Thursday, August 10, 2006
wow! its been long!! sincerely apologize for my laziness in updating the blog.. haven't been good in multitasking.. so find it a little hard to do other things and also blog muahaha.. shall attempt to blog the whole of my hols now.. wish me luck!
let me think.. after cambodia..
munus
squash stuff
turkey + bangkok
overnight with girls
medicamp
roadshow with stemcord
blading
matric fair
og dinner
chilling out at bugis, em's house, float, floorball, failed morton's attempt
pre-national day!
alright.. Munus = Malayan university NUS games.. was rather fun, meeting some of the malaysian players.. they really owned us in some games.. played squash with them too.. luckily we won ;) wonder how the curriculum is over there.. i guess is not really fair to say they have more free time to play over there.. after all, it is up to us to organize our time and find time to play sports or do things we enjoy..
NUS squash stuff.. hmmm.. quite disappointing.. its not easy being captain, especially in an independent instituition with no teachers to take care of the "major" stuff.. guess i learnt quite a bit about the "real" world.. shall not elaborate though..
hmm turkey was really really fun.. my first time travelling with so many friends (not counting the msian squash trips), away from home for so many days.. 13 days i think.. i think i have already recounted the trip quite animatedly with some peeps.. haha.. and yep, as i have told all the gurls.. go to turkey if your ego needs a revival! you get treated like a goddess because you are THE exotic species over there! ;) the guys are cute (though not very photogenic, so they might not look as cute as they are in the photos) and have "photo ethics".. they check you out blatantly.. haha which is rather eye opening.. the weather there is nice! air con temp even in the middle of summer ;)
turkey's a beautiful country.. not just scenary-wise.. the people are beautiful, most of them have impeccable manners.. their friendliness makes you feel so welcome.. they do not give you weird looks when you want to take pics with them, they smile at you sincerely even though you are very troublesome and demanding, good service! but owells.. i might have a wrong perception about that.. afterall, arn't singaporeans friendlier and more accomodating toward tourists? i can't compare the service in sg and turkey unless i am a tourist in singapore who looks very obviously a tourist (ie. don't look asian) (aiyah, as much as i hate to admit it, i think many asians still subconsciously view ourselves as a "lower" class compared to eurasians.. can't help it, at least in singapore, when you put a eurasian and asian side by side, the eurasians portrays confidence, charm and capability more convincingly than his counterpart... maybe i'm biased, but that's how i feel.. asians must be more confident!!!! at least carry ourselves more confidently! hmmm, maybe that is a product of our asian culture? humility? do not show off our capabilities, say "no la no la, i'm not capable, its just luck" when people offer us compliments.. of cos humility is a good virtue.. but some of us tend to take it too far, and humility becomes self-deprecating.. but owells, i guess this beats over-confidence any time ;)
what i admire most about turkey is that it is a liberal country.. perhaps not in the american way.. turkey is a secular country though its population is predominantly muslim.. and no, they are definitely not your typical islamic country.. no obligations to wear tudungs, no super conversative and strict islamic codes of conduct to live by.. as our tourguide sibel puts it, turkey practises liberal islam, you wear a tudung if you want to, but if you don't want to, its fine. there are so many bad things in the world, islam just teaches you to protect yourself from bad things so you can lead a good life. so as long as you learn to close your heart to the bad things (evil) in life, you are being faithful to islam.. :) they are not obliged to pray 5 times a day, they do not have to cover every part of their flesh, they can even tatoo themselves.. and the best thing is, from what i saw, i do not think they discriminate against other religions, afterall, religion is all, or mostly, about seeking a moral compass eh?
got to know my mates better during the trip.. its funny how we only bond with each other at the end of 1 year.. but yep, that makes a great start to the second year! holidays are a great way to know the "true colours" of your friends.. afterall people can't pretend to be who they arn't constantly for so many days.. haha i sound so cynical, but i am not! :P
the food in istanbul airport is ridiculously expensive.. we all lodged complaints under ficticious names.. haha.. and the duty-free shop there was quite underhand in the way they dealt with some tester saga.. but owells.. that shall not contaminate the otherwise beautiful picture of turkey! just beware if you go to the airport haha!
then we stopped over in bangkok.. ian and aileen joined us while colin bra nafiz headed back.. was really exhilirating shopping with ian and eugene!!! haha! they are THE pros in bargaining lo.. some of their bargaining tactics are really hilarious.. what i really enjoyed was the bare-ur-souls-and-bitch-your-hearts-out sessions in the hotel rooms at night.. of cos the whole point of having hols is not to have these kinda late night sessions, but these kind of honest get-to-know-each-other-better talks come rather exclusively with these kinda trips, or perhaps stayovers..
and of cos the vegetarian missed singaporean ma-ma food badly and so i gorged myself crazy when i came back.. dun get me wrong, the carnivores and omnivores found turkish food delightful, but i'm a weird vegetarian who doesn't particularly relish salads, and uGHZ eggplants and brinjals and ladys fingers and what not.. so.. yep.. you get the picture..
came back, rested for a day or , then crashed medicamp.. celebrated joel's birthday with surprises and tufts and whipped cream.. hope his "worst birthday ever" transformed into "one of the best birthdays ever".. ;) they opened up more places in medicine this year.. no idea why.. and i think i am in no position to comment on the mix of people in the new batch.. afterall, some people take longer to open up than the rest.. and we seniors are not woven into their lives, we can't grasp the subtle going-ons in the new batch even if we try hard to..
helped our mentor run a stemcord roadshow for.. hmmm 3 days? at suntec from fri to sunday.. got to see for myself the business side of medicine.. it takes lots of ingenuity, planning, paperwork, brain cells etc to set up something like that.. and of cos, got exposed to the "ugly" side of the real world.. made ourselves a "common enemy" who in the end turned out to be quite nice according to those who continued to do data-entry.. i am definitely not looking fwd to stepping into this complicated adult world..
the stayover with the girls was great!!! thanks jess for loaning your house.. jon is so cute lah! he is so smart!!! so young and yet he knows how to read so many words.. i am so impressed.. i think his english is better than mine when i was in primary 2 lo.. -blush- catching up on everyone's lives, talking about counselling, hypnotherapy, ghost stories, jess' animated recounts of shaking cabins etc, it was absolutely heart-warming.. how i love the girls.. :) you gals are the one i know i will still be close to even when i am 60 years old..
oh ya! i took up a new sport! blading! haha it was a mortifying experience.. i really fear falling down.. really FEAR FEAR.. haha.. and it was scary to feel myself free-wheeling and i had absolutely no control.. the rollers were going too fast and i couldn't stop, coundn't change direction.. couldn't balance.. and i didn't wanna fall.. slowly slowly, had to learn to let go of your inhibitions.. try to enjoy the feeling of having no control.. open yourself up to vulnerabilities while treading on unfamiliar territories.. must really thank eugene for being so patient.. ;) i am very hum-ji i know.. haha.. but i bet u got ur kicks from witnessing my ugly falls haha..
was nice meeting up with latheya.. killed time and money at settlers.. talking talking talking.. the scholars lindy and edwin joined us.. yay.. alamak edward not there.. ISOTOPE COME BACK SOON! thanks to qiantai who always makes the effort to org outings because the rest of us are lazybums who want to meet up and yet dun feel like going thru all the hassle of organizing things..
divided time btn friends and family.. chilling out with some like-minded ppl.. friendships can't be forced.. the more you force things, the more likely the chance of repulsion.. after all these years of meeting new ppl and making new friends, it never ceases to amaze me how friendships can blossom so unexpectedly.. and of cos i have to thank the connectors in my social circle.. i'm not good at reaching out and making friends with new people because i'm quite a social retard, but thanks to these sociable social catalysts, i've gotten to know so many more ppl.. and yeap, many times it is us ourselves who place the boundaries and limits in our own lives.. it is very difficult to take the first step out of that border, and it can be trying to stay out of that border when it is not a habit yet.. so friends, please help me out, coax me, pull me drag me threaten me do whatever it takes when i fall back in again heh heh heh.. thanks in advance!
fireworks on the eve of national day was a blast! tried to crash new asia bar at swissotel but we were underage.. we were wondering why they set the age limit at 23, but once we settled at axis bar in oriental hotel and started making a lot of noise, i realised why.. haha.. the sophistication of 23 year-olds and above and the vibrancy and life of 20 year-olds require different social settings haha.. watching the gorgeous stardust dissolve with urgency and elegance into nothingness with a big grp of friends in a high-class setting on the 4th storey is an experience i've never had.. woah! and yes, on that faithful night.. the LBBC was formed, with 9 ex-co members and 4 probationary members so far.. haha! in case you're wondering.. LBBC = Lonely Bachelors and Bachelorettes Club.. Its the only club you join to get out of, cos u dun wanna be the lust man standing hahaha.. And i've got a gut feeling this is not a heat-of-the-moment thing.. haha.. we've got our initiation rites.. rules and regulations.. like when a member gets attached, he/she's gotta bring the other half to the club gathering as a sort of farewell ceremony.. haha.. guess its this kinda thing that gels people together.. yay!!
phew.. what a long post.. my eyes hurt.. shall leave pictures to do the rest of the talking! school looms ahead.. boo!!!!
