Met up with the 32 people at Chris’s house today! I was kind of worried that I would lose my way, but it’s kind of difficult to lose my way when all I have to do is to walk in a straight line. Haha…

We had potluck for lunch and sat around talking. Well, mostly of the guys talking about army and the girls talking about uni life. Mr. Chew came over with his wife and son as well! Benedict is still as cute as ever. Haha~

I’m glad we met up on the last day of the year. I would regret it if we didn’t meet up during this time. Hopefully, I’ll get to meet them again for CNY next year!

Okay, back to the reflections part. This year has been a year of “firsts” and practising my rusty skills of making friends. First time I worked, first time meeting and interacting with people of different ages… (Well, for me, I see this very high wall between people who are older than me and I.) It made me realise that we’re all the same. XD

Actually, what do I have to write about the year? Erm… I have finally learnt that I am unable to commit for long periods of time and stopped committing to CCAs? Something like that, anyway. And I have learnt new things about myself and my surroundings through interaction with my new friends.

I’m glad for all my friends who have still stayed with me this year despite my faults, and thankful for my new friends who let me discover new sides to myself. I hope that in the following year, they will still stay with me!

And no, I’m not going to make any new year’s resolutions because I’ll never remember them, much less keep them. Hmm. Seems like my current motto is to spend minimal effort on things that I need to do? Strange. And my thoughts are getting more and more jumbled as time goes by… It seems like I really need to write more to make myself understandable.

Short post is short, but I think I’ve reflected a lot in my last few posts, so I shall refrain from writing more now and enjoy the last few moments of 2011. Hopefully, 2012 will be as good a year as 2011! Or maybe even better? Am I being too greedy? ><

So… I’ve been going out a lot during the holidays. And I’m still in need of some exercise. Hehheh. Went shopping for CNY clothes, but somehow, the latest trend doesn’t really catch my eye. So I’m thinking that I’ll go out and shop after Christmas, because I’ll have more choices then? Uh, actually, no. More like because there will be different designs available in stores after Christmas. Speaking of which, I guess it won’t rain during CNY, because there’s going to be heavy rain during Christmas. Oh well, let’s just keep this post here and we’ll see if what my mom says is true. Heehee.

Anyway, I went out with some of the PPG people to Teo Heng today. Namely, Hui Yi (whom I had lunch with), Pei Wen, Jess, Kai Yang and Wei Liang. Haha. And Kai Yang was saying that he wasn’t the oldest out of all of us, because Wei Liang is older.

Singing session was fun~ Spammed lots of SHE songs. XD And then we went to City Plaza to eat chicken at Arnold(‘s?). I thought we were going to continue to shop after that, but then everyone decided to go home (which suited me just fine, since I wanted to catch my 7 o’clock show). Haha.

It was quite fun hanging out with them, although we didn’t get everyone together… I find myself enjoying small gatherings like this. It makes it easier for me to interact with every other individual, because I tend to just keep quiet or talk to the same few people if I’m in a large gathering (of perhaps 20 plus people?). But that doesn’t mean that I don’t like large gatherings, though. Because there are some people who will entertain the rest of us and that reminds me of why I liked the group of people I was in in the past. (Okay, I don’t think I’m making sense here, but I guess I’ll just ramble on…)

I’m looking forward to the squad gathering on Sunday! Guess I’ll go in the morning and help out if I can wake up on time (mainly because I have no idea how to get to Jing Jie’s house on my own). Though I don’t really celebrate Christmas because of how I was brought up, I find it a nice reason to get together and chat with them. Because out of all my groups of friends, I’ve probably kept in touch with my squadmates the least. Oops. I should do something about that, right…? ><

Seems like it’s time for me to conclude this post, before I ramble too much. I’ll be back when I’m back, but I hope to be back more often, because I need time to reflect on myself, and because I want to keep track of different events in my life…

You know, if you post that you got a few As and a couple of Bs and complain about that one C that you got, you’re just being irritating. It doesn’t matter even if you didn’t get the As. Unless you failed your modules and have to retake those next semester, I don’t see a need to complain about it. Sure, you can grumble about it, I suppose. And whine. And scream. And cry? Just don’t do it too often. There are people who can’t even get into university, for various reasons. Now, don’t you think that those people have more reason than you do to complain about it? But what can be accomplished by dwelling on it? We still have to move on with our lives. Accept what has already happened, and then, if you have another chance, make it better.

After saying all that, I know that I probably can’t do it. Not all the time, anyway. But I irritate myself if I dwell too much on events that I can’t change anymore, so I usually end up deciding to do better next time. If I get another chance. Otherwise, I’ll just learn from it, and let go.

Abrupt end, but I think that I should end this before I repeat myself like a broken record. Oh well. Time to move on from this frustration of seeing how people can’t appreciate what they have.

—

You have always longed for tenderness, love and a sensitivity of feeling into which you would like to blend. You are a very gentle warm person and responsive to ‘All things bright and beautiful’. This personifies a caring person, a person who ‘needs’ and indeed ‘needs to be needed’.

You are totally dissatisfied with your present situation. Matters are not going right for you and you are seeking a means of escape. Your mental state of mind necessitates that you need to change your thinking patterns. Remember, if one particular modus operandi doesn’t seem to work, then try something different.

The way things are, you feel that you are stuck in a rut and there is not much you can do about it. You feel frustrated and inhibited but if you can find a way to let yourself go, you may find that things aren’t quite so bad as perhaps you thought they were. One consolation is that since you are an extremely emotional individual, with the right person you may be able to release some of that frustration and tension with some mutual tender loving care.

All of the stress and strains resulting from disappointment have led to agitation and anxiety. You have been going out of your way to make a good impression, but you have reservations as to the likelihood of succeeding. You feel that you have a right to accomplish all that you set your mind on but you have become helpless and distressed when circumstances have gone against you. The idea of failure is most upsetting and this can even mean utter dejection. You see yourself as a scapegoat and you feel everyone in your sphere of influence has tried to take undue advantage of you. You are trying to convince yourself that your failure to achieve standing and recognition is not of your making but indeed of those around you.

Since in the recent past all of your hopes and aspirations have been denied you, you are now convinced that the future will hold nothing but anxiety so therefore ‘why bother?’ You would love to get away from it all, to escape from the trials and tribulations of this mundane existence and fall into a peaceful and harmonious relationship, which will protect you from the lack of appreciation and give you the chance to start afresh.

Anyway, in the span of these few months, lots of things have happened. Sad and happy events in my family. A whole semester has passed. I’m left with my last paper for the semester. Life goes on.

But I feel like I’ve learnt a lot more about things ever since I entered uni. Interacted with lots of different people. Learnt more about the things that I can’t do anything about in life. Grown a bit fatter because I keep snacking in hall. Haha…

Not going to talk much about my family matters, I think. But I feel like my eyes have been opened, even if by a small fraction.

And it seems like I need to change the way I study in uni. Can’t use the same desperate method I used in JC. And secondary school. And primary school. Haha.

I’m glad to meet so many people and found so many friends in uni. Hopefully, I can keep them all, even after uni has ended.

I’m having lots of fun learning Japanese. More than my uni subjects, anyway. In fact, if there were a course in uni that just taught all sorts of languages, I would have taken it. Hmm. I think I shall try and take Korean next sem? It doesn’t make sense to me to take Japanese again in school. My mom actually wanted me to take Malay or something like that, which would be more useful in Singapore, but… Well, let’s just say that my interest doesn’t lie in there.

Still looking forward to what uni life has in store for me. Hopefully, more joy. And more meetups with my friends. But hopefully not getting dunked into a lake for my birthday. I have a feeling that my birthday falls on a holiday, so I’ll just make sure I don’t turn up for any outings in that month. Hehheh. And considering that my friends all seems to know one another… I’m just going to lock myself up in the room and not open the door for my IEM people to find me. Haha.

After staying in hall, I can appreciate my house more now. And I’ll probably start sweeping the floor. Haha. When I can’t stand the mess anymore.

I need to stop speaking in short sentences. And go study for my last paper. And study for my Jap exam which is on Saturday after that. And go be a volunteer at the Standard Chartered Marathon after that. Hmm. Seems like my holidays are going to be rather packed. I shall go shopping for CNY clothes! And get a change of wardrobe colour… Hmm. I’ve tried black, pink and blue. What colours should I try after that? Shall mull over it while shopping. Hehheh.

Hmm. Although school only started three weeks ago, I feel like I’ve been in the school for months… Haha. I wonder if it’s because I’m currently staying in hall, so the days feel longer? And I walk to school almost every day, which takes me around 20 minutes… It’s a little annoying to have to walk so far, but it feels great to have an alternative to having to take public transport when I’m running late and the bus simply refuses to come. I think I’m just missing the part where I can just walk to school, so I shall just enjoy it for this year since I don’t believe that I will get to stay in hall again next year. Although it’s better for me to stay in hall by participating in hall activities, I’m already lagging behind in my studies… It makes more sense to me to study harder than to play and neglect my studies… Well, not that I’m really mugging very hard right now. :X

One thing good about staying in hall, though, is that my sleeping time is more flexible, and I can go out for supper at odd hours… That is, provided that I’m still awake. Went out for supper with some of the PPG people the other week and to the roti prata place at Bukit Timah (I think?) with my IEM clique yesterday night… And I went out with a mix of PPG and IEM people for dinner at JP the other day as well… XD I feel like I’m spending a lot of time with my IEM people (in this case, IEM = Insane Eating Machines and not Info Engine and Media. LOL.) and not enough with the others.. Somehow? But I’m still in the midst of trying to strike a balance between all my friends. Oh, and I nearly forgot about all the DHS people. Haha… ><

One thing I don’t really like about uni (and probably adult life?) is how people keep wanting to go clubbing. And drinking. My parents have explicitly said that they will not allow me to go clubbing and I refuse to go as well… If I go just once, others will keep making me go, so I’d rather not start the vicious cycle. But whenever I tell my friends that my parents refuse to let me go clubbing, they’ll say things like my parents won’t know and just to try it once. So nowadays, I just tell people that I don’t club. Short and sweet. And they won’t force me to go as badly as when I give the first reason. Haha.

Anyway, I’m glad that it’s going to be a long weekend and I can stay in my beloved home where I don’t have a dust generator… My hall room is like a dust generator. D: There’s a lot of dust no matter how much I clean, and the hall office has not yet washed the stupid curtains, which are a little dusty, though I’ve dusted them already. D: I always joke with XH about how we should get an artificial sun in the room, since the room is both humid and dusty… Haha. We’ll create rain clouds in the room. LOL.

And I can finally go for a 6C32 outing on Monday! ^^ I feel like I haven’t seen the 32 people in a long time… T_T Although my uni friends are also crazy and fun, I still kind of miss my crazy class… Haha… I hope we’ll end up having lunch together or something… And we’ll get to see Benedict! (Let’s see if my supposed baby charm still works on Benedict… Haha.)

Oh wait. Stupid me just realised that most of the clothes I prefer to wear are still in hall. -.- Hmm. Now that my clothes are separated between hall and my house, I find it kind of hard to dress up when the occasion calls for it. And I should get nice T-shirts so that I can stop wearing school-based tees to lectures. Haha. And I need to get a few more pairs of shorts and a backpack as well. Haha. :X

I didn’t get to send YH off yesterday… T_T So she’s in China now… And she didn’t bring the marimo that we bought for her! >< Oh well… Guess she had no choice, since her mom didn’t allow her to bring it there, for some reason… I wonder if she brought some of the soil in Singapore there? I recall my mom saying that some people do that to feel that the soil of their homeland is still with them (probably for homesickness, I suppose?).

Although I didn’t get to send YH off, XH was thoughtful enough to get tickets for Singapop for all of us… And we ended up not going in the end, because we’d rather spend the time chatting than jumping on wet grass (since it rained a little that day). Haha… We decided to celebrate XH’s birthday by surprising her with donuts as well… Though stupid me brought candles but not the lighter… -.- But XH was still quite happy about it. And that reminds me. I need to get her belated birthday present. LOL. Now I must find someone to go to Bras Basah with me… Or maybe I should just take her with me to go and buy the book that she wants, since I want a copy of the book as well and she has some discount voucher for it… Hmm. Good idea. Guess I shall call her and ask tomorrow morning. ^^

And I think I won’t be going for the hall D&D. Yeah, I should show my face in the hall OG more, but seriously, I’m not prepared to pay $60 for a dinner where I believe I won’t get to sit with my own OG mates and will end up being isolated. Yes, I don’t want a repeat of what happened for the hall dinner. -.- That is the reason. Don’t ask me anymore. Sigh. I get irritated whenever I’m reminded of that. Zzz.

But oh well, overall, uni life has been rather different and interesting… Haha… Kind of enjoying it now, since I won’t get to enjoy as much of it next year when I get booted out of hall… XD And I’ll have to spend two hours commuting to and fro my house. :/ I don’t think my parents approve of me renting a house with my other friends at somewhere near the school, so I suppose I will just have to live with it. >< Oh, and that reminds me. It’s the first time ever since primary school that I’m studying in the same place as my sis. Haha. Interesting…

And one last thing. I must stop having HTHTs with different people… Haha. Or at least, limit it to not more than two a week… :X

Oh yeah, and I got my MacBook Air on Sunday. The guys have all been laughing at how I spent a bomb on something equivalent to a netbook. LOL.

Okay, enough with the guilty thoughts. When I moved back into hall on Sunday, I forgot to bring my optical mouse! And to think that I was mentally telling myself not to forget it at all costs. Zzz.

Anyway, it was the first day of school yesterday and I ended up sitting with Wei Long and Alex for the DE lecture (Kwan Chiu and a couple of new coursemates he found were sitting one row below ours). Alex had actually forgotten to register for the DE course and had to crash the lecture… He was quite upset because he had initially planned his timetable such that he would have no lessons on Friday… And this DE module messed up his plan.

After the lecture, the IEM group wandered around the place trying to find where I-hub was (because I am too terrible with directions) and to get their matric cards (because I’d gotten it before they did, since I reached the place half an hour before the lecture was due to start). I wanted to get my ez-link card as well, but the others were saying that I had to wait until they send me the email to collect the card.

Oh well, either way, I suppose I’ll be able to collect it tomorrow! I shall go and get the rest of my notes at the library first, before going to meet my mentor, and then I shall head over to the SSC to get the ez-link card. Hmm. But then, I won’t get any lunch until it’s quite late! Hmm. Maybe I should get others to help me buy the notes. Hehheh. That is, if they’re going to get the notes and it’s on the way. I need to find lunch-mates as well! Looking at my timetable, it seems like all my lectures will be at the LKC LT. Hmm. But I have a five-hour break before that. I guess I’ll just call around and see if anyone is free in between those times so that we can walk around together or something… Maybe with my coursemates, since two of them have the exact same timetable as me, unless they decided to change their timetable.

Okay, I’m rambling now. That means it’s time to end the post before I confuse myself and everyone else further. Haha.

Actually, I don’t plan on writing much about the camp, because the photos on FB are pretty much sufficient. Okay, then let me just write about a few epic/funny/stupid moments. We were doing our original cheer for the cheering competition when we forgot what followed after the first line. So we just went, “We will win the war, we will win the war, we will win the war…” Until Ming Sheng decided to stop us all and ask for the proper lyrics. Ahaha. It was a funny but embarassing moment to be stuck in.

Anyway, I can’t remember all the epic moments, but I really had a culture shock after I joined the camp. For example, I realised that the only ones who swear so much (at least, in front of the girls) are only the DHS guys. Ahaha. The uni guys don’t seem to swear as much.

Oops. I just spent an hour away from this post because I was trying to find a nice profile picture for FB. Anyway, if all the camps were like Insinyur, I think I’ll be addicted to camping. Haha~ But I guess I’ll go for the hall camp to know more people in my hall? Heehee~

Oh, and I was actually supposed to return home on Thursday night, but the event ended at around 11 pm, and I thought that by the time I reached the chalet, it would be late and my dad would have to fetch me at some weird late time. So I called my dad and asked him if I could stay one more night. Haha… Okay, actually, it was because I didn’t want to leave the camp while the others were still staying over. Heehee.

Hmm. So I have a lot of new experiences in this camp, and also, I finally got to interact with people older than me as well as different school from me. They seemed to be quite intrigued with the fact that I’m from DHS, though. Haha. Everyone kept asking me about whether life was boring facing the same people for six years…

And I’d borrowed some books from the library recently… Well, it’s been too long since I last read books, and I don’t have enough money and space to keep buying new books. So I picked up two books about vampires (no, not the revoluntary sparkly ones like in Twilight, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer and one called Bloodline: Reckoning, where the vampires will get injured in the sun and get killed by being staked in the heart). It kind of revived my interest in reading vampire fiction… But let’s not go there. I won’t be able to stop once I get started. Oh, and I decided to start on this new series called Dreamhouse Kings. I’d thought that there was only four books in the series, so I borrowed all four on the shelf, but I realised afterward that there were actually six! Sigh. Looks like I’ll need to go back to the library to see if I can find the last two books in the series. It’s pretty interesting, but I get a little creeped out when I read them in the middle of the night. Haha…

This week is going to be a busy one for me. I went for my medical checkup at NTU today with Xiu Han, who needed to settle her hostel accomodation things, and met Chak at the MRT station when I was waiting for her. He promptly commented on how I’ve been discussing manga with Zhi Yi and the others. Hmm. Looks like it’s time for me to pick up a new hobby? I mean, time to find something new in common with my other friends so that I can still keep in touch with them through Facebook? But frankly speaking, I can’t really find a common topic of interest. Maybe I should start dabbling in photography? But it’s expensive! And I’m too lazy to upload the photos into the computer, not to mention that my family camera is 3.0 megapixels and my phone camera is 8.0. But that doesn’t matter, because my phone camera has a problem with focusing on the object that I want to take a picture of. Someone suggest a common topic of interest for me, please. But preferably nothing to do with stamp-collecting! Hehheh.
[EDIT]Oh yeah, Xiu Han and I met Siew Ting, Dawn and Valerie at the medical centre, and the two of us ended up going to IMM with Siew Ting. And when we were on our way back, this little boy stepped on my shoe and then the sole of my shoe came off! The parent quickly pulled the boy to the other side and walked off like his little boy didn’t do anything wrong. And that left me in a bad mood. Since I couldn’t possibly wear that pair of flats (which was, coincidently, my shoes for driving) all the way home from there, I ended up getting another pair. Sigh. That means that I’ll need to pay another visit to Bugis where I got my flats to buy a new pair! And I guess I’ll just have to get used to wearing different pairs of shoes while driving…[/EDIT]

Okay, wait, I’m digressing. This is supposed to be about this busy week! Hmm. So tomorrow, I’ll be going to Timbre with my 2H clique, which makes me worry about whether it’s a pub or club. My parents would kill me if I went to a pub or club. (But I’ve been reassured many times that it’s a bar restaurant, so everything should be okay, I guess? So long as we don’t take so long that I can’t take public transport home…)

On Thursday, I’m supposed to meet up with Cass, Maria and the guys for dinner. Okay, great. I forgot the place and time I’m supposed to meet them. Shucks.

And on Saturday, I’ll be heading off to Insinyur, which means that I’ll miss one Japanese lesson. Gah. But that’s okay, I guess, since I’ve already read up on the lesson before my E2 class started. Muahaha. Speaking of which, I’d missed getting full marks by one mark! Sigh. It’s been such a long time since I’d last seen such a high score that I was feeling rather touched. Ahaha. But oh well, I’d expected that to happen since I wasn’t very sure about the answer to one of the questions…

Hmm. I wonder if anyone is interested in watching the last Harry Potter movie with me? Seems like my usual group of friends aren’t too interested in watching it, and I’m determined to watch the entire series. If not, I guess I’ll just go alone… I wonder if I’ll get to know anyone in the Insinyur camp who will be interested to go… Oh well.

I think I’m kind of excited about this camp, because I’ll get to know new people, which is something I didn’t really have to do for six years, since almost everybody knows each other in school. Hopefully, I’ll meet new people who have common interests other than manga! Which, for me, would be reading books? There’s nothing nice on TV to watch, but I’m hoping not to meet any K- or J-drama fans, because it takes me a long time to finish watching dramas! I actually gave up on watching Dong-yi halfway, because it was just too tedious. Haha.

Okay, shall end this post here. I’ll most likely post again after my camp ends, which will be on the fourteenth? Otherwise, I suppose I’ll let this place rot away for a while…

Actually, I was so nervous about the test that I couldn’t get enough sleep the night before. I went to bed at around 11.45 and finally fell asleep at around 3? D: Then, on the way to Ubi for my warm-up drive, I got stuck in a traffic jam. -.- So I was late for my warm-up, but my instructor didn’t complain since I’d informed him beforehand and it’s my money, anyway. Sigh. It was raining as well, which made me feel even more nervous…

Before the test, all the people taking the test (Class 3/3A) had to assemble in a room to wait for the examiner to call our names. And I met Lydia and Sin Hui there! O_O 3 Dunmanians taking the test in the same timeslot! I can only say that we had good chemistry to choose the same day and time for the test. XD

It took me only a little while in the circuit, and I was there thinking, “Eh? We completed the circuit already?! That’s fast…” But that was probably because I usually repeat the different portions of the circuit? After the circuit, I drove to somewhere near Eunos station (the part where there was a U-turn) and did a U-turn there. On the way there, I was thinking that I was going on another road trip. XD Because I usually go on long drives with my instructor… All the way to Tampines and sometimes close to Kovan. Hehheh. After that, I drove past the place where I’d usually turn right to go back to the driving centre… I thought I’d be going to some other place, but the examiner told me to do a right turn at the next junction, and we went back to the driving centre.

During the entire drive, I didn’t dare to look at the examiner who kept tapping away at his tablet. >< Anyway, I was led to the second floor and told to wait there (he was printing the results). When he told me to enter the room, he scolded me for following behind the bus when I wasn’t even driving the bus (failure to change lane when necessary?) and for checking my blind spot wrongly. Yes, he was really scolding me. -.- But what I was actually thinking was, “So did I pass?”, because I’d gotten a glimpse of the paper and it seemed like I only had a few 4s and 2s (points deducted, I mean). Anyway, he grudgingly told me that I’d passed after he’d scolded me thoroughly.

In any case, I still passed! A pass is still a pass even if it’s a perfect score or one that’s a borderline pass. Muahahahahaha~ And so, it’s a PASS!!!!!!

When I was waiting for my turn to apply for the license, I saw Lydia, who went for her test later than me and came back earlier than me. -.- It seemed like she’d only gone one round around the school! No wonder she was so fast. Sigh. And Sin Hui went all the way to Paya Lebar Road. XD

We waited around for Sin Hui, who took a long time to come back from her test and then to apply for her license, and then headed down to the video room to view the video about road safety, which included rather gruesome pictures of road accident victims. That really freaked me out. D:

Anyway, I smsed Yufen (who was wishing me luck for the test) and my family that I passed. Everyone congratulated me except my father, who replied with a “Good”. Yeah, without the full-stop. XD I was rather shocked at the response. XDDD Because he’ll usually say “Ok”… Haha. I guess he was just too lazy to type in Chinese?

My instructor came back to meet me after I told him that I’d passed to collect his payment, and he told me to introduce students to him. Haha~ So if anyone needs a private driving instructor, you can ask me and I’ll give you his contact details. And then, Nicole told me that she was taught by my instructor yesterday! Haha~ I wonder how she knew that he was my instructor? But I suppose he was probably happy that I’d passed and told his students that day that I’d passed and showed them a copy of my results or something? XD That’s the only explanation I can come up with…

After that, I was supposed to meet XH at Pasir Ris and set off to Plaza Singapura from there, but I decided to invite Sin Hui along at the last minute and we ended up going straight there. Hehheh. As usual, XH was late… But I’d already expected it, so it was a good thing that Sin Hui was with me. We decided to look for a place to eat first and ended up at Hot Tomato. XH joined us a while later. The food there was pretty nice~ And the service was fast too! Hehheh. And I was super hungry since I ate breakfast at around 8 am and my test was at 10.15 am. (Lydia and Sin Hui were rather amused that I kept telling them I was hungry even before the test started.)

The three of us walked around the place, and we went into Daiso since XH needed to buy some things from there. Sin Hui was rather amazed at how knowledgeable XH was about household chores. X’D We walked to this shop on the top floor where space (in boxes) was rented out to people who wanted to sell their things without opening a shop. Sin Hui was so facinated by this moss ball thing (I can’t remember the actual name, but it was a Japanese one and had three syllables) that she decided to buy a bottle home! :O We also walked down to the fish shop (aquarium shop?) where fishes were sold to let Sin Hui have an idea of what kind of fish she wanted to buy.

At the end of the trip, my feet were really aching (and I nearly fell asleep at Starbucks where we rested for a while). Haha. So XH and I decided to return home and rest.

Hmm. Nothing much happened after that, so I shall conclude my post here and go eat my dinner~ ^^