The end of a semester

 

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

 

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

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

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

"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

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

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!