Because those were the days, weren't it?

Have been so tired, worn out and drained from school. Right after Escapade was all the project submissions. And right before you know it, exam week is coming right in your face. Ohhhh my. I don't remember feeling so rushed compared to Term 1. It's like reliving another Term 2 and that's pretty crazy cause then what am I ought to expect for Term 4?

I have a feeling that I pissed off a number of my project members cause I wasn't on time in submitting my part of the work of the project and we were a little (or very..?) pressed for time to finalise the ppt slides and prepare for the presentation. I was overwhelmed and drained by Escapade and I know it isn't an excuse. So, sorry guys. I promise to not let all these other events affect our project works in the future alright. Hahaha.

So yep, it's the MSTs this coming Tuesday! About 50% there. I'm just left with all the theories to memorise... which is actually a lot and being the understander and not memorier that I am... -cries and slowly have a mental breakdown-

Some pictures taken over the week

My little cute stack of notes I printed for DBE presentation that fell on Friday.

Went Catching Fire after YF last Saturday. Chewie and I sua-ed our assignments/studies/work cause the rest either finished promos or Os. HAISHIES.

Selfie taken after Econs I think. Had my Gen Ed presentation in the morning that Thursday.

Was looking through all my instagram tags and it dawned upon me that I actually miss CSS Chorale and chorale singing a tat much. -And HuiEn continues to reminiscence about all those sweet heartwarming memories- We have all changed so much. People we least expect to be close to are right from the very start, they are not so close to you that you tell them almost everything that happens in your life. People that we thought would be our closest and dearest at first, now you see them distancing away from you. People who came, stayed and created so much sweet memories suddenly was the one that caused you so much pain, then left, but later, slowly re-enters your life and slowly start anew with you again. Things you used to love so much, then lost your first love for it, finally you officially stopped doing them and then suddenly one day you look back and begin to think of those times of how much you enjoyed doing them thinking, "How great." Then it slowly tugs your heartstrings and you start to find back the reason why you enjoyed doing it.

My CSS Chorale journey from 2010 to 2011 to 2012. Too lazy to dig out the 2009 one. It took me an hour alone to dig out these three.

“如果时间能够倒转那有多好，当然那是不可能的事情，但是能有让时间暂停的魔法，那就是摄影，不是吗？摄影师让瞬间，变成永恒的魔法。” ——摄影师  ｢下一站，幸福｣

ESCAPADE 2013.

A mainstream title and a must-post on what happened during escapade.

So I'm from the District named Mountain and I'm in M2!

First day we went to tour SMA, EEE, MAE and ABE. Had orange hair (spray) as Mountain's identity.  First time as a facil. I don't know... Felt so overwhelmed by the awkwardness the first time I saw my kids. I tried to talk to them, but they just stared back at me. LOLOL. Okay, I'm guilty of that too when I was a camper/participant at these kind of events. It was sooooo awkward I became sooooo nervous. Good thing my partner was like a super siao on person. Forever engaging them.

Sorry, can't really remember much about Day One of Escapade cause of my stm. Only thing I remembered was that every station that I went to, I said hi to at least one of the helper. They were either from SPSU or helpers that I had small chats with during the dry run. HAHAHA.

When we said bye to my kids, I said to them "Remember to come tomorrow ah!!" and "Must  come tomorrow ah!" This experience that seniors told us, usually a lot of participants don't come back the next day so we got to try our best and encourage/entice them to come the next day. Texted my kids when I was home, telling them to rest early and to inform them of the reporting time tomorrow. And most of them replied me that they'll see me tomorrow!

Then we move on to Day Two. Wore our preddy flower headbands and used gel eye liner to draw our Mountain symbol/logo on our right cheek. SAW SHIYING. Photo duh. But she never send me. Meh. Alright.

I WAS SO HAPPY WHEN MY WHOLE GROUP CAME BACK!! Okay... except for one cause apparently he was a Malaysia. Toured hilltop, introducing the three schools to them in the order of CASS, DMIT and SB. Saw all Remus during the CASS activity and the SBA people during the SB activities. OH OH OH AND THE WRITER'S ROOM IS PROBABLY THE COOLEST ROOM IN HILLTOP. Slides and writable walls. But you got to take off your shoes before you get in. So when we were left with about a minute left before we had to leave the writer's room, Jerryl and I left the room first just to wear our shoes. Then the CASS helper who was in charge of bringing us around came out too. He looked at us, and he asked "High cuts ah?" HAHAHAHAH YEAH. Converse - shoes that you take more than 3 minutes to put on.

Alright then we had the night activities and yada yada I'm so tired and lazy to talk already. But yeah, it was my first time ever in my entire life being a facil for such event and it was definitely a memorable one! I'm still learning and getting the gist of things but I really enjoyed taking care and showing them the SP culture. Shall be lazy and just post my insta collage here too. Too troublesome to upload the pictures one by one. Oh btw, if you see the any nicely edited pictures below, Frederick (one of my kids) edited them. YAY HE EDITED MY EYEBAGS AWAY. Huehuehue.

Photo themes go in order of my kids and I (with Glen), Mountaineers, and others (old and new bonds forged) during escapade.

And looking at this picture again, it really gives me a warm feeling as I recall how all these pictures were taken. They all had a common point, and it was that my kids all gathered around me to take those photos.

Honestly felt meh when Aravin first allocated me to Mountain. However, I guess we just all need time after all, to get comfortable with one another. ;)

Top left picture showing Mountain DLs tau poking some ABE helper. And then I have my SPSU friends Louis Jiajun Zeyang. And CSS people! Shaowen (Zeyang too) Amanda and Zhimin (whom Amanda told me he was from CSS on the second day of escapade. HAHAHA).

K. Experiencing some withdrawal symptoms from escapade. Can't wait for SP Open House next year and Escapade 2014! Hope to be a better facil by then!

KEEP CALM AND DON'T PANIC.

Shall try as hard as possible to finish this before 12 so I may sleep earlier and attempt to be in time for tomorrow's 8 am classes.

Wow. So it's Week Five of Term Three already. It's the time-to-get-started-on-our-project-cum-chionging week. Everyday, go home, do your projects. If not, you got some tutorials to complete for the next day. But all the madness has yet to come. There's still this still-not-done-with-project-but-need-to-study-for-exams period. Haiz. Kay. Shall 走一步,看一步, like how the old saying goes. No point worrying too much. Should live in the present. :)

HAHAHA. But so much for living in the present, it's time to keep track of my life while I still remember all that happened.

Throwback to Saturday, 9th November. Slept half the day away. I guess I was worn out from school. Had an advance birthday celebration dinner at Chui Huey Lim Teochew Cuisine for Grandma. When we were on our way home from dinner, my parents told me that I've got to attend a wedding dinner the next day with my dad cause Mummy had to take care of Grandma at home who was still recovering from shingles.

So a little background story about the wedding dinner I was told to attend: it's the wedding dinner of my dad's long time friend's (I guess that's an acceptable word) son's wedding. So this friend worked with my dad and other old friends too when they were like in their 20s, 30s and were the pioneer batch of Singapore Mint when it was first established (from what I've heard from other uncles and aunties who had small conversations with me). So ex and old staffs of the Mint would be present at the dinner and my parents thought it was more appropriate for me to attend in place of my mum than my brother because I've worked at the Mint before during the Jan-Feb period so I can go there and say hi to them.

And so I went for the dinner with Dad. Off to Shangri-La hotel!

Nervous. But a little excited. While I was on the car. Because this was my first ever wedding dinner that I'm about to attend without my whole family. And I'd be pretty much have to be independent since I'll be expecting my dad to go around and catching up with old friends.

Cocktail session at at 7-730, reached at 715. Went into the Island Ballroom. First thing to do was to go to the reception table (..? Is that what you call it?) where it was quite a long line of tables put together. Towards my left was the groom's side and towards the right was the bride's.

Aunty Bengeng happened to be there at the table so dad went to congratulate her while my eyes wondered off to explore the splendor of the room. But it just took that split-second when something else caught my eyes. Wow. This really fine looking man that I assumed to be the groom's friend was at manning the table. So since he's the groom's friend he would be in his late 20s I guess. But he looks SO YOUNG. SO, SO YOUNG. Okay but I didn't to look and smile at him like how I looked and smiled to the girl sitting beside him though. I guess I was suddenly just too overwhelmed by his fine looks and I was just too shy. Hehe. But at the corner of my gaze I could see him making eye contact with my dad then me but I avoided that. What if my face suddenly blush badly?? HAHAH.

So when my dad met some of his old friends, the ex Mints, and had started their catch up session. Conveniently, they formed a circle like within a meter from the table and my position was such that my back was facing the table. PLUS, once in awhile they'll be like "Ey, where's so and so? Thought I saw him/her just now." So I conveniently also turned my head around and searched for people, and conveniently look towards the table side and peek peek, peep peep.

So while standing around, my dad introduced me to almost all of the friends who came to say hi to my dad. And all the questions I got was pretty much all the same:
1. So where are you studying now? Oh I'm currently doing my first year in Singapore Poly.
2. Oh, what course are you doing? Erm, Business Administration.
3. So you're 17 this year? Oh no no, I'm 16, because blah blah blah -blaps about the reason-
4. Ahhh I see I see, so are you the eldest? Uh, no, I have an elder brother actually. He's currently serving NS.
If you could actually see that I was trying my best not to just give a Yes or No as my answer...

And things most of them always say to me:
1. Your father is a joker.
2. So pretty already ah, the last time I saw you, you were only a baby/3/4 years old.
3. Why the daughter so pretty, the father like that one?
Basically, apparently all of them said that they saw me when I was really young but I really can't remember their faces. Like who remembers faces when you're 3-4 years old? But I do remember some of their names though, when dad mentions them to my mum occasionally. And duh the compliment cause everyone people grow to be prettier than their baby form. That's what I believe. HAHAHA.

Saw familiar faces like Aunty Georgie, Elizabeth and Mr Tan. And finally saw faces that I don't know/remember after a long time but have been hearing my dad talking to my mum like Uncle bengteck and wife, Loy, Aunty Alice, Flora etc. Too many. But when I saw them that night, I finally went "Ohhhhhh so that's who papa was talking about all the time." It's like mentally, I played a little matching game.

It was halfway through the dinner, when Aunty Bengeng came walking around with her family to zhao dai (couldn't think of any appropriate english word with my limited vocabulary) the guests that she invited. It was then that I saw him again with Aunty Bengeng! He seems so close to her. And it was then I figured out that he was probably her son... Means the groom's brother!

And so finally they came to our table. There were only 3 other women (women cause they're all wedded wifes with sons and daughters who're in their early twenties) on the table then. Aunty Bengeng was with her husband and two other sons when they came over, basically with the whole family except the groom. And they were standing in the opposite direction from where I was sitting. Especially him. HAHAHA. So then she introduced her sons and her husbands. Then the other men started coming back to the tables. Apparently the uncles were more interested in talking to the sons. So I conveniently became a passive listener while they were talking. And you know, you've got to give whoever is talking their due respect by looking at them..? Yeah, conveniently looked at whoever was talking too. If you know what I mean. :P

So things I realised about him:
1. He's not the groom's friend. He's the groom's brother.
2. He's the youngest child.
3. He's not in his late 20s, he's in his early 20s.
4. He said he's left with one more year of service in NS.

So I guess he's probably 20 or 21. But heard from my dad that he did another year for A Levels. But I'm not sure if my dad's memory is right or not. But wow, that's quite a big age gap between the brothers since they go by 31, 28, 21.

So then when they're done with the talking and when the family was about to move on to another table, they asked the photographer to take a photo of the table. Photo, taken. But where will you see the picture still remains as a question.

Then after the couple had popped their champagne, they went around taking photos with each table. Only the couple and both side's parents. Meh. Okaycan.

When about a dish before the dessert, they printed that photo for us! The first photo. I was pleasantly surprised. Each pair one. But kind of disappointing cause the photo doesn't do justice to what he looked like in real life. It was either that he isn't photogenic or he gave of that Ima-superstar-I-look-good-in-any-smiles confidence. Cause he didn't show his teeth. Sort of like an um chio but yet he kind of pulled off that smile. But yet he really doesn't look that good in the photo as compared to real life. Whispered to my dad "Ey I look so good here, give me this photo okay! You can have the other photo."

Papa said okay.

When we went home I told my parents that I wanted the photo as a keepsake of my first ever wedding at I attended independently. And I looked good in it anyway. And the second photo my dad wore his coat; he didn't in the first. So he should keep the second photo cause he'll most likely look better there. Hahahaha. It was the truth..! Just that it wasn't really the main reason why I wanted the only only what... :P
So then when I got home, I was like fangirling over the picture to Imran. Whatsapp him the photo and he was like "He got eyes like brock." LIKE OH MY GOSH NO. He had such charming eyes. One of the nicest I've ever seen. And if by now, dear readers you all do not already know, eyes attract me very much in the sense that if you've got really charming eyes, you don't have to have really tall straight nose nor nice lips for me to say that you're good looking/attractive. Just like how some people look at others' toes, tights, hands, etc to see if the person's attactive to them, mine would be the eyes. Single eyelid or double. As long as they're charming, or I see them sparkle. I'll most likely be attracted to that pair of eyes. And it's very rare of me to find someone good looking if you don't have a pair of attractive eyes.

And one of the funniest part of our conv was when Imran was asking me to chill, ec only, aldo don't know when I'll be seeing him again but I told him I hardly (or openly for that matter) fangirl, so why can't he let me fangirl a bit? And then I went on comparing this to a concert.

"You know... it's like a concert withdrawl symptom. Just that I went for a wedding dinner instead of a concert and met a handsome boy instead of meeting my favourite stars."

Then he said that he knows how I feel but not as bad as mine cause at most he 2-3 hours withdrawl symptoms gone already.

"You got take photo with them?"

"Haha no! I'm in no way related to them."

"Exactly. No photos so harder to remember so easier to get over what. I got photo at home to see ley. How to withdrawl so easly?"

HAHAHAHA. Too funny.

So I went high while chatting with Imran until I realised that I have not bathed. Hurriedly bathed and by the time I was in bed, it was already close to 2.

Woke up on a Monday morning feeling good about yesterday. Had a really weird but funny dream that I've already half forgotten. Had no Monday blues!! But was quite shag cause I guess I was drained of my energy from yesterday.

Did MOB till late late 1 am on Monday supposedly Tuesday. And so I was tired for the whole of today too. Skipped Korean classes so as to catch up on my sleep.

I think I'm still in awestricken. Yes, awestricken. That's the word. I wasn't totally on fangirl mode when I was telling Shiying and Jamie about this story on Monday and even today while I was still feeling quite good about the photo incident. I guess it just overwhelms me that wow okay handsome guy, then oh photo, then ohh they printed the photo for you, and then lastly I got the photo that easily from my dad. Like so smooth. And how can someone's eyes be so charming? And the he gave that teethy smile at the reception table. Plus not to forget he was in a suit. Guys instantly look much better in suits. And I don't think I'll ever be seeing him again unless in a 1 out of gazillion decillion (that's 33 zeros) chance that his second brother gets married, papa gets invited, and mummy can't make it again.

And so at the end of today, I actually came to a conclusion that so far, all the Ians I've ever known in my life are not ugly at all. In fact for the very least, they're all at least above average appearance wise.

Alright. It actually took me 2 hours to type all these thoughts down. Hehehe. But I guess it was worth it. So one day I can look back and re-read all my entries and then recall all these moments/memories that made me happy, excited or all warm and fuzzy inside.

Only took this to keep with me. The rest of the small gifts from the wedding, I left it with papa.

And on a closer look, I found out that the bottom of the heart was the couple's photo. And then you read the quote. So sweet. :)

Alright. Goodnight!

Pause.

Would I say we're already into the second week of November and I've yet to do any updating? Actually, a lot has been happening in my life despite I was having elearning this week.

Just some photos to keep track of my life.

Last Sunday we had a sec4-yf get to know lunch. Was supposed to go PS Cafe with brother but I was unwilling to spend like $20++ on a meal again (yes, he makes me go eat with him meals that cost $20++ after church every week, like excuse me, I've got weekdays to spend my allowance unlike you) so I decided to go join the sec 4s for lunch! The free lunch part was really NOT why I decided to go okay... But I really missed all of them so, so much! Especially those from the Comm. There's just this special bond that I have with them. You can tell that the way they interact with me and my batch mates are different. Well, I guess cause we are year mates. It's just weird. I'm like a senior to them, yet they can approach me like a friend. But I treasure this special bond I have with them.

So Week 4 (4-8 Nov) is Home Based Learning aka eLearning week for all freshies. Well, just another self-proclaimed 9 days holiday. JK. I did about 90% alright. The other 10%... Idk where but I'm pretty sure I left out some stuffs. Cause I didn't do eLearning by the modules. I did which ever was easier first then went on to the harder ones.

Went out with Imran and Aravin on Monday for dinner and did some catching up. And apparently they made me tell them my life stories. HAHAHAHA. Cause they were complaining that they've always been the one telling me about their lives. Now it's my turn to tell them my history and current affairs. HAHAHAHA.

Had Korean lessons on Tuesday evening.

Had Acer-Escapade dry run on Wednesday afternoon till night. Made some more new friends. Like erm, got to know them better lah. Actually just one person only. LOL. Ian.

Met DBE group to do eLearning discussion and started a little on our projects. Went to Shiying's father massage shop at Funan mall to do project. HAVE YOU GUYS DONE PROJECT IN A MASSAGE ROOM BEFORE?? Such a refreshing idea! Yep, we did that. But when we snapchatted our friends, they thought we were in a hotel! HAHAHA. NAWWWW, too cool for you! xD

Met Eddie and Jamie and supposedly Kitson to do GenEd eLearning discussion. Jamz was late. Kitson overslept until cannot oversleep. And being the natural awkward turtle that I am... Sigh... yeah, guess I don't have to further elaborate. I was just awkwardddd. Oh ya, and when Jamz finally came, she went to fc 3 to buy her food. Long queue. So basically Eddie and I finished our eLearning pretty much alone together with the abscence of Jamz. SIGH JAMZ YOU TERRIBLE. Y U LYDDAT?! :( Eddie was nice. But it's just me lah huh. I'm awfully awkward with people I'm not familiar with. And crickets be like crik crik. :/

Marcus came at 2 to meet Eddie. Actually I took Jamz phone to snapchat my selfie to sy but then Jamz went sarcastic with an inside joke saying "don't take a selfie and send to everyone like someone okay." So...... fine. Eddie happened to be beside me. "HAHAHAH COME DON'T CARE JAMIE, let's take photos!" Then Jamie went "ey bojio!" And joined the frame. So let's not leave Marcus out. "Come Marcus, ey come come!" Snapchat. So the photo was savable. And then the most typical thing happened later "ey send me the photos thanks." Went Eddie and I. There you go.

Went to vivo's soup spoon with Jamz. Had xxx & xxx xxx Chicken Ragout. HAHAH. Forgot the name of the soup. Had my usual half a bowl of Caesar salad with iced lemon tea. Jamz had Chicken Tokyo Stew.

Then apparently there ain't a lot of ZARA outlets in Singapore but there had to be one at vivo. So we went there at the request of Jamz. She got herself a shirt. Visited Crumpler to look out for messenger bags that I may potentially get for my bro as birthday present. Yeah, he's 19. And he doesn't have a presentable bag yet. My gosh. And he has not realised. All his bag all worn out already. He doesn't look like a growing man. He's still halfway there. He need a proper bag. Well, he has his leather wallet already though. (All growing young adults need to have a presentable leather wallet, right?)

Took 188 home with Jamz instead of taking the MRT cause I was so nice. JK. Cause she doesn't really know her way to the bus interchange. Happy girl with her new ZARA Girl's shirt. We were on the bus.

Well just to end off my post I'll share a random but common thought that I believe everyone has thought of it at least once in their life. Was clearing the photos that was accumulating in my WhatsApp folder in my phone's gallery. Deleted all those really useless and random stuffs that my friends sent me while taking the time to look through those photos which I've still kept and recalling those times when we snapped the photos. And really, I see how much have both my life and the life of people who were together with me in the photo has changed. Little or much. There are just so many things that cannot be predicted. Be it that I've grown closer to the person, or went further. Nothing stayed pretty much the same as before. And that has made me embrace the beauty of photos, that even though people may have changed over the course of time, those photos and memories never. They will still stay fresh in our minds even though time will have rust corrupting the tangibles.

너는 꽤 오랜 시간 동안 보지 못했다. 잘 지냈어요?