9 roses for eternity

I love attending weddings.

Weddings are such beautiful occasions. They're a couple's testament to love, honour and cherish each other for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, everyday onwards.

But I enjoy some weddings more than others.

Especially weddings where you can truly feel that the bride and groom deeply love each other. That doesn't necessarily translate to endless hugs and kisses, declarations of love, crooning love ballets. But it's really something as simple as the way they look at each other. That look can move me to tears. That gaze gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling and sends tingles all down my spine. But sometimes, I attend a wedding, and wonder if the couple is getting married for the right reasons. Do people really get married because it's time to get married? Do they feel pressured that it's time to do so because they've been attending way too of their friends have wed?  I don't know why it certainly feels that way sometimes. And I really hate feeling that way, because it kills all the beauty of a wedding. 

A friend recently mentioned that she'll marry anyone when she's 28. It's funny, because right before she said this, she was listing a whole list of criteria that she has in mind even before dating any guy. She rambles off her precise criteria - perfect height (11cm taller), perfect age (4 years older), caucasian, physique, religion, intellect... And at the end of it, I was telling her she effectively just eliminated everyone I ever knew. But surprisingly, she wasn't bothered. She looked at me with such great certainty that she won't settle for less....not until she's 28 at least.

Then I got friends who already joined SDU because they're concerned that they won't be able to find any guy to date now that they're working in a female-dominated office (and also because SDU offers wonderful dining privileges... but still...). These are friends that actively proclaim they are single and looking. They tell me every single time we meet where they've looked in vain, how no one even seems to fit the basic criteria. Actually, what they want seems fairly reasonable. They explain that they can't afford to set standards or they'll be left on the shelves. 

I sometimes chuckle when I hear girls talk about their criteria. I've this friend, who's damn loud and rah-rah. She's damn straightforward, can be curt at times, but she'll be out in your face if she has a problem with you. And there she goes saying she wants someone who's louder than her (i seriously can't imagine anyone louder than her)....and later she continues to say that, but then he can't be too loud because she is loud and needs to talk a lot. And in my head i was like -_- ... 

haha.

...

It's 2.34am. I just got home from one of my social gatherings. 

I'm feeling so exhausted. 

It was really refreshing to hear from girls whose experiences are in ways so different from yours. 

But I wasn't in the mood to engage in any conversation.

I smiled absent-mindedly, nodded mindlessly, stared in the distance.

It's been 24 hrs.

Any longer, and I'll get used to it.

Like never before

It's getting overwhelming...
Another phase of my life has begun, and part of me is still reluctant to accept the new changes to my life.
It almost seems too good to be true, the opportunities I've always needed presented right in front of me. Just after proudly patting myself on the back, for taking a step forward, my decision appears to have led to so many more opportunities knocking on my door - opportunities I've been waiting for, for what seemed like a long time.

It would really appear that when these opportunities come, I'll be eager and elated. But I find myself holding on to my past, refusing to take on new responsibilities, face new challenges, take new risks. I really didn't expect changing to be that difficult.

So day by day, I try a little harder to ease into my new responsibilites. Day by day, I try not to excape, not to hate what I have to do. Maybe things will get better.

Still... I hate growing up. Argh.

A Tag

I got reminded of a tag I read on facebook sometime ago, about things you want to say to different people, without explicitly naming them. I was pretty drawn to the idea, so I thought I'll try... The process was surprisingly liberating.

Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever be friends again.

I'm glad we hugged goodbye.

I've been summoning enough courage for the past 10 years to apologize to you the next time we meet.

I couldn’t ask for a better friend.

Thanks for letting me go.

I owe my success today to that decision you made 15 years ago.

I've never dared to ask you about her because I fear the truth.

Your mistake ruined my dream.

I wish you would see how gorgeous you are to me.

Your expectations crush me.

Sometimes, I think I deserve it more than you do.

 

New friends

Without even me realising it, it's been months since I've first got news that I was selected to be the pioneer batch of young women leaders in a newly founded women society.

From the initially stressful rounds of selection, to the countless bonding outings, to our recent elections, it's been a roller coaster ride.

And I'm growing to love these new friends.

We started as strangers, from different universities, thrust together, and told to build a society. It was admittedly awkward to begin with. We had to organise bonding sessions week after week, simply to get to know each other, to learn names of 29 others, and to see who had the makings of a president to lead the organisation before the impending elections.

We had meals together, played board games together, went fishing together, and soon grew to be pretty close. Admittedly, it was pretty intimidating just to mingle around with these successful women. Some had their own companies, others had brilliant CVs what swept me off my feet. Discussion sessions were intense and draining, simply because everyone made such great contributions and threw out meaningful considerations that it was almost difficult to come to a consensus. Everyone was passionate about the cause, and radiating with devotion and commitment, it was truly encouraging.

The over-night retreat at SMU that I helped to organise was a great success. And I really do believe that we all got to learn a lot more about each other after that. I was surprised how much you can learn about someone in just a 2D1N retreat - how you can see someone's character ravel throughout the camp. I saw women power, I saw brilliant women strategize, I saw women plot and scheme. All boils down to politics again I guess.

But still, I'm glad to have met everyone of them! I was a little dejected at how my life was turning out, worried about its lack of direction, apprehensive about my future before I met these like-minded friends. And now, everything seems brighter just to know that I'm not alone.

I  love my new friends! :)

:)

I haven't updated this space for ages.

Which doesn't come as a surprise really, if anyone has seen me gone through the past semester in school.

It's been a torture. It drained all my energy, my enthusiasm in life, brought out the skeptic in me and things that I really didn't see in myself for a long time.

The last time I got so frustrated with my studies was probably my struggle with math in JC (trigonometric tsskkk -_-). This semester, those killer modules really made me want to quit on several occasions, and stop trying.  I wouldn't describe myself as a quitter, but I was on the edge of being one.

GAH! I'm just glad the semester's over.

And I'm exceptionally proud of myself for working so darn hard.

Additionally, I've never enjoyed my holidays more!

It's been amazing to say the least

Mopping around the house, waking late, hanging out with friends, reading...

I'm really glad I finally got time to pick up the paint brush too:)

I made a conscious decision not to rush into a holiday job or internship the moment the semester ended. It wasn't an easy decision really and I deliberated upon the issue for quite some time. Simply because there seems to be a fine line between getting a well-deserved break and an excuse for slacking. 

But now I'm pretty thankful for the break :) And I'm ready to take on next semester. 

Killer modules, you all better watch out!!! 

1-month internship in July coming up!

:)

I must be the luckiest girl in the world, ever.

All through my undergraduate days, I've sometimes looked back and my life and lamented at my lack of achievement. Sometimes, I can't seem to fall asleep at night, spending hours reflecting on what I should have done, what I could have done better... 

I end up sitting through the night, trying to think of ways to "turn my life around" and configure plans to reassure myself that I'll be fine.

My lack of success, is perhaps more relative than absolute... But it has always been a concern I wanted to proactively address.

Which was why I was really honoured to be given a chance to prove myself in this young women leader's forum. An event so exclusive, only a few lucky souls like myself were given the chance to attend. So far, I've attended 2 forums, and sat through dialogues with community and business female leaders. Hearing about their success stories were deeply inspiring, exceptionally empowering to say the least. And I walk out of every session  brimming with hope that perhaps, I'll succeed one day. I really got to thank FASS for putting me through this. It's only the beginning, but it's already given me so much hope and faith in the future, a potentially life-changing experience.

Best still, after reviewing my application and after reviewing my performance at the dialogue sessions, I was accepted into the mentoring program and the Executive Committee! They just informed me yesterday!!!  And till this moment, I'm still in a state of disbelief!  Where else can you get a chance to get a CEO of a bank or a prominent community leader as mentors?

AHHHHH! Please pardon my excitement people. I really wanted to share my joy!

Finally, finally, finally, I felt I've achieved something my parents would be truly proud of.

My Valentine

Valentine's Day happens to fall on a Saturday this year.

Supposedly a good thing, because it no longer meant squeezing time for dinner at atrociously crowded places after a long day at school.

And to say the truth, I've been so overwhelmingly busy this semester, with my renewed determination to do well, that it only dawned upon me a few days before that I had absolutely zero plans lined up for the day. 

Marco's been so caught up with school work too... so we decided to deviate from our "norm" this time.

I had wanted to mug the day away really. I thought it was a perfect day to catch up with my work while others celebrate the day. (oops, I'm damn competitive!!). And I proposed that we practice "food-court-disation " this year to save money. But Marco refused and insisted we shouldn't mug despite me bringing up that suggestion more than 3 times. haha.

So, no huge surprises. No lavish plans for the day.

Just a simple dinner at Boat Quay (thank goodness our last minute reservation was accepted), and a budget karaoke session to sing our hearts out. 

And practical presents that we needed for school.

I don't really know what got into me really, but I belted out a wide range of children songs that day. 

"Three blind mice, three blind mice... See how they run, see how they run...."

" One little, two little, three little Indians...."

Silly really, but they really made my day!

And dinner was darn good! I hadn't eaten ribs that nice for a long time! And the meal was surprisingly budget for that kind of ambience. Will definitely visit the place again.

I really enjoyed the day actually. I really didn't expect how well the day turned out despite our simple plans.

So here's a huge Thank You, to you, for being such perfect company, because everything turned out perfect :)

It's Week 4...

But it feels like Week 11 or something...

I'm crushing under the workload.

Maybe Dad's right.

I shouldn't set such high expectations for myself this semester.

I met with someone recently

And that someone really made me change my whole perspective on my life path.

I could whine on and on about how life's unfair.

But life is afterall, a marathon, not a sprint. 

And our talk just made me realise, I just have to work harder to achieve what that someone was given.

I got to thank that someone really. Suddenly, my life for the few years seems to have taken on a clear direction.

Sigh. Back to my law cases. Got no time to be sick... Enough with those long nights  :(

4 Men

Last night, I went to bed with 4 men studying outside my door.

This morning I woke up to 4 men sleeping outside my door, with their laptops in front of them, tired from a whole night of programming. They were really silent throughout the night though, and I'm thankful I still got my good night sleep.

It's so amusing to witness the transformation really. A few years ago, these boys were playing gameboys and playstations outside my door....Noisy little screaming boys...

我的弟弟长大了!

A loss

Almost a year ago, I bought myself a watch from a small pushcart in Jurong Entertainment Centre.
It was nothing fancy, really. Just a really plain, sleek gold watch. 

But it has since became one important accessory in my dresser. 

This gold piece started my love affair with the colour actually, and I soon began to build my wardrobe around it. Clothes. Bags with gold buckles. Sandals with gold details...

I lost my watch while travelling in New York about 2 months back.

And believe it or not, the heartache resembles a painful breakup. The pain never seems to truly fade.

Afterall, there're so many things that remind me of the watch. My outfits never seem complete without the watch. It almost feels like something's missing all the time.

It was made worse with the fact that Jurong Entertainment Centre had to be scheduled for demolition when I was away...

And hence my efforts to buy another one of the gold watch came in futile.

I still try my luck at every pushcart I see now (even those in Batam), but I've never had the luck to see that design again.The closest I ever came, was a similar design in silver. I had to buy the watch. But it was almost difficult to match it with the stuff in my wardrobe. 

Self-reproach creeps in once in a while.

And I blame myself for never really treasuring my watch.

I bought the watch for twenty-six dollars. A tad more than what I'll normally pay for a watch. But now, I'll actually pay much more to get my watch back.

Maybe one day I'll see my watch again... Or maybe one day I'll fall in love with another one..

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps...

Batam

A short getaway to Batam to energize ourselves for the upcoming academic term really does wonders. 4 days 3 nights of taking in the beauty of nature, enjoying the sea breeze, amazing seafood and pure indulgence. A perfect hideaway to escape the city. I'm missing that place already!

Best of all, the whole trip was part of an amazing deal we found online, so it really didn't take much of a toil on whatever's left of my savings.

Cultural performances...



When was the last time you spent lazy afternoons playing chess and scrabble...

We visited 3 shopping centres at Batam with another couple (Jesslyn and Nicholas).... Shopping there isn't worth raving about. But they bought A LOT OF STUFF! Marco and I pretty much settled for window-shopping, cafe-hopping. and hours and hours of great conversation... We had the chance to talk about everything that's been bugging us (thesis, career, school..)... and I really appreciated how we were able to do things without having to worry about time and nitty gritty errands.

The seafood there was amazing though. I'm so craving for the calamari and chilli crab there.

And how could we miss A &W! Amazing rootbeer float!

Cheap steak!

One of my favourite moments in Batam was dinner at the Sunset Beach Restaurant. We were seated at this hut, looking out to the sea, enjoying the seabreeze and yummicious food, while arguing over silly things like whether there were crocodiles in the waters beneath us...

We had wanted to go for a swim at the resort's swimming pool, but it was down for general cleaning. But guess what!!! The manager took us to the private jaccuci/ sauna room, and treated us to a full-body massage for free in a private hut! The massage was damn GOOD okay. It was so refreshing. And I felt so pampered! The whole experience actually kinda motivated both of us to work hard and earn more money in order to afford more of such indulgences. I'm definitely going back for the massage, seriously.


Another day was well-spent doing sea sports like parasailing, canoeing, and go-karting!

There isn't much nightlife to talk about in Batam. So we spent our last evening having a quiet retreat by the beach. A romantic dinner of grilled meat + seafood with a cup of Baileys to top it off! I was totally dreading the return to Singapore actually. It was utter bliss to be able to slow life's pace a bit and enjoy the simply pleasures of life with someone special.

Oh well. it's time to face reality. Back to school! Too much partying and travelling in Canada for a whole semester is not good when it comes to finding the motivation for this semester. It's like I can't remember when was the last time I really mugged. Oh well, I got to get my momentum back!