It's only been one week of school and I'm already sick of it. Sick of all the inter-personal stuff. And I'm an extremely introverted (not the exact word to use here but I can't think of the right word now) person. I always turn off my wifi/data cuz I cannot stand having my phone buzzing every 5 seconds? It just gets on my nerve. Especially not when I'm doing other things, unless I'm talking one-to-one to someone. That's why I'm usually not active in chat groups, unless I really am that bored.

I got to know many people through the camps and what not, but sometimes it gets a little overwhelming. Idk how to put it across. Like that day I just got to know this girl through my friend cuz both of us were going sociology alone, so we decided to go together. I mean, it's good to have company, but I'm perfectly fine being alone too. But I guess for this girl she's the kind that must have company with her. So she wanted us to go for tutorials together. Okay sure. So I suggested a few timings to her. And she said she perferred the one on monday instead of wed which I preferred. Then I asked her if she has any other available timeslots cuz if it was on Monday I would have to rush for my lab immediately after it. And she said quite hard cuz she's taking double degree (so her timetable is quite tight). At times like this, what would you do? I couldn't force her to change the timing since she already mentioned she's in ddp so by right I have to accommodate her timetable. If I were her I would have just suggested going separately, that would have saved BOTH of us so much trouble but no she didn't. And I couldn't bring myself to suggest it cuz that would mean pangseh-ing her. Okay fine maybe it's my fault also. I could have easily suggested it if she was my close friend but I only got to know her on the first day of school?! In a way, I felt kinda manipulated by her... Maybe it's just me la I could have just told her directly. I feel bad for saying this but I wished my friend hadn't introduced us. I hate these kind of burdening stuff, like having to consider other's feelings and also not neglecting your own interests. Idk if this whole paragraph made sense or if it's just me being anal.

Ah shit I'm just so frustrated with school, and it's not even about school work.

As for academic-related matters, lectures have been in general okay~ Ah except for the IT mod (programming). The lecturer couldn't seem to be able to explain clearly... CN (chem eng core mods) is fine so far, currently covering conversion of units, quite similar to what we did for A level physics except for a few new things like coverting to the American units (ft, inch etc.) Soci was kinda interesting, but I regret not taking down notes cuz I forgot most of what the lecturer said LOL I thought that day was merely an intro lecture :p Math was the most manageable one, since it was mainly just revision on differenciation and integration stuff. Oh but the math lecturer is a little weird. He randomly cracks 'sick' jokes hahaha. And he's a little fat so the image he gives me is of a 色pehpeh LOL

Why why why. It's been two consecutive days in which the same person appeared in my dreams. WHY omg. I don't see the face but I know who it is.

It must be because I haven't been sleeping well these days. Usually I'm quite a deep sleeper and fall asleep easily (like really, anywhere and anytime), but the past few days I have been taking some time to fall asleep after tossing and turning a few times and waking up for no reason in the middle of the night. It's not that I don't feel tired, but once I lie on my bed I feel more awake lol. Doesn't make sense right.

Anyway, tomorrow is the first day of uni life. All the best guys (I mean girls) and have fun :) As for the army guys, have fun too HAHA your time will come soon

The end of the longest break in my entire life

Of course, this is assuming I do not end up jobless in the future.

I mentioned some time back that I will do a summary of the past 8 months so this is what this post is going to be about. I still have the weekend before school starts, but since I will have to help my mum prepare stuff for the bbq tomorrow that was decided just last night, I shall just type this now when there's no one to disturb me.

Hmm, how do I go about this... Okay let's go by months.

December 2013: Europe trip
Idk what to say about this haha or do I already have a post on this? Okay anyway. This was my first time going to Europe and I would have enjoyed the trip much more if we had not gone with a tour group. Europe is meant for leisurely touring the place, not rushing about like mad cows and staying at a certain place for like what, 2-3 hours? I did not get to go to UK though, really want to have a feel of the place. I guess the most significant thing that happened during this trip was our encounter with pickpockets. Apart from the money, yeah it may seem like a trivial thing, but whenever I think back about it, I still feel the chills and anger to those people. And I'm not even the victim. Maybe it's because it concerned my mum.

January 2014: Taiwan trip
Went on a week-long trip to Taiwan with Lee Hwee, Alicia and Jasmine. I may have mentioned to some of you that I was actually contemplating whether or not to go with them, unlike most other people who would spontaneously agree and plan for their trip with their friends. Okay, the four of us were quite close in year 1/2, but I often felt that I could not really click with them. I mean, regarding the stuff that they talked about. Talking about idols, guys, teasing??? I cannot really remember much of what we talked about 5 years ago lol. But they really did care as a friend for me I suppose. Just that I could not really open up to them? IDK. I really dk.
So when I went to year 3, where we all went to different classes (except LH and Alicia), I slowly started to distance myself away from them. It was probably an issue of low self-esteem, because I backed out on a few of our meet ups last minute. It also did not help that I did not have anything in common with them like CCAs etc. For the first few months in year 3, I still went home with Jasmine on a daily basis, but idk since when we stopped going back together. Maybe when I made closer friends in 3G, friends who I felt I could click with better. Yea, I'm a jerk.
So the main point is, from year 3 onwards, I caused myself to be gradually pulled out of the group, while the 3 of them remained close or even closer. We did still talk when we met one another in school, but things just changed. But it got better in SH, when I gained a little more self-confidence. Like I said, it's all just an issue of self-esteem. Anyway, so yea the fact that I was on the borderline of being outside of the group made me think much about going on the trip.
Eventually what made me decide to go was that I wanted to salvage the friendship with them. I was the one who was stupid and distanced myself from them, when they did not even do anything wrong. Before that I always thought that whatever friends you make, you must be able to click with them and be very close with them. But some time between the 4 years from year 3 to 6, I came to understand that there are always different kinds of friends. It does not mean that if I do not have the same interests as them, they cannot be my friend. As of now, how I define someone to be a friend is someone who you are concerned about. Friendship isn't only about fun, common topics to talk about, gossiping about others. Even if friends complain about and criticise one another, disagree on issues, have little in common, but nonetheless they still care for each other, then I still consider that as friendship. I didn't understand this in the past.
Haha okay so this section turned out to be a summary of my relationship with the 3 of them.... The trip was great :)

January 2014: My very first job at Noel Gifts
Xm helped me to find this job while I was still procrastinating at home after coming back from the Taiwan trip haha but hey, she had commission from doing so okay :P Nonetheless, thanks man! :D It turned out I was lucky to have the nicest supervisor, John. Honestly speaking though, I think he picked me because he saw that I was from dhs (he did mention something about dhs people being smarter or something). I mean, people stereotype and are practical. They look for the easiest solution that can save them from trouble. Anyway, more about the job itself. Basically I helped to process orders by writing invoices and also did some telemarketing. I worked during the two weeks before CNY which is their peak period since most companies only purchase hampers then. So I had to call from a thick stack of papers containing the telephone numbers of companies and people. I really hated it whenever I was passed that stack of papers. But it was a good experience because at least now I'm not so afraid of making calls to companies or people. (And it was kind of like a preparation for my next job at the call centre haha!) Even though I only worked there for 2 weeks, it was really rather tiring since I worked from 9am to 7pm (or later) on most days. And I could not exactly slack by playing with my phone since I was sitting right in front of the HR department lol. So I had to find myself work to do, otherwise pretend as if I'm very busy LOL.

February - May 2014: $$$IRAS$$$
No, the dollar signs are not because of the pay. Haha because the nature of the job concerns people's money. I have nothing much else to elaborate on about this, since I think I have mentioned in quite a few posts about my time at iras. It was really quite an unforgettable experience and I feel proud of myself for deciding to take on this job *claps for myself* HAHA. This was one really big step I took out of my comfort zone during this period of 8 months.

February - August 2014: CDAC SHG
How could I have (almost) left this out. This year I started doing many things alone. I started watching movies alone, signing up for lessons alone, shopping alone. SHG was another thing that I signed up for alone. In the past I would feel too self-conscious (about what idk?) to go for such things alone. But nah I decided it's time to grow up haha. I had always wanted to do some long-term volunteering thing which does not require too much of a commitment, so SHG being once in a week thing was perfect. Plus I wanted to try tutoring since teaching is one of my alternative career choices. Honestly, what I had expected was to be teaching a small class, not one-to-on tutoring. But it works too I guess. A class would be too much to handle haha. The kid I am assigned to this year is Farisa. She's a quiet girl, but is willing to do her work. I have much more to write about this, but I will leave it to the end of this year's SHG to sum it up. Moving on, I also met many people from SHG, mostly around our age like 18-21, some undergrads and a few working adults. Really nice people here. They make you feel integrated easily :) And some of the kids here really just brighten your day with their cuteness ^^

March - August 2014: Muay Thai lessons
Another thing that I went way out of my comfort zone for. The very first two lessons I went for at Fight360 and BXG, I went alone. ALONE. Yeah it was honestly intimidating. Especially since I have zero experience and I'm not exactly a very sporty or fit person. But that's why I wanted to go for such lessons. At Fight360, they got someone (who I think is not an instructor but quite an experienced fighter) to teach me the basic kicks and punches. It was good in the sense that I got a one-on-one lesson on my very first day. He was quite a friendly guy (I really cannot remember his name oops!) and told me to go find him if I came by again. In the past, whenever someone says something like this when I doubt I would see him again, I wouldn't know how to reply and would probably just smile and laugh awkwardly. But one thing I learnt these past few months is that in the real world, most adults do not mean what they say. It's all just superficial talk, all standard sentences to create conversation or to appear friendly. It's like standard operational procedures. Yeah. So I decided to just go with the flow whenever I'm talking to people outside. It's kinda sad though if everyone becomes like this. But this is society. If you do not reply back using the standard phrase that they expect, you become unsociable, unfriendly. Then again, sometimes I don't care too much especially towards random people on the streets since I'll probably never see them again so who cares what they think of me haha. It all depends on my mood LOL.
Omg okay that was off-track. Back to MT. After my first two lessons, I subsequently went to Yod Kai Muay after jio-ing Kaining to go with me haha. On our very first lesson there, the warmness of William and Eric bought us over LOL. So we ended up going there then on and signed a 10 session package :P Below is a picture taken just yesterday with instructor Sarawut (I finally got his name haha!):

May 2014: Hong Kong trip
Second trip with friends! This time round was with Kaining and Yiksheng! Too bad xm was unable to join us :( This trip was planned quite in detail I would say. But plans are plans. Execution is another thing hahaha. We tried to stick to our itinerary, which turned out to be a little too packed and we did not factor in enough time for travelling from one place to another. Plus walking down 6 (?) street markets on the first day right after we landed was not exactly very feasible haha. We ended up going back to the hotel for a nap before coming out again for dinner. Anyway, the people there were more helpful than we thought they would be! You know how the typical impression of Hongkongers is that they are impatient and cold? That's why we were quite surprised when not one, not two, but three people approached the three blur-looking girls who seemed like they were lost LOL. Honestly speaking, I was a little suspicious of them at first, that maybe they were targeting the things in our bags. Lesson learnt from the Europe trip. But nah it turns out they were probably just being helpful. Sorry for doubting their kindness! >< Anyway, somehow the focus of our trip turned to FOOD hahaha. But really, there isn't much to buy at HK, it's almost the same as Sg. That's why as with my Taiwan trip, I ended up spending the most on food ^^ I bought the most food back again LOL. Oh but I spent the most on a cushion I bought for my grandma. She loves it hahaha and even made a cover for it because she said she's afraid to dirty it aww. Presenting to you Bananaman :D

June - July 2014: Engin Camp, ChESS camp
...........I paused here for quite some time. And I realise I have nothing much to talk about the camps. Okay I met a lot of new people, had a hard time matching their names with their faces, got to see many interesting characters. But there was no one that I really liked. As a person. Maybe the duration of the camp was too short for me to really know people, especially not if I choose to not open up to them in the first place. But yeah the camps were fun while it lasted, even though I would not want to have fishy water (with fish scales) poured over my head and have soy sauce, peanut butter (oh the all-time favourite...), flour and what not all over me again. It's really about whether you choose to have fun or not la. As much as I'm not the kind who really suits such social camps, I still think it's a good experience and that people should at least go for one of such uni camps.


Wow I'm finally done with this. There, quite a lot of things I have done right! The rest of my time (especially June and July) were spent slacking at home spamming jdramas haha and doing random stuff like piecing my Totoro puzzle and travelling across half of the island to Ubi for driving lessons. It has been a fulfilling 8 months with many new experiences! Goodbye my holidays~~ T-T

I'm itching to do some math.

Yeah, math.

Mathematics.

Haha I guess I kind of miss doing math questions (lyx should feel proud LOL). I went to download the math lecture notes in preparation for school, and I started reading up since it was basically a recap on A level stuff. All the differentiation, integration.... I realise Uni notes like to complicate things lol the way they write it makes it look so complicated but actually it's the old A levels standard.

Idk if I'm being very kiasu or what, but besides the math lecture notes, I even went to watch one (just one!) webcast for the IT mod. Okay, and half a CN webcast :x Nah I choose to belief that I'm just curious about what kind of content exactly we will be learning and it must also be because I currently have too much time on my hands haha. I was supposed to crash oweek on Saturday, but I changed to Sunday because it was kind of troublesome to go on that day since I had things on that afternoon. BUT eventually I did not even crash the camp hahaha. I was lazy la and I kind of lost the camp mood, I am on school preparation mode haha plus there was no obligation for me to go for the camp since I did not pay for it :p

Oh and I found an ebook for the math textbook for my math mod hahaha save money :D

A meal with the pros

Met up with the iras peeps today for dinner! Actually it's like the very first gathering we had ever since we started work on 4th Feb this year. It's amazing how it all still felt so comfortable talking and laughing over meal time despite not meeting these people for like 3 months? That's the same period of time I knew most of them for. It's most probably thanks to Chris and Najib who keep the conversation going, especially Najib. He's a hilarious guy haha plus he has an infectious laughter and he's the kind who talks well with anyone. Cool dude.

Ronnie will be leaving for UK soon to further his studies. It was also nice to know him. He told me that he's actually quite a quiet and introverted person, but that he tries to talk more otherwise it would be hard to make friends, especially for guys. I was kind of surprised at first when he told me that because he seemed rather outgoing, but yeah I suppose he was just trying his best. Haha honestly at first Alicia and I were kind of irritated with him during training (on our first two weeks at work they gave us training) because he kept asking weird questions and was trying too hard? But yea there's always a reason for everything. All the best man! Oh and thanks for always feeding us with snacks! :P

During my 3.5 months at iras, I got to say that I really clicked with this guy called Zhan Yao. Nah don't get me wrong, it's not what you are thinking. You know how there's some people who you can just get along with from the very first day? Yeah just that. He was one of the person I sat beside most of the time during the first few weeks after we started manning the line, so naturally we would talk. And he was the one who helped me takeover one of my messed up call I received sometime during the first week of manning the line haha so yeah forever grateful for that. He's like a small boi boi (as affectionately referred to by Jasmine HAHA) because of his height and face XD Anyway yea I could talk to him about random stuff in between calls and what not without feeling awkward. Hope to see him around nus FOE!

Another person who I clicked with was Vivien. She's a funny girl also hahah too gullible and a little aunty when she complains about her calls :P Oh and weirdly she seems to be getting the most number of funny calls haha. And why I say she's gullible is because she ALWAYS falls for Najib's lies even though it is so obviously a lie LOL.

Ah this post seems a bit overdue right... Haha I just felt like typing a little about these guys after today's meet up. There's just too many people to mention, I have only mentioned 3 of them. The rest shall be kept in my memories~ Regardless of whether or not this group will still remain in contact in the future, these people have contributed to an unforgettable time during my stay at iras for 3.5 months. And I'm sure it will be one of those things that I will smile upon thinking back about it when I am old and retired. Never regretted making the decision to step out of my comfort zone and work at a call centre! At least now I can make calls out more comfortably haha!

Oh yeah guys, maybe you would already have noticed this from my previous post, but oh yeah I'm taking a sociology mod this sem!!! ^^

I had a really hard time deciding the last mod to bid for. I considered legal environment of business, Singapore Studies (SS) mods, marketing mod, science of music and a few others that I cannot remember. But after taking into factors such as timetable scheduling and the grade-free sem, I ended up bidding for sociology. Why? Mainly because the grade-free sem allows me to take something that I'm interested in but not confident in scoring well for. Sociology requires essay writing, something like gp I suppose. But I really want to bid for the few mods I mentioned, especially science of music (it focuses on the physics of music, like waveforms and whatnot haha) and for my SS mod, Singapore taxation HAHA. Yeah because I have some background knowledge about tax matters from working at IRAS :B

Btw, I started watching 中国好声音 since last week and wow, China really has an unlimited pool of talents lol. And the 4 music producers are funny trying to promote themselves to the participants XD

Uni preparation

This is what my timetable would be like for my first semester. The tutorials and lab sessions are not fixed yet though. Seems like 2 hour lectures are the norm lol why so long :( but according to my seniors they said lectures usually end 25 mins earlier for you to travel to your next venue.

Anyway, I am using my new macbookkkkkkk ^^ Ordered on the day the new versions came out, which were cheaper with higher specifications hoho. Plus I ordered online with the student price so it was not too ex. And omg I love the battery life haha I can use continuously for hours without having to charge the battery!