Life

Life is not about winning the race. It is about finishing the race,

Thoughts

It really sucks to suck at everything. I overestimated myself and my capabilities that I feel so useless at times. Initially I thought I would be able to handle the many tasks on hand, but I realised it's really hard to ace in all areas without sacrificing one for the other. Jack of all trades and master of none, I don't see my strengths at all. Being stuck in a constant dilemma is so torturing I don't know what to do :'(

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Just one of those emotional nights where these thoughts just come..(and hopefully will go.) NTS to think positive and base everything on faith. TMR WILL BE A BETTER DAY :')

TPHTM Graduation 2014

(photos on Facebook cos I'm just too lazy to upload hehehe)
So I've officially graduated with a diploma in Hospitality and Tourism Management! Feeling happy yet sad at the same time. Happy to graduate together with all my fellow course mates and school mates, and sad because I won't be seeing my friends anymore. Well at least not often anymore. Although I regretted coming to HTM at the start, I realised that this path that I chose wasn't that bad after all. "Never regret anything, because at one time it was exactly what you wanted."

I guess fate brought me here. It allows me to know so many wonderful friends in school. It brought me to tpsd where I can forge comradeship and bond with my tpsd comrades. So...I don't regret coming to TP HTM anymore, in fact I feel honored because many people said that HTM was one of the popular courses in TP. Although my results weren't ideal to get into a local uni, I'm satisfied with my current grades.

Looking back, it has been a challenging three years in TP. Staying up late at night just to finish project, compilation, editing, research and more editing and research. About six projects every semester, it was really tiring. Deadlines were back to back and we stayed back to discuss for projects almost everyday. I could still remember the whole concourse and study tables were filled with HTMers during project submission week haha. And then after project submissions, we have presentations. On top of that, we have to complete tutorials, do our individual assignments and study for tests and exams. It was a challenging period back then but thinking back now, it actually felt good. It kind of trained me physically and mentally. So as the TP motto says "Bringing education to life and life to education", I'm glad I managed to apply some of the skills I've learnt in school at work. Mostly were soft skills and service skills thought during SSM and various presentations. On a side note, I really miss those SSM and culinary days now....

Well, I'll definitely miss all my friends, year one classmates, project mates, intern buddies, ssm and culinary friends, year two and three classmates, groupmates and many more! Not forgetting my cutie pies whom I'll miss the most. They are the ones who joke with you, wait for you for breaks, encourage you, informing you of various school assignments and submissions, helping with school work, studying together, outings, birthday celebrations, graduation trip and many more! You girls made a huge impact in my life and I'm really grateful for each and every one of you. Thank you to all for being part of my beautiful journey in TP. Cheers to a bright future ahead and all the best in all your future endeavours! :)

毕业LO!

Inferiority

Today I feel so small. It's like my worth is so tiny that I sometimes even question my existence. I get envious of all the people around me. And I really mean ALL. Why do I even feel that way? Why do I constantly compare myself with others even though I know I shouldn't? This feeling of inferiority makes me cower in fear as I'm afraid to face the world. Damn I'm such a coward.

Happiness

"Happiness is to be found within your own life, in your thoughts at this very moment." -Ikeda Sensei

Always love quotes from Sensei, somehow I feel he's really telling me what to do especially when I feel down or lost. Thank you sensei.

So first week of work has ended. Nothing much except for training for four days straight. First few days was tiring cos there were so many things to remember and I was literally overloaded with information. My brain couldn't remember so much info about insurance especially when I have absolutely zero background in it. Glad to have two other temps working with me/companions for lunch if not I'll be damn bored and lonely..(cos the other colleagues don't even say hi or talk to you) oh well I hope by next week we'll all talk and make friends.. Another bad news is that once we officially start receiving calls, we can't go for lunch break tgt already as either of us must always be in the office to attend calls :(
Apart from that, I kind of enjoyed work at Aviva. It's my first office hrs job considering that all my previous jobs are shift works (customer service lol :/) and I pretty love this 9-6 kinda job although the waking up part was really challenging. It made me realise how the working world is like and experience the fast pace corporate world. Not to forget independent learning which is important because we have to do things and learn on our own. By learning we don't just learn at our own pace but at a pace team leaders expect us to learn. Nobody can help us and we gotta be responsible for whatever we do.

It's challenging but it's through all these struggles that make us truly grow to become a much more stronger person who's capable of achieving even more then what we've imagined. Another beautiful advice from sensei, hehe I'll definitely press on!

6 days to graduation-lol I don't feel a thing at all

Qotd

"Problems don't make us unhappy, only when we are defeated by our own weaknesses, that's when we become unhappy."

Smart phones, dumb people

Everyone needs to see this video. The world revolves around technology and social media, and even the younger generations are growing up in an environment that they don't go outside and communicate with people. Even I myself is guilty of all these. This video serves as a reminder to self that the world is so vast and that we can build so many connections with each other. For example, instead of messaging my members asking them how they are, I should meet them out for a catch up session over lunch. Only through these will they see our sincerity, which helps to forge stronger bonds of friendship.

"Look up from your phone, shut down your display. Stop watching this video, live life the real way."

Melted

Akdong Musician (AKMU): Melted

"If the ice was warmer, a warmer song would come out.
Why are ice (adults) so cold?
Why are they so cold?"

This song makes me cry. The MV itself holds a lot of meaning, using ice a metaphor to describe adults. When the boy was barking back at the dog, I feel so sad because somehow I could understand his pain. The kid has been betrayed and abandoned by people he has met. He was living such a difficult life and of course he had the right to be angry at the world. However, its heartwarming to see that there's still this one nice guy who helped him in the end. At least it shows that not everyone in this world is cold and mean. A really beautiful MV and song, and their singing's really good.
This young siblings are only 15 and 17 years old, and they compose and write their own songs. So so talented :')

I really love kids

Friday evening was spent with fellow tpsd comrades at Bugis for steamboat dinner! $22 for unlimited food which are limited (lol), it was quite worth it I guess. After that, had blackballs for dessert! Happy tgif indeed :)

So the title says, I really love kids, and I really do!

Woke up at 5am on Saturday for work all the way at Tuas. It was a family day carnival to commemorate the 1st anniversary of Halliburton. So the organiser was calling our names one by one to assign us our station and job roles. Most of them are called by groups except for me, and I was assigned to.. Children Colouring! I was sad initially because the others have companions in their station while I was alone. However I was quite happy to be assigned to this station in the end as this means that I will have many interactions with children! YAY!

As time passes, the crowd started to come and soon my booth was filled with kids! They are so cute I just can't stop talking and playing with them. Some of them are really good at drawing too!

colourful carebear using different colours to show the colour gradient!

She came to my booth a few times and kept colouring one after another.

On a side note, their lucky draw prizes are reallyyyyy good! Top few prizes include a samsung note 4, Canon camera, iPad mini and the first prize was a Macbook Air! I guess the company's rich la haha.

Last but not least, here's a photo with the Lion Mascot! (must be really hot in the costume hahaha)

Adventures

So lazy to blog about Hong Kong hahaha shall do it another day.

Yesterday evening was spent with the old friends! (Shimin, Shien and Yikning) It's been years since we last met up with four of us all present. So we had dinner at a Japanese pasta restaurant opposite Breadtalk at City hall. Shien recommended this place because we had no idea what to eat. True enough, the food is really good. Prices are range from $14-20++? It's quite affordable considering the portion of food they give.

It was a good catching up session! Talked about universities, work, interviews....(quarter life crisis indeed)

After eating, we decided to walk to Raffles Place as the night was still young. The buildings look really pretty at night, so I snapped a few photos like a tourist haha. We realised that there are still so many places we have not discovered in Singapore like the Arts House Museum. As in we know it existed, but we have never been to the museum before apart from Timbre.

Decided to take a group photo with the beautiful scenery as the backdrop. We attempted to take a selfie when a French guy suddenly approached me and wanted to help us take. Although in crutches, he still smiled and offered to help take photos for us. It was quite embarrassing because it's as if we were tourists and he was a local. Still, really thankful to him! Merci beaucoup, Au Revoir!!

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As usual, went to play volleyball at CCK CC in the evening. Feels good to exercise again!

Thankful

Today, we received our semester and final results for the three years in poly and I am really grateful for the results I have. Although semester 3.2 only consists of Internship and Contemporary Issues, I am glad that I get my first ever distinction for Contemp Issues (Thank you Mr Pras!) However, my cgpa increased barely a little as I only have one graded module this sem. Oh well at least I scored well and yes, I've finally completed my course of study for DIPLOMA IN HTM!

On a side note, I am happy that my little bro scored well this sem too! Thank you ghz!!

Met up with the graduates of TPSD in the afternoon for a chill-out session. First stop was at Chock Full of Beans where we almost got lost while trying to find the place. We were on the bus, thinking which stop to alight when the security officer told us to get down as the bus is going towards the Airfreight Centre(?) In the end we asked the bus driver for directions to Changi Village. Finally reached our destination after a hectic journey and I must say it was pretty worth it as their latte and coffee are really good. Not forgetting their specially customized latte art which includes a new flappy bird design! How can we not take photos of them!?

Apart from taking photos of food...............

After brunch, we made an impromptu decision for karaoke at Aranda Country Club together with Calvin who came late! Ended off with a dinner at some Japanese shop at White Sands. :)

Two more days to HK................can't wait!!!

Eventful week

Last week has been a pretty good week!

Sat evening was spent at Parc Vista Condominium for Zhenghao's 21st. It's nice to see my fellow TG8 comrades again after some time, nice catch up with them! The condo is really beautiful with European architecture all over (even waterfall at the swimming pool) and I heard from Michelle it won some awards too haha. The theme for his bday was RETRO, but there were not many people who dressed up according to it. I did try to dress retro, but I think it looks more like vintage-themed haha oh well.. Each of us were given goodie bags with childhood memories! This includes the sweets and snacks we used to eat during primary school days and the games of old times! It's as if we were back to those carefree childhood days.. 😌 Took a couple of photos with the cute props they have and played Donkey, Old Maid and Snap with fellow comrades. Fun night!

Happy Birthday again Zheng Hao! :)

Missing out Michelle and Jun Hau b'cos they left early for district meetings. Aw such nice leaders :')

So after the party on my way home, Christie called me for an impromptu meet up at Handle Bar for some chilling. Readily agreed since I haven't meet my girls for so long!! Glad to have such good friends whom you can share anything and everything with under the moon. (yeah cos I realized we only meet up in the night haha) 

Sunday was spent at the flea market at Lucky Plaza selling my pre-loved clothes together with Chuan Ting, Zhi Yi and Diana! The crowd at Lucky Plaza on a Sunday is seriously too HUGE that Chuan Ting and I had to manoeuvre our way through the crowd to the entrance and up to level 6 with our bulky luggages. It's our first time holding flea at Lucky Plaza (previously had it at Scape) and I would say 90% of the shoppers are maids. Before we even open up our luggages to take out our clothes, they are already crowding at the table waiting to rummage our luggage. Lol in the end we gave up folding and throw all the clothes on the table while they flip them all. Managed to earn a profit although the clothes were sold at a major loss, like $2-$5 for a dress/top/shorts? 

Rushed off to work in the late afternoon while they help me sell the remaining clothes I have. If they are reading this, I wanna thank them for selling some of my clothes while I'm not around!!!! Thank you!!

So work was pretty slack as there wasn't many customers as compared to Saturday. Haha I heard from Angus and Yanhan that Sat was really busy that they did not even have time to rest or even drink water. (luckily I didn't work on sat hahaha)

On a side note, three more days to Hong Kong, can't wait for the getaway!! 

Society

"Society as a whole today is shrouded in gloom. It is as if we have entered a dark tunnel. This is precisely why it is so important for us to energetically send the philosophy of hope, the voice of encouragement, the power or guidance to all around us. Those who can continue to do this are true leaders, and their lives emanate with the virtues of the Buddha who is dedicated to leading others to happiness."

Happy 21st Colin

Happy (belated) 21st birthday to Colin!!
Had an enjoyable time at the party, with really unique props, delicious food, and of course great company! Thank you for inviting, hope you enjoyed yourself!

Birthday boy and his birthday cake

 TPSD <3

Suddenly dawned upon me how time flies and that next year I will be 21 alrdy. I cannot imagine how my life will be like in the future..say 5 years down the road. I'm reaching my 20s and I still feel so lost about my life. Quarter life crisis they say, probably many people out there are feeling the same too, clueless of what to do after graduation etc. I just want to have a goal to work towards to, a dream I want to achieve, but I don't have any at all. 21st also means that you're officially an adult who can do anything and everything you want without anybody's consent. You have to bear the consequences for whatever decisions you've made. You have to earn money and work for your own living instead of living off your parents. All these really scares me as I'm afraid to grow up and face reality. I want to always remain as a child in my parents' eyes, to not be afraid to make mistakes, to have my parents and siblings cover up for whatever wrongs I've done, to do stupid things without being judged, and to stop keeping up with the competitiveness of the society. My mind's exploding with thoughts and I need a getaway (many in fact).

Shit I just realised how negative and crappy my post is despite a happy start. I need to toss these unhappy thoughts away and think of happy ones!!!

Running errands

Spent the entire day today travelling to different parts of Singapore from North to Northeast to East to West to Central then back to North. At least today is a productive day as I managed to complete most of the tasks on my to-do list. Woke up early in the morning to meet Jasmine at Serangoon to collect my NRIC back as I needed my ic for the uni application. (left it with her the other day at zouk and forgot to claim it back heh) I was late and ended up meeting her at Orchard which is nearer to her workplace. I felt extremely guilty for making her wait just to pass me MY ic, and then she had to rush for work. It's my own IC and she even accommodated me and wait for me :'( This kinda struck me that I should really do something about this bad habit of being late. (Sorry Jasmine!)

After collecting my ic, I headed to TP just to print my exam transcript at One Stop Service Centre for my application. After collecting my transcript which took less than 15 minutes, I traveled all the way to SIM to submit the necessary documents, which lasted for less than 15 minutes as well. Lol so I actually spent way more time traveling than doing what I'm supposed to do. There goes my transportation fees...

Headed to Bugis after that with Yik Ning for the movie 'Non-Stop' at the Filmgarde Cineplex at Bugis Plus. The seats are pretty comfortable, however the theatre is smaller as compared to other cineplexes though. Anyway, 'Non-Stop' is reeeaaaallllyyyy gooooooood. The plot is superb and the show just makes you wonder who the actual bad guy was the whole time, with a twist at the end. I was so engrossed in it that I actually forgot I had popcorns and drinks with me. In the end I only realised after the movie ended. Haha I'm not kidding, it's definitely one of the best shows I've watched thus far!

Anyway, I just had my passport photo taken (for uni application again..) He only allowed me to retake three times so I picked the best out the three although I look horrible in all three sigh. So I'm pretty much done with uni application except for the final results submission. Really hope that I'll have the discipline to work hard for uni. No more regrets cheet!

I love kids

Testing out blogging using mobile for the first time and I think I'm slowly getting used to it. So today was spent waking up early in the morning for work at River Valley Primary. Our job was to assist the teachers in the class, helping the students and doing whatever we were tasked to do. I love everything about the job except that I have to speak in Chinese. Although I have no problems speaking Chinese at home, it's hard to teach in Chinese, especially when the teacher is in the classroom too. Unknowingly I just keep speaking English to the kids when the entire programme is suppose to be in Chinese because it's called "Chinese Cultural Camp". Guess I'll work on that!

Here are some photos of the super cute and bubbly kids (I'm not a pedophile, just fond of kids hahaha)

Brand new blog

So I have decided to start a brand new blog to record down the daily happenings of my life so that I can look back at these beautiful memories few years down the road. I'm determined to update this blog regularly and keep it as lively as possible (fingers crossed) Stay tune readers!