myself as I didn't touch my lovely clarinet for like a month already, and I performed. But I gave my best shot, and I truly enjoyed performing there :) We had a campus tour as well, and we watched their orchestra performance! They played Bach symphony no 1, pirates and star wars :D

Kind of funny that they called us SPOB - Orchestra Band. I guess it's some miss communication,

Performance at Insadong street!

Hanyang University Amateur Orchestra. Go Woodwinds! :D

The 2nd exchange was with Hanyang university. We didn't have an exchange but we went to watch their concert called Hanaklang! Really awesome concert, even though we missed the first half. On the 3rd day we also performed and Insadong street where we attracted quite a few crowds! I felt really happy to have performed there. At first I didn't know we are performing at public place. When I knew, I was both happy and nervous haha. But seriously, it's a dream come true for me to perform overseas. So I really enjoyed it there!

Nothing beats the joy of playing John Barnes Chance's Variations On A Korean Folk Song in Korea itself. Just so amazing, arirang~

The next few days was spent either shopping, sightseeing, and LOTTE WORLD!

Lotte World is a theme park, it's freaking awesome there. So proud of myself to have tried their "hardcore" rides where it's really... Hardcore heh. Like the Gyro Swing where we are seated in a circle, then we are turning and swinging quite high! Kinda scary but fun! And Gyro Jump, Atlantis (best coaster ever) and Comet ride. Woohoo :D

There was sightseeing at the palace. It reminds me of Da Chang Jin haha. The architectural design there is really nice, kind of like the Chinese (like the one in Gu Gong) but simpler and less colourful. Pretty interesting designs as well, like why sand is used around the king's sleeping room, to prevent assassins from entering the gate, cause there would be noise when they walk on the sand.

Myeon Dong

Insadong

Shopping was done in Insadong, Dong Dae Mun and Myeon Dong! The shirts there are not as CHEAP as I thought, it's slightly cheaper, but good! I mean it's like Made in Korea so I guess worth the price. I love the designs as well. There's this shop called art box in MD and their notebooks are soooo gorgeous. I bought some, cause they are cheap as well! How awesome right :D

Ginseng Chicken! Samgetang

Yup I guess that's all for the trip itself. I had a great time there, but I wished I could have more time exploring the city and interacting with the locals/students there. The weather there is really nice, and the people there really know how to dress well. The food there is heavenly, with the ginseng chicken as my most favourite! Not forgetting the BBQ stuff too.

I'll return to Korea one day, that's a promise :)

Alright that's all for the Korea trip! Photos are on FB so you can go check it out. See you all soon! :) I need to blog more about my OCIP trip as well, the last post was just like... 1/3? 1/4? Of it. More to come, more photos! :D

Sorry if I was a loner there. Sorry if I feel like I'm a precipitate

Back from Inner Mongolia!

2011-09-20T18:45:00.001+08:00

Hello all! I'm back from Inner Mongolia! Actually it was two days ago but last night I fell asleep and hence I didn't blog. Believe it or not I'm leaving for Korea tonight for an exchange trip with my band! Yup one day of rest and then off I go again. I wanna blog a few things about my Inner Mongolia trip so here I am! :)

Anyway to sum everything up, the trip is just one super duper freaking awesome trip. It was the best two weeks of my life so far. Inner Mongolia itself is such a beautiful place! Seriously loving it there. I'm also surrounded by awesome friends, friendly locals. The food there is awesome as well. I can't help but to have severe withdrawal syndrome after the trip. That's another reason I didn't blog last night. Cause I was feeling sad and horrible, all I wanna do is just to watch TV :/

I spent 14 days there. The first week was alright, lots of digging and marking. I'm a marker by the way, with Yong An and Jeff. We marked out the plots for the diggers to dig the holes. It may seem like a simple job. Actually it's not really. It's quite stressful! Haha

The second week was like the finilisation on the whole planting process. We plant the saplings and we water most of the holes. Don't forget the R&R days as well. We spent some days going for sightseeing tours in the second week.

The thing I like about the trip is that we're not "bounded" by tours. We're free to buy our own things, daily necessities and food. We're free to roam the city and engage with the locals. Do our laundry, get things to eat. So in a sense we have more freedom and "adventure" during the trip, which I really love! In the second week we're given the chance to buy our own dinner and lunch. That's awesome eh.

The working days are fabulous as well. We would work from 9 to about 12.30, then have lunch either outside or on the field (most of the time on the field) from 12.30 to about 2. Then we start working again till 5.30. We would carry our shovels into the field, wearing gloves and straw hats, working together. In the afternoon it could get quite warm when the sun is whining. In the evening, the temperature drops rather quickly.

There are times where we would have to wait for the rain to subside, or to stop working when the rain gets heavier. I would also miss those times where we would use the natural toilets! Just look for a tree and pee woots. Sometimes after we work, the sunset would be so beautiful. It felt really awesome to see the sunset after a day of hard work. It's like a gift from the sky to us.

At night we would go back to our hotel, eating dinner together in the same place. The food is nice. I love their shou ba rou, or like stewed lamb meat and then chopped then dipped in sauce. Breakfast would get a bit boring as we're having the same thing for like about 10 days heh. There are different food in Duolun itself. I like the beef noodle and the dumplings. So yummy!

The town itself is rather small. But there are still cars and people walking etc, quite bustling. But the pace of life there is so slow, so relaxing, so nice. Unlike here in Singapore, or Beijing where life feels so fast. When we returned to Beijing, we could feel how much faster life went by in Beijing rather than in Duolun. I really miss Duolun. The people there, the food, the weather. Everything.

Inner Mongolia is a beautiful place. It was my first time seeing grasslands stretching wild and free under the blue sky. Herds of cows or donkeys can be seen in the distance. Some lonely trees would be there to dance and sway in the wind. Plus since it's autumn now, some of the grasses turn yellow or even red. Some of the tree leaves as well. It's such a beautiful scene.

Yesterday was really horrible. I was having severe withdrawal syndrome. My heart didn't feel right, I felt really empty and sad that the trip is over. I guess I was really having such a good time there. I told myself, you know you had a wonderful trip when you feel emotionally attached to the people around you, to the places you visited and to the locals.

In my case, yes, I am really emotionally bonded with the places there :)

Alright I guess that's all for now. When I got back from Korea I will do more posting about the trip, and about the Korean trip as well. See you in one week time! Hope I'll have an awesome time in Korea, which I know I will! :)

Feels weird not counting down to my Inner Mongolia OCIP trip. But I had such a good time there. It's one experience I'll never forget. An experience that will remain in my heart.

Tomorrow it is, tomorrow.

2011-09-05T00:13:00.002+08:00

Hello guys! This is my 650th post! :D

And to dedicate this 650th post... I am dedicating this to my trip to Inner Mongolia which is tomorrow! Finally! :D

It's finally one day... Or should I say 9 and a half ours more to go to my trip! Pretty fast huh. I checked back and I've started counting down since 6th June, that was 89 more days to my trip! 88 days ago! And it feels like it was... 3 weeks ago? I guess it's finally here, the day I've been waiting for. I am very excited about the trip :) It feels great and surreal that the trip is TOMORROW or in a few hours time!

Well even though I'll only reach Inner Mongolia on Tuesday :P

But well... I still feel excited and happy! I'm not sure how I'm going to sleep tonight, hopefully I can. Cause my flight is at 9.30 and I gotta reach the airport by like 7. So I have to leave my house by about 6.30 and have to wake up at 5.30! And with the fact that I've been sleeping at four everyday for the past week... I really really hope I can sleep heh. But I think I can, kinda sleepy now!

I've done my packing so far, just need to put some stuff into my backpack and my duffel bag. After that I'm good to go! Took some time off first just now to blog and tumblr. Just wanna write how I feel cause I'm pretty excited about the trip haha.

Well there are lots of reasons why I am so excited about the trip. One of them is cause to travel to Mongolia, Inner and/or outer is a dream for me. I want to travel there. When I looked at the trip's banner, I quickly signed up and... I'm leaving tomorrow! My life-long dream is coming true! How can I not feel happy and excited?

Next, as you all know, I really love travelling. I love discovering places, learning new cultures, and exposing myself to the beauty of a place I've never visited before. So yes again, I'm pretty excited about this trip! I get to learn more about the culture, the people and not to forget, the environment! That's the main objective of this project right?

I guess it's always good to give back to mother nature. We take so much from her, when she's angry, we blame and curse the condition. Only to know the cause of her anger - is us. So to plant trees in Inner Mongolia, it's a way for me to give back to her, and to prevent desertification to occur. Inner Mongolia is a beautiful place as I've seen from the net. I don't want it to turn into a desert.

Last but not least, trips like these are ways which I can escape from the troubles and reality of life. It's a way I can digress and just have a time to myself and my surrounding, to enjoy what I do, and to just lose myself to find myself. I will make sure that the 2 weeks spent there will be one of the best two weeks of my life. It will be great. I know it will :)

Right! I guess that's all for now. I'll be back on the 18th! Be prepared to be bombed with photos and stories and more from Inner Mongolia and Beijing! Looking forward for this awesome trip! I hope that the trip will go as smooth as possible, and that we'll have one of the greatest times of our lives there. I know it will!

See you on the 18th :)

Finally :)

9.5 hours more to fly to Beijing! :D :D

Awesome Saturday

2011-09-03T08:30:00.000+08:00

I can't wait to fly

Whew, today was a really long long day, but it was really wonderful and awesome! Despite the fact that I only had 5 hours of sleep last night -.- Thanks to my body clock seriously. But well I had fun and that's an awesome thing right? :D So many great things happened today, such an awesome Saturday really! :)

Anyway right, first yes I slept for only 5 hours -.- From 4.30 to 9.30 and alas I was late for my OCIP meeting. It was at 10 and I reached at 10.15. Thankfully I live near school so I guess it's really fine and I can make it on time quickly. It was our last meeting before the trip, and so it was seriously making me super duper excited for the trip! Heh. And well some things were sorted out and stuff, so I think we're good now.

After all, we've to be ready no matter what lies ahead. Be ready and spontaneous. That's the only way we can accept challenges and took it!

After the meeting some of the GDP mates went to Somerset to get some Uniqlo long sleeve shirt called the Heatech! While being there, there was a sale for this long sleeve shirt from 14.90 --> 9.90! I went to grab one heh, I need sweater anyway :) After the shopping we get some snacks to eat and we headed to Syafiqah's house for her Raya open house! Oh my gosh the food is so good!

The food is really really good! All the lontong, curries and chicken! And I like the... Okay I'm not sure what they called it here, but back in my hometown it taste exactly like bala-bala. It's like fried dough fritters with carrots, onion and more. So yummy! Thanks the food, they are comfort food that reminds me of my hometown and it's a great meal before I leave for Inner Mongolia :)

The curry complements everything. So once again thank you Syafiqah for having us there! And her mum is seriously one fabulous chef :D

Went to Orchard to meet Neal and Jeslyn after that. Neal was late heh so Jeslyn and I spent some time shopping and returning my setup box. Thanks for accompanying me to do all those! Haha. Got a good deal at Lucky Plaza to get the postcards for my OCIP trip, for the villagers. 50c each! Haha. We met up and had dinner, and spent some time wandering and found our way at Pomo (first time there) to go for TCC's drinks :D

And then we headed back home, and yup that's all for my long day!

Oh man somehow I still can't believe that my OCIP trip will finally begin this Monday! I guess it's due to the fact that I've been couting it down since like 60 days ago heh. Pretty amazing how much time could fly no? I really can't wait to go to Inner Mongolia! The beautiful scenery there will be a perfect escape for me after this super long and tiring semester. Hmm :)

Alright I guess that's all for now, gonna get busy tonight with lots of packing and stuff to do! Printing this and that, preparing that and this. Time to get busy! :P See you again!

We all want some attention. We all do.

2 more days to Inner Mongolia OCIP!

Happy (belated) Teachers' Day!

2011-09-02T00:50:00.003+08:00

Hello everyone! Oh gosh blogger has decided to change its interface... Me no like! Not really actually, I think it looks neater. Just that... I'm not used to it! But I think it's cool (oh wow so ironic of me). But yup it looks much neater and cleaner. I'll just have to get used to it.

First of all wishing all teachers...

HAPPY TEACHERS' DAY 2011! (belated :P)

Thank you to all teachers who have taught me for all my 19 years of life. Thank you for both your academic and aesthetic teachings. They are all wonderful and really shaped me for who I am today. Without you, I'm not who I am today! :)

It was a last minute decision for me to go back to Tanglin. I talked with my brother whether I can go back and he told me it's fine, so I've decided to go back with Neal! Weiqi, Federick and Chong Tuck went too. Whew, thankfully we were able to meet Mrs Lee as she had to rush off just now. I wrote her a letter! Hope she loves it hehe. And met Mr Sia too, sadly the rest of the teachers either went off already or... We just couldn't meet.

Well what can I say? Tanglin has changed, of course. It is somehow no longer the Tanglin I used to have, see and feel. No more familiar faces, familiar sounds, familiar sights. Just saying like it's not the Tanglin we all have. Afterall it's been two long years that seem short since I graduated from that beloved school of mine! But I guess... Once a Tanglinian, always a Tanglinian.

Oh well even though there were only 5 people from 4E1'09 who returned, I still feel glad to have met Mrs Lee and some other teachers again! :)

After that we hang out in the canteen for a while, and we went back home. I cabbed to Orchard to meet my brother, and we went to shop for stuff! Hehe. Thankfully I had the chance to buy two sweater toom Uniqlo one! The one Amanda said about the heattech technology, supposed to keep me warmer while the sweater itself is rather thin. Super cool!

After dinner, my brother, his friends and I went to walk around Singapore haha. Not literally, just around town. First we went to Marina Bay Sands, to the skypark! Oh gosh it is sooooo gorgeous out there. Sucks that we couldn't venture to all the skypark. Some places are off-limit to hotel guests only. After that we went to Clarke Quay! And then went back to our hotel.

I'm sure we have walked more than about 2 KM plus. Of course we took busses from places to places but we spent our majority time walking too! Even though it was a tiring night, I feel glad to have explored some places in Singapore which I haven't explored before :D

Alright I guess that's all for today! I seriously can't wait for my OCIP trip as Jesslyn has been sending us more info about the trip like where to gather etc. Argh! 3 more DAYS! WEEEE!

Tired but accomplished :)

3 more days to Inner Mongolia OCIP!

Bye August

2011-08-31T23:40:00.002+08:00

Gooooorgeous sunset at Orchard today!

Whew, just realised today is the 31st of August! Last day of August! Somehow when I reached home today after meeting my brother, I was feeling really tired. And when I see everyone tweeting about September and teachers' day, I feel even more tired! Haha. So in conclusion, August had been a really really long and tiring month. So tiring that I can still feel its after-effect at the end of it.

Anyway today was alright. It was damn cool! Haha, finally seeing blue sky after like 5 days of clouds. It was good to see them again. And today's sunset was just beautiful! Wish I could take it with my camera but I didn't bring it so took it with my phone instead. It was really beautiful though, one of the most beautiful ones that I've seen here.

I met my brother and other friends at 7 at his hotel. He told me the flight was kinda delayed and so he took a little longer to reach. We ate dinner at 313, and we spent the time from 9 to like 10 plus walking along Orchard road. Took bus back to hotel and that's about it. My brother decided to send me back home to see my room and...

Argh I feel so guilty for not cleaning up my room! I thought my brother won't be coming to my room tonight so I didn't really tidy up (it's the holiday after all heh, feeling really today-I-don't-feel-like-doing-anything everyday). It was kind of messy and he was shocked hahaha. But after he left I tidied everything up! It's quite nice now...

Felt really guilty then :O

Anyway I've decided to go back to Tanglin tomorrow after talking with my brother, then meeting him afterwards tomorrow. It was a last minute decision. I really hope it'll be a good one :) It's good to go back and meet your teachers once more! I really miss them :( Miss my secondary school, miss my life there and more. But c'est la vie! It has to move on.

Alright I guess that's all for today! Gonna be an exciting and awesome day tomorrow :D Can't wait to see my teachers again! :D

Too long never walk, feeling very tired :P

5 more days to Inner Mongolia OCIP!

Fragility

2011-08-30T22:39:00.003+08:00

Hello! I've been wanting to blog since yesterday but oh well. Too bad heh. Anyway firstly...

SELAMA HARI RAYA AIDIL FITRI to all Muslims out there! :D

Mohon Maaf Zahir dan Batin (actually in Indo we call it lahir dan batin :P)

It's kind of a quiet lebaran (hari raya) here, unlike my hometown which will be very noisy and lively with the sound of fire crackers and takbiran and more. Kind of miss the atmosphere there :/ and I miss the food! I want my ketupat heh. Ketupat is nice, I like it :D

Anyway yesterday I met Victor and the rest for dinner! It was great fun, reminiscing about those good old days we had in TSS is always fun. Somehow somewhat, even though as we grow up, there's always a part of us that never changes. But of course there will be some parts which will change too. But an inner part of us will always remain there :)

Met them at Clementi Mall and we decided to have dinner at Fish and co! Dinner was good, we were seriously having fun talking about our TSS days. Some which I have somehow forgotten and others which thankfully they brought back to me again. After dinner we were just walking around aimlessly at the mall haha. So we decided to go home after that :)

While today, I met Wei Lun, Zhirong and Neal for Sumo! Sem, Sherman and Jielong couldn't make it so just the 4 of us I guess. But we should meet up after their As! A proper one where we all can go together as one :) After sumo we went to the 40th floor again. It was my first time being there during the day and it's cool! Too bad it was cloudy :/

The rest went home while I stayed for a while to look for some stuff, afterwhich I went to Holland to get my films done and that's all for the day I guess!

Oh yeah here are some photos from the film which I took during the Friday nightout with Vithya, Kai, Lizzie, Candy and Minli! :)

Vithya, Kai and Minli (:

Candy and Lizzie (sorry I think that was my finger! Haha)

6 tequila shots FTW!!! :D

I only have 3 proper shots (only took 3 anyway heh). Wish I could have taken more but I just couldn't when I'm drunk yeah? :P

Alright I guess that's all for the day. My brother is coming here tomorrow! So gonna meet him and perhaps have dinner with him hehe. See you :)

Fragility of memory. It's scary.

6 more days to Inner Mongolia OCIP!

Corrinne May - Beautiful Seed (Photo Montage and lyrics)

2011-08-29T02:23:00.001+08:00

Hey guys I just did this "interpretation" of Corrinne May's Beautiful Seed! All the photos in the video are taken by me. Enjoy and comments welcomed! Taken from my Youtube hoho.

Enjoy! :D

Shouldn't have ran

2011-08-28T20:28:00.002+08:00

Hello. As the title suggests. Yes I ran today and I shouldn't have! Hahaha. Oh well let me tell you what happened.

First thing. Before I ran I accidentally scratched the back of my leg. At first I ignored it. It's a scratch after all. Then before I put on my shoes, there was blood -.- And that's when I felt the pain! Oh well how awesome is the human body right. Anyway next. I ran from my block to Holland V. When I reached holland V, I crossed the road, and fell down in the middle of it, in front of so many cars -.-

Oh man the weird thing is that I told myself before I run that "Hmm maybe today is not a good day for running at all" and that's what happened. Oh well just a bit of blood. I'm alright though, just a bit sore. So I ended up running a distance of 2.5 km only, instead of the intended 4. But I've improved my timing! 11 minutes for 2.5 km! :D

Anyway yeah that's all for today, I'm currently cooking stew (Y)

WAIT there's one more thing!

I'm botak once more! Okay here goes the story. I went to my hairdresser and asked her to "shorten" my hair, or trim my hair to just make it shorter. Cut cut cut, trim trim trim and I ended up with this... Sort of my former hairstyle but super shorter, and my left top hair is longer than the right side! So I asked her to trim again.

Then I made up my mind and just told her to shave everything heh, cause I know it's kind of not plausible for her to "fix" my hairstyle anymore. But anyway I'm really fine with my hair, seriously :) I think I'm going to be botak for a while. I'm too used to this hairstyle.

And for the previous post, yep! Haha I went drinking on Friday with Vithya, Liz, Kai, Minli and Candy! It was my first time ever... So.... I didn't know what to expect. All I know is that I'm the same as Minli. I'm a sleepy drunk! And a scientific one too... I kept on asking my friends about Okazaki fragments to test whether they're drunk or not HAHAHA. And I was telling myself about alcohol metabolism heh.

But it was a good first time :) And a fun one too! But err guys lets keep this for special occasions only eh? And I still prefer tea than beer! (What a pussy :P)

Alright my stew is calling for me! I'll see you soon. I'm meeting Victor and the rest for dinner hohoho. See ya all :D

Cloudy Sunday.

8 more days to Inner Mongolia OCIP!

Drunk

2011-08-26T11:57:00.001+08:00

OMG I'm kind of sober now... I just went drinking with my friends for the first time in my life. Just wanna say what a horrible first drinker I am.

The night of 26/8/2011, the night I'll never forget

weeee

10 more days to Inner Mongolia OCIP

It's O V E R

2011-08-24T23:02:00.003+08:00

Okay I may sound really... Exaggerating in this post but...

IT'S OVER DAMN IT, IT'S O V E R!

Yes I'm talking about my 11/12 S1 exams! Weeee! Fastest exams ever with only two papers -.- but seriously, even though it was only two papers, the previous week was hell for us. 3 final tests, 1 class quiz and more. Yeah yeah I'm sure you've heard my previous rants. But you know what, it's over, so why am I complaining? CAUSE IT FEELS GOOD (Exaggeration #1)

Anyway OCRM paper was alright... NO it wasn't. Okay I just feel the paper was tough. So do the rest of my friends. But as tough as it was, I really did my best. I was rather focussed during the paper. All I did was open the paper, flip it, do it, write it, answer it. Even though sadly I didn't have enough time to check. Oh gosh, you know what...

After the OCRM paper I felt really light headed and numb... In a sense I felt the paper was so intense that my head was kind of "stuffed" and pain while on the way home. It was really weird. It feels like... I feel glad that it's over. Yet at the same time troubled with the fact it was one tough paper. And then there was GM bio to worry too.

GM bio on the other hand... Was alright! I don't want to get so confident that I'll get A whatsoever. But my hard work yesterday and Monday and the other past days were paid off! Yaaaay. I did some exam papers last night, just spam them. And I spot questions heh, and they came out! Oh gosh it was so lovely haha. But damn you Okazaki why must you appear.

And where's my lac operon? :(

But anyway IT'S OVER! (Exaggeration #2)

After the paper, went to eat Botak Jones with my classmates (even though we were separated by tables cause we were so huge heh). Lizzie and Minli joined us as well! First time eating there, you can see how much first-timer I can get uh :P But the food was awesome! Except the waiting time, it's a tad too long but all's good :)

Then Candy had to go home while Kai needs to go back to school. So Vithya, Lizzie, Minli and I decided to roam around Clementi. First was pool and we couldn't find the place. Then I brought them to the 40th storey heaven that Wei Lun, Jolene, Pow, WQ and YP love to go to! So I took them there and yay they love it there too :D

We found a staircase and we sat down there and just chatted. Really amazing, we began with North Korea (WTH) thanks to History haha. Then we went on to secondary school days, literature, poems, essays, English, Os, girl school and more hahaha. But seriously guys, that talk was such a good talk that I had after such a long long time. Really good. Thanks a lot :)

And we headed home. Oh gosh Vithya calls me a bad hugger! Haha.

Oh well now that the exam is over... What should I do? Rest? Definitely. Slack? Definitely. But well my green desert project is coming soon! 12 more days to my long-awaited OCIP! I got to do a few stuff, so I guess I'll get myself busy. And got to do some shopping as well so yeah. And I'm taking my girlfriend off from the hospital tomorrow, yay! (Y)

Oh yes, have I told you? I got my Korean Visa! Weee

Alright I guess that's all for today. It's been such a hectic semester. So glad it is over... Whew. Alrighty nights! And have a good rest everybody!

I'll let my result prove my hypothesis right :)

12 more days to Inner Mongolia OCIP!

PS: I'm just going to treat you as a friend. Or even, someone whom I just happen to know. Sorry.

It's over... Not. Yet.

2011-08-19T23:23:00.002+08:00

Do I look weird with this headphones? :O

Wow! It's been a week since I last blogged. Alright pretty much explains how busy I am this week. I swear, this week could be one of the... Not say worst. But busiest and mentally and physically tiring week in my poly life ever! With 3 final tests and 1 presentation, and one quiz. It's like phew. But I pulled through! So yay I'm proud haha.

We'll talk about results later shall we? :P

Anyway the week was as I said, pretty hectic and crazy. But alright I guess. They went pretty much quicker than I thought they will come to be. 5 days gone poof. The tests wise... Alright I guess. I've tried my best, even though my stupid carelessness take over some questions. Oh well :/ but anyway I think it's good! Hehe. I've put in my best effort, and I'm happy.

And what I'm kind of proud of myself is that I kind of manage my time better this time round! (Especially Biochem). Every thing went as per planned, it was smooth, and yeah! Haha. No last minute studyings, my notes were all prepared and all I did was study the night before. I remember some time, I used to write notes one day before the exams -.-

So I really hope to keep this good habit going on!

I've also applied for my Korean visa! Yay, ready for collection this Tuesday :D Korea here we come! Woohoo.

Lets talk about today eh. Well we had Funana test, I thought I was going to be late cause I ended up leaving my house at 8.30 >< But I made it in time! 165 came when I reached the bus stop, then when I reached 74's bus stop, it was just in front of my 165 O.o and I ran, and jumped over some tree roots. Felt like a freaking athlete! Hahaha

Funana test was... Hmm okay I guess? Some questions I really have no idea what's that about. Wish I went into more details. But all is well haha. Stayed back for OCRM revision session, and I met Jolene and Nissa to study together! Oh gosh it's been such a long time since I met Nissa! Good to have met her again :)

And after our study session, went to Clementi to get some stuff. Can't believe my ink ran out during Funana test! So went to popular to get new pen etc. Bought a new ipod cover too! Tsk, I don't know I'm unlucky or what but this is like my 3rd iPod cover! The first two was spoilt so... Oh man, I don't know what defines a goooood cover for me really. Just hope this will last till my Inner Mongolia + Korean trip :P

Bought dinner from this duck rice stall which I used to buy from like almost every week when I was still in TSS. Somehow when I was buying it, the uncle looked at me, and somehow I felt this sense of him remembering me... Wow haha. But his duck rice is really yummeh. And what I love the most is that there's no bone! :D

When I reached home I ate my dinner, and told myself "lets sleep for 5 minutes" and I slept for like 45 minutes (Y). That's how tired I am. Oh well I guess I will take a break tonight. I'm too tired :/

Alright I guess that's all for today! Meeting YP tomorrow to return our HfH pledge cards :D And lunch. Alrighty! See ya!

Whew, one week, whew....

17 more days to Inner Mongolia OCIP!

I Believe in Music XXIX! (IBM 29)

2011-08-12T23:52:00.001+08:00

Hello! I just got back from school about 30 minutes ago heh, today was SPSB's 29th I Believe in Music series concert! It was really awesome! My 4th concert with SPSB and yup, it was another awesome one. Seriously great.... I'm lost for words heh, cause when it comes to music, there's no way to describe it but through.... Music! Heh

Anyway the day was alright, there was Funana in the morning which I came late (oh well) thankfully I was not late for my presentation as Candy was late too heh, we ended up presenting last, but Miss Yulia said we did well! So I hope it's a good outcome. After Funana I went for Gem bio for 30 minutes? And I went to band after that for our rehearsal.

Our rehearsal started at about 1 plus, starting with warm up then some practices for the soloists. It was freezing cold in SPCC :P After 5.45 we all went for dinner and dress up and were back at the rehearsal room at about 7. Tuned up, prepared, and the show started!

Okay it's impossible for me to really tell how each piece went but I'll just roughly tell how the concert went. I think the first half was not bad. Celtic was a bit shaky in the beginning, but we all got hold of it throughout the song. The year one band was cute! I mean cats haha. But there were a few intonation problems for IBM. 2nd half was alright I guess. El Camino was (Y).

But seriously, who cares about the glitches here and there. I think what matter the most is that we had put out heart into the music, tried our best during this performance and of course, believe in the music we make and the music we give! Right? :D

One particular piece I really loved tonight was Variations on a Korean Folk Song. I don't know why, I know this sounds weird but after the piece was played, I just smiled. When I hit that last high C, after the semi-quaver, I just smiled, and stood with pride and joy when Mr Leonard Tan asked us to stand up. It was... I don't know. I felt really happy and good playing that song.

I guess that's why Mr Tan said it was one of the most important piece of wind band literature.

I guess... I don't know. It was just happiness. Just pure bliss. Something I love, and I hold dearly to. Something I always love to do, love to make, love to feel and give.

That is music to me. Something that I always love. It's just part of my life, something I believe in. something I hold dearly to. It's music, music is not words. It can't be described in words. It can't be written in words. Music is something extraordinary and unique in this world. It's played with your mouth, fingers, legs, air and more.

But it is heard with your heart, with your feeling. It is expressed not in words but in beautiful melodies no words can describe. That is real music to me. It's a part of my life that I CANNOT live without. Life without music, I might as well be dead.

Oh well I really don't know what and how to say and describe how awesome tonight concert is. Tonight's concert just goes to prove how much music mean to me. How much important music is to me. What is music in my life. Just goes to show how much I love music.

And at the end of the day, the only person who can enjoy the music you played is not the audience only.

But yourself :)

Good night everyone!

23 more days to Inner Mongolia OCIP!

Pre-OCIP trip at Pulau Ubin!

2011-08-06T23:29:00.003+08:00

Reflection at the quarry lake

Hello people! Today was such an awesome day! :D My OCIP team and I went to Pulau Ubin for our pre-OCIP trip! It's been three years since I last visited there... And so many things have changed! Even though some still remain the same, and they never fail to bring me back to that SC activity day thingy with Cheryl, Sam sim and Mr Tan.

Anyway wanted to meet Kai Xuan and Jon but Kai's leg hasn't recovered so she decided not to go for the trip. Get well soon Kai! So I met Jon at Clementi, was like 5 minutes late sorry >< and we trained to Pasir Ris, then cabbed to Changi Ferry terminal. Cause taking bus was so gonna be late. We met others and we then headed to Ubin!

The day started with a trek to Nordin Beach where we did some beach cleanup. Cleaning the beach made ma angry. Cause I'm so irritated by the amount of litter found there! Don't they even know how turtles can die by chomping on plastic bags? And styrofoams, and this and that. Seriously, I wish people don't throw their stuff into the sea!

The waves are moving everywhere, so please don't think your rubbish will remain in the ocean or something like that. No. they are carried away everyday, everywhere.

But the cleanup was fun! Picking up funny things to be thrown away like how we dug the sand just to "uncover" a hose heh. And plastic bottles (glass too) and plastic bags. The plastic bags go so damaged by the sea water I think that it was so "flimsy" and when you pulled it up, they will break and fall. So "pek-cek" heh.

After the cleanup we headed back to the jetty area to have lunch. Then I met this SUPER CUTE DOG/PUPPY and he's just so bloody cute! On the way back, Kay Heng, Elijah and I were talking about out secondary school band days haha. Some of us had to go back first, while the rest went for... Cycling!

I always love cycling in Ubin. I don't know why but Ubin is like a time travellator for me. It brings me back to another time, to another place you can't find in Singapore. Kinda like my hometown back in Indo but... Different. I don't know how to put it into words but I just love cycling there! How I wish Singapore has more islands like Ubin :/

We also went to Chek Jawa! It was my first time there and it's so gorgeously beautiful~ especially with the orange-ish sunset sky and puffy clouds with shapes and patterns. So freaking nice! It was high tide though so we couldn't really see the sea-bed but it's nice :D

The day ended at about 6 and we headed back to the main land. Went to Changi Village for dinner, and buka-ing AKA breaking fast! Haha. Even though we didn't fast, two of our friends, Azmi and Syafiqah do! So we all waited for the call for buka and we all tucked in, except for Syafiqah who's too tired to eat! Haha.

And we all headed home after that, 5o minutes of MRT ride to Clementi from Pasir Ris! Alright I'm seriously VERY sleepy, I guess too tired. See ya then!

Awesome Saturday indeed!

29 more days to Inner Mongolia OCIP!

Drowsy

2011-08-03T22:22:00.003+08:00

I'm feeling rather drowsy after returning home just now --.-- and I don't know why. I guess it's the rain... Or maybe I'm just tired... Or I don't know, I guess lack of glucose to my brain or perhaps my PNS stimulations are kicking in, now I feel drowsy huh. Or I must have taken some cholinergic drugs or adrenergic-blocking drugs.

Sigh, iPharm today was such a... I don't know. I don't feel like talking about it. I got mixed up during the open book test. I got the whole thing wrong. It's a freaking "chain" question so when you get one wrong, the others will follow and so on. No point crying over spoilt milk. But at least I scored 25/30 for my closed book test. And I feel really happy with that.

Sigh... How stupid can I get. It's a freaking open book and internet search is allowed. Yet I stupidly believe in my stupid instinct and follow on instead of researching on it again. Why Adhi why? :/

I guess it's a B for iPharm. Such a stupid dreamer for thinking I can get my 4 this semester. But it's not over... I don't know.

Argh stop thinking so much.

Anyway it's a Wednesday today so as usual we have our usual OCIP meeting! Today was alright I guess, had a fun time playing the games. And also the talks and stuff. We are going Ubin this Saturday! Can't wait! Hehe. Anyway I love Wednesdays. Somehow, going to these meetings every week is like a happy reminder for me that 5th September is drawing near, right?

Yesterday I had my typhoid and tetanus jab together with Candy, Amanda, Jonathan, Jia Xiong and Ahpa (Yong an came too but he left before us). It wasn't painful... As I thought it would be. But it's the after effect of the jab (the soreness on your arm) one day or so after the jab that causes the pain and irritating inconvenience urgh.

I hope that the pain will go away tomorrow before band... Cause last night I tried playing the clarinet with the freaking sore and it's so irritating heh. Pain and... As in Chinese we call it "suan" and so yeah. It's pretty pain you know rawr.

Hmm... Honestly speaking tonight I really don't feel like doing anything. So I guess... I shan't do anything much heh. I'll take a break first for tonight... Oh well. See ya then!

Hmm...

32 more days to Inner Mongolia OCIP!

August is here, tomorrow

2011-07-31T22:45:00.003+08:00

Awesome sky today :)

Okay yes I kinda fail. I told myself I'll study by 1030 PM. But when I wanted to add songs into my iPod, iTunes kindly offered me to update my OS software of my iPod and therefore I'm downloading it now and it took so long! So now it's still downloading so why not I blog while waiting right? Downloading Adele's Set the fire to the rain too.

I know I'm slow but I'm falling in love with Adele! OMG her voice is just too nice to not be heard, to not be loved. She's such an awesome singer! Love her voice! And her personality as well :D

Anyway today was an alright Sunday. And... The start of... 七月! Oh dear to those out there... I won't disturb you you won't disturb me right hehe :) Anyway and since today is the last day of July, I gotta claim my complimentary cake from Starbucks! So I went to Holland V in the afternoon just to claim it before July ends.

Oh gosh, before July ends. Time flies fast huh! It's August tomorrow!

I bought C.Jade fried rice too for lunch. Not sure if it's me not eating there for such a long time or my stomach has gotten smaller (yay) but I was really bloated eating one portion of the fried rice. Usually I can finish them without feeling bloated and full. Now... I was forcing myself to finish it. But it's good :D

I was waiting for 5 o' clock to start so I spend the time doing some iPharm notes. Yes the final test is this Wednesday, I can't compromise yo. So it's been an iPharm weekend. Doing iPharm notes, revising them and yup. I have done the e-tutorials. Results are okay hehe. I did badly for the MST so... I'm really hoping to do VERY WELL for the final test! I want my A :O

And at 5 I went running! Hehe. 5 KM~ and it took me about... 42 minutes. So 10 KM will take me 82 minutes AKA 1 hour 22 minutes? Yeah provided I can run constantly withing that 10KM. I gotta start training for my Standard Chartered 10k! I believe I can do it, and for me.. Time doesn't really matter. The distance and will do :) Don't you think so?

And you know there was something funny that happened just now while running. There was this boy who would walk when I'm not beside him, but would start running when I got near him (or when he turned his back and saw me). He did this for like 3 times -.- and I wish I could tell that boy this:

Go ahead and overtake me. I won't overtake you, I need to overtake myself first :)

But of course I didn't do that haha.

But seriously. I run not for the sake of overtaking others, but I want to overtake myself. There's nothing wrong with overtaking others. But that's what I do.

For dinner I cooked olives fried rice! I was craving for olives last night so I decided to cook something olive-y so yeah. It was nice, but underseasoned :O I thought the olives were salty enough so that I don't need to add salt. But well the rice was a bit bland but not bad when eaten with the olives :P

Sigh, anyway... August is here tomorrow! I think time is really flying so quickly... That it just seems so... Quick. Okay that's really going round and round. Personally speaking, August will put myself into test. Test for a few different things. My time management, my knowledge, my mind and most importantly myself.

Not only this will be the last month of my school semester, which means exams, tests this and that, but I will also be having... A concert, and other stuff. this is so going to put myself into test! Of how much I've learnt and studied for the exams, how good my time management skill can be. There will be lots of things happening alongside my exams and test. There's nothing I can do but to manage my time as much as I can.

As much as I will have to dislike August. I will and I am going to pull through it. Cause on 5th September, I can have a time of my life. It would be an awesome reward for me, for this semester :D

So yeah, I really hope that the exams can end really quickly and that my Inner Mongolia OCIP will come ASAP. Sometimes I just feel that all these studyings and revising... Stress and tire me. But no worries! I believe I can, and I will pull through August! Ciao, back to GM bio.

When you doubt yourself, that's when you lose your battle.

34 more days to Inner Mongolia OCIP!

Mr Baldy

2011-07-27T22:16:00.002+08:00

So anyway, it's been quite long since I blogged! Sorry, been pretty busy these days with this test, that test and many more. There's band as well, and so my schedule was pretty hectic. And tonight! I still have to check my report again, to make it nice and awesome haha. Supposed to do it last night but oh well I was so tired after band. I slept at 3 okay :O so tonight it is then!

Anyway it's like... My 4th day having a shaved head. And I like it! Here are many reasons why I like being bald: Save shampoo, no need to worry about hair every morning, cooler, nice to touch and rub as well haha. But of course, what's best about being bald? I'm together with the children with cancer! They're not alone :)

It's pretty nice and cool to see many shaved heads in SP, somehow after the Hair for Hope weekend. Including my lecturer, Dr Tan! Well I guess there are many people who went for hair for hope 2011, and that's pretty awesome :D And pretty proud to some of my friends who went to shave as well! Like Elton who made his decision like over a night haha.

And of course I have to thank my classmates, lecturers and friends! They donated GENEROUSLY for CCF. My targetted amount was $80 and on the first day... I have raised $91! And now after some of the Green Desert people donated, I have raised $113.50! How freaking awesome!

Thank you to all my friends and lecturers who have donated to me. You guys have played a huge part in helping children with cancer. You don't have to show your support by shaving only, donation wise, it's already great enough! :D Thank you once more to everyone again!

Anyway today was alright I guess. Went with Saeyeoh, all the way to Raffles Place to go to China's Visa consular service... And when we're supposed to hand in our forms.... We need our e-tickets. Oh my gosh, so we went there for nothing! Noooo! Oh man :/ But at least we get everything done, so now we just need to like finalise everything. Plus the ticket :/

And after that we went back to school for our green desert OCIP meeting, and today's session is really fun! We did the personality test which Amanda was leading us with and it's kinda cool to somehow know that the questions really suit me! Like totally haha. But when I read who I am truly about (number 8), it's kind of the opposite of me. So now I'm confused.

And it's pretty negative-feeling like it says I don't understand how people feel and that I should learn more on how to understand them. Noooooo!!! Hahaha. But oh well Amanda says it's not like 100% true and that we shouldn't totally comply to it. But the rest is kinda true so yeah. Pretty cool :)

After the session some of the peeps went to FC5 to eat and we were chatting. I was chatting with Elijah, Joel and Kay Heng and we were laughing like mad haha. Chatting about nonsensical but hilarious stuff! Haha, really had a great time there.

Right I guess that's all for today. Pretty much excited about the trip, every Wednesday, with the fact that the date is getting nearer and nearer each day. And of course... That would mean exams are coming too! August is going to be a REAL CHALLENGE for me. So many things going on, things clashing here and there. IBM which is 10 days before exam.

But I'll pull through, watch me :)

Some things in life are meant to be enjoyed in silence, celebrated in silence, smiled in silence.

38 more days to Inner Mongolia OCIP!

Hair for Hope 2011

2011-07-23T22:17:00.003+08:00

Right! As you can see from the photo above, I went for Hair for Hope (HfH) 2011! Kind of fast uh, it's been one year since I shaved for HfH 2010 and now it's 2011's turn. This time round I register as an online shavee, cause last year I gotta wait 3 hours heh. But I learnt one thing from this year, if you wanna walk in, come at about 3 PM! Just now it was kind of empty, or was the walk-in shavee slots all taken up? I'm not sure.

Neevrtheless, being walk-in or online shavee, I'll still go again for next year's HfH! This is my 2nd HfH and definitely not the last. I'll still come back for it :) Anyway met Nivedha first at Holland to take her photos and had some breakfast to ear (for me) before we headed to Vivo. And we were talking about... Hinduism and Buddhism on the way heh.

Cause my shaving time is from 1-2, while YP's shaving time is 2-3. So I gotta wait for him and just went to queue by myself. Victor was also there, but he gotta queue on the walk-in shavee side. Anyway... I queued and got shaved! Oh well, finally reunited with my botak-hairstyle again after one long year heh.

The two of them went for the shaving as well and we took some pictures after that. Nivedha had to leave for her lesson so she left earlier before us. YP wasn't feeling that well and he went home as well (get well soon YP!). Vic and I then went for kopitiam and we ate, and we went hunting for headphones (I got a new one, cause mine spoilt :O).

And on the way to kopitiam, on the way to challenger, and best denki. As usual, we were all being starred by other people. Being my 2nd time shaving, I have expected this reaction from other people. Victor was a bit uneasy in the first place. Then, he realised by how a child with cancer, undergoing a chemotheraphy, would feel if he were to walk on public.

Stares from everywhere, like as if we were different. Alright our hairstyle is different. But we're human too aren't we?

When I first signed up for HfH (as I would have probably mentioned this last year), I just thought of going there for "fun" and for support of the CCF and children with cancer. Until I got on a bus, when well, being starred again. And when I'm being bald for a month plus, where people stare at me as if I'm different.

That's when I realise how much symbolic Hair for Hope is. How much important and how much special this event is. It's not just an ordinary charity event where we all shave for "fun". It is very very symbolic. Once you shaved, you'll know how it feels to be in the shoe of a child with cancer. How much insecure they feel, how much of "why?" they feel.

Personally speaking, my aunt passed away due to cancer. That was when I was still in P5. I remember how I would go accompany her to Mt Elizabeth hospital for her chemo treatment, accompanying her, chatting with her. And around me would be other patients, young and old. I remember one session when there was this westerner boy who was going for chemotherapy. I can see the sadness, and pain in his eyes. And he was telling his mum of how pain it is when they inject the needles.

I have lost some of my dearest people due to cancer. Some, totally unrelated to me. My aunt, my grandma, my grandpa, the father of a really good friend of mine, my great uncle and many more. Cancer is a scary thing. I know how serious it can get especially when it starts spreading to the other parts of your body. The unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy and more.

Adults, I would say, have more tolerance towards pain and the anguish they get from the treatments. After all, they are grown up. What about the children with cancer? As I said above about that young boy, and so many others in Singapore and the world who are suffering from it. I might not be a doctor that can save their lives. Not a researcher that can come up with a medicine that cures them instantly.

I'm just a young man after all. But through HfH, I can show them my support, I know how it feels to be like them, I know how harsh life can be for them. I am thankful for having this healthy body, for not having cancer in my life so far. And yes I'm grateful for that, and I know there's no way we can improve their conditions through going hair for hope.

But hair for hope itself, is an event. A symbolic event and gesture in which we can send through out wishes, hopes and support. Not physically, not in real life, but more of spiritually. More of symbolism, more of a prayer and wish and support. It is just so symbolic, that you have to go through it to FEEL it, to EXPERIENCE it.

I don't really believe the fact that some people just go and shave for the sake of "fun". I don't know why but I feel there's something inside them that made them do it. That made them shave their hair. It's not easy to just go and "Hi I wanna go for HfH" especially for the girls. I feel there must be something that made them want to do it.

But anyway, let us not forget another group of people - The Survivors. They are the ones who had battled it out, and never relinquished. And came out of the darkness and pain as if being reborn again. I know a few cancer survivors. And in fact one is a really good friend of mine. She told me stories of those "days". And I just told myself... She's one really strong girl. How did she do it!

And it's just so amazing how these survivors can put up everything together again. And live a life, somehow as if nothing has happened to them. Cheerful, bubbly, caring and helpful. Knowing what they had went through, I just feel.... Impressed and touched. I feel amazed and happy for them. But at the same time, I ask myself.

If these people have the courage, have the strength to move forward in life. To take back the pieces of their lives, shattered by the disease. To have the will to never give up despite of the pain and really gruesome feeling. I can't find any reason why we, normal and healthy human beings can't do the same either. To not give up when we're troubled. To move forward when something bad happened to us. To have the courage to fight. Why can't we?

We all tend to complain. When we go to the saloon and find our hairstyles weird. When we fail at something we dread with it like as if we will fail forever. When we don't get what we want, it feels like the end of the world. Then what about those children and survivors? They are fighting with a disease, battling with life (maybe financially) but. They never give up

That's one thing I've learnt from this event. Out of the many.

And so to sum it all up. I am dedicating my shave for three groups of people. To those who have tried their best battling with cancer, to those who have survived the fight with cancer. But most importantly, to the people who are still fighting with it.

And not to forget, of course, to children with cancer. It's okay to be bald! You are not alone. We the shavees have shared your pain, shown our support for you all, and have felt what you guys have felt/are feeling. But most importantly, NEVER GIVE UP! KEEP FIGHTING and I'm sure you'll win the battle.

What a long post. But I feel really good after writing this. Alright, thanks for reading! Hair for Hope 2011 is such an awesome event! I will definitely come back next year! :)

42 more days to Inner Mongolia OCIP!