*credit to source

To go or not to go

*credit to source

I just rejected my exchange offer to Europe, less than an hour ago.

I must say, I haven't been faced with such a tough decision in awhile. Felt like I just went through a rough patch even though it only involves one decision to make. To go or not to go.

What an irony really. Just a few weeks ago I was praying so hard I'll get my Europe exchange. Yet when I got the offer, I wished I hadn't. Life really does love to poke fun at us isn't it. I wish the decision could be as simple as either accept or reject. It's not. Parent's concerns, cost of living, company, weather... so many factors to consider.

Did the weighing of my options and immediately felt more confused. It almost seemed as though the number of reasons I should go for the exchange have balanced the number of reasons why I should not go. It felt like I got stuck deeper in the rut just thinking about it. It's like I'm fighting a battle with all my inner thoughts running wild at the same time. Haven't felt like expressing myself with a :( in a long time.

I don't know if I've made the right choice by giving it up, since it's the last spring exchange I could apply for. I'm not even sure whether there is a right or wrong choice. I guess if I'd really wanted to go for this, I would have accepted without much thoughts. The fact that I was upset for the past couple of days probably imply that there's something inside me that's holding me back. Truthfully, I'm fine with going or not going. Maybe I should have been more courageous instead of feeling apprehensive about the uncertainties. Maybe I'm stupid for giving this up... Whatever it is, I just hope I will never regret this decision down the road.

Celebrations

Trying out this new polaroid website!

✈ Batam Getaway

Back from Batam! What an awesome trip!

Batam was certainly more commercialized than I expected. Everything can be paid using SGD and is more often than not more expensive than the prices in Singapore (except for groceries). I overestimated on my expenses, which was a pity that I couldn't try para-sailing. Would have been a great experience! Other than that, the fortunately chosen atas place, good food and wonderful company have already made the trip an awesome one!

In summary:
The paranoia of getting robbed/raped, (painful) massage, grocery shopping with a trolley full of Indomee and Tango, the long walk to Waterfront with incessant annoying honkings, good food, SEA SPORTS with our bananaboat capsizing, "trespassing" to another hotel, lazing in the pool, KTV session, moment of truth/confession/adding value to knowing each other better, potato couching together... So much fun, laughter and memories contained within a 3d2n trip. ♥










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More photos on FB:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
People say going on a trip with people other than your family is risky. It's almost like living together with them - you get to see their true personality, their living habits, everything from unglamourous to ugly. Unlike your own family members who are always forgiving and accepting, there are couples who break up or quarrel over a supposedly romantic getaway, or best friends who stop talking to each other. There are also successful trips where you grow closer with your travel companions because of the memories forged during the trip, and understand them better. And I'm glad I went on a successful one with my GGs :)

Of hellos and goodbyes

Internship has finally come to an end, with mixed and lingering feelings.

As much as I was counting down to my last day of internship, I know I'll miss my fellow interns in the days to come. It was a good 11 weeks of friendship and bonding. The friendships forged, the exchange of perspectives across universities and all the fun times we shared, have certainly contributed greatly to making my internship a memorable one.

For now, it's a short two weeks before school commences. Strangely, the past 4 months of summer break felt way shorter as compared to the previous one. I almost didn't expect myself to be able to get away from the city with my internship and the H1N1 virus still spreading but yes, I'm going on a short holiday! Summer's still good to me :) Till I come back!

I am 21!

The series of birthday celebrations which span over the week:

With some of the Cambodia Ocip people @ Hoshi Japanese Restaurant for buffet

Azur @ Crowne Plaza Hotel with family

Ambience and food was fantanstic. Very worth it despite the limited variety because the food made up for it- drunken prawns, oysters, sashimi, black pepper crabs were simply fresh and divine. They serve Häagen-Dazs ice cream too! Highly recommended to go while promotion lasts.
(See promotion)



Cousin who conincidentally share the same birthday as me

With secondary school clique


With smu econs clique. ♥ the handmade scrapbook!

And with my golden girls! Till we grow old and toothless!


It has been a truly awesome week. Thank you friends, for celebrating my 21st with me and for being part of my growing up phase. Thank you for all the presents! I feel so, so blessed :) Cheers to 21!

21: Surprise! Let's go nautical (and pink)

Surprise party!
A big thumbs up to my fellow interns who took my word seriously, planned the entire birthday celebration, and made sure I was genuinely surprised. Though I did suspect they had something up their sleeves, I would never have expected them to liase with my mom and hold the party at my own condominium's function room! The surprise party has certainly exceeded what 8-week friends will do, especially since Serangoon isn't the most convenient place to go to. Thank you!



Twister madness! It was mad hilarious when it was the guys' turn
Pictionary with out-of-the-world vocabulary. How would you draw monkey business?
Thank you all, for the mini party! Perhaps I should have held one for all my friends instead of having a series of celebrations with different cliques, since it's tiring either way ;) But NO REGRETS.

Being 21 feels almost the same as any day, although I do feel a tad old whenever I think about how most of my friends aren't 21 yet. I feel like a big sister!

*credit to source

First week of internship went fine. So far, so good.

As bizarre as it sounds, work's tiring even though all I did this week was being introduced to the operations of the department and had some trainings. I guess the first takeaway from the internship would be to have a healthy lifestyle again - sleep before midnight and have my meals on time! Hawker food around the area is really good.

It's a small world indeed, everyone's practically either first degree or second degree friends in some way or another. On top of our common friends, majority of the interns are girls, hence we're pretty much on a comfortable level. That's a good start to working together and experiencing the same shit for 10 weeks :) Something interesting: for the first two days I hung out with the NUS girls, and when I finally initiated a conversation with the SMU girls, the NUS girls actually asked whether I did an exchange in SMU before, because I sounded so familiar with the happenings of SMU. And the confusion didn't end there! When i told them I'm indeed from SMU, they let out shocked and puzzled faces because they were certain they "saw me in lectures". as much as I hate to think I have a common face, I shall think of it as the ability of fit into different groups ^^;

I just wished I could be assigned to more demanding assignments. Afterall, everyone wants to make the best out of their internships.

1 down, 9 more to go!

Re-play

If you were given a chance to re-live your life, how would it be any different?

Some people wouldn't change anything. They say it is because of those experiences, good or bad, that shaped them to become who they are now. Some people live through a bed of roses, so inevitably they wouldn't want to give up or part with the possessions they are blessed with. Some people live through a life in slums and which most people would find a misery, yet they are contented and satisfied with the bare minimum.

I guess some or most would have already known or easily guess that for me, my greatest regret, apart from quitting piano, is probably my education route. If by any means there's a time machine or a rewind button, I would probably re-take o levels, get into my ideal junior college, and finally my ideal university. If that's too much to ask, I would just want to re-do my university years, start anew, and as cynical as it probably sounds, do it the EXPECTED way, the RIGHT way, instead of fumbling my way through and reassuring myself it is part of the 'experience'.

Then again, this is life, isn't it? I'll most likely experience more and bigger setbacks in the future and when I think back, I'll probably laugh myself silly for treating these little nitty gritty like a setback. Life is not just about THE piece of paper, yet no one can deny that it is an important piece of paper. Different people have different expectations yes, but when the world's becoming an elitism world, it sucks to be mediocre.

Who knows, perhaps if I am really given the chance to change my life, things would still end up the same. Would I feel even more terrible, after knowing that I've slipped the opportunity for the second time?

Its Jamie's Super 21st Heroes birthday party!

Our pretty greek damsel is all dressed up and ready to be saved...
And so are we! Hello to J Superwoman, (flat) Wonderwoman and (self-created) Black woman,
Catwoman,
Spiderman,
Leveled up SUPER MARIO,
And my two personal favourites - URAHARA & YORUICHI from BLEACH! Banzai!
Wonderwoman couldn't resist a photo with Mario!
The pretty cupcakes and birthday cake

It was the best and most well-received birthday party I've attended - all the effort put in by family and friends have certainly paid off. It was considered a large scale party with a huge turnout, but every guest was included in the fun and truly immersing themselves in the party atmosphere and enjoying themselves. Sporting family members participated in games, friends mingled around instead of gluing themselves to their cliques and kudos to everyone who dressed according to the theme. It was no easy feat, yet all these were evident in tonight's party. When the birthday song was sung with family and friends in unison, it was a heartwarming feeling. Who says 21st birthday parties can't be managed with too many people from different cliques, and family members shouldn't be included? I've seen one very successful celebration tonight :)


Memories will be kept in the guestbook, in the form of polaroids and heartfelt wishes. I hope you like it, Jamie! Happy early 21st birthday!

While countless 21st birthday parties are to be celebrated in 2009, the very first week of the year was kick started by attending not one, but two 21st birthday celebrations. Many many more parties to come!

Sarah's 21st!
The econs girls were in charge of keeping the birthday girl away while the guys set up the surprise party at YG's house. We stayed in Sentosa till dinnertime, and what a sharp twist by saying we were all craving for Thomson prata. Very forced excuse, I know. And when we finally got the skeptical birthday girl to travel from Sentosa to Thomson with us, guess what, we said we had to pee badly so we should go YG's house first. Goodness! I wonder if surprise parties are ever successful with the birthday person being genuinely surprised. With all that lousy acting, I'm grateful that Sarah played along with us. Congrats (depends on how you perceive it) to adulthood!


Big-ass chocolate banana cake from Secret Recipe


Oikos!'08 - the young ones
Oikos!'07 - the not so young ones
Even though 21 is a significant number and ought to be celebrated to symbolise another phase in life, I would think a small cosy affair can perhaps be more meaningful than welcoming adulthood with a big bang. Exclusive invites to a few close friends, surrounded by good food, good music, good company, the plan sounds like a good idea in itself ;P