I have finally arrived in London, a place where i have always wanted to visit, especially after hearing so much about it from the media. I arrived with 40kg of baggage and insisted on taking the tube to Christine's place at Greenwich, as taking a cab would probably cost me 100 pounds compared to 7.50 pounds that i paid for a day pass on the tube. I must say that the tube system looks extremely confusing with lots of coloured lines crisscrossing everywhere. Lucky for me, i was given specific instructions on getting to where i need to be. After an arduous 2 hr, i finally got to the apartment. It is cozy and convenient as it was just like a 3 minute walk from the tube station.
After leaving all my bulky items, i quickly packed for my Scotland trip and rushed back to the airport for my flight to Edinburgh! Got there and had an expensive lunch, but i was hungry, so had to eat.
The journey to Edinburgh took an hour and before i know it, i was on the bus to the city central and the place that i will be staying for the night. I arrived at 6pm local time and i thought most of the places would be closed. However, there was the Edinburgh festival going on and the city was still bustling! I put down my stuff in the room and quickly ran out to get dinner (Chicken Kebabs) and started my city tour of Edinburgh.
I walked around the city and realised that it was awfully bright at 6pm, so i asked around and apparently the sun sets at 9pm. It was a pleasant surprise and it just means that i can still explore the city and take pictures!Started off with the Edinburgh Castle, which was just right outside the place that i am staying at. The cobbled streets and the juxtaposition of the medieval and modern buildings just add a touch of inexplicably beauty to the city. The city is bustling with activities as it was the Edinburgh Festival and the fringe festival was part of it. People were out partying as the sun sets later in the summer season. There were performances on the streets, stalls selling food and warm coffee. Walked around the city and visited the National Museum, many monuments, the city hall, the parliament.
While exploring the city, i ended up at the street where the fringe festival was going on and i chanced upon a shop selling everything chocolate - Chocolatesoup. I thought it was really interesting so i went in and ordered a hot chocolate and a white millionaire shortbread. It was amazing in the cool weather.

The city is gorgeous and i wanted to join the ghost hunting group, but i was too hum to do it. Then i walked to the oldest bar in town (which was built in 1700s and was managed by a lady who apparently survived being buried alive after getting pregnant before marriage), but it was sooo crowded that i could just peek at the doorway. The shopping malls were plastered with %, but they closed really earlier, which is a good thing, if not it would have distracted me.

As the sun set, the city brightened up and i took a slow stroll back to my lodge. The night has its own charm and beauty and it is as captivating as it is in sunlight. Edinburgh has captured my heart and it is definitely a place that i would want to visit again.

Anxiety, uncertainty and excitement. Mixed feelings about flying 13 hours away from home and traveling around a foreign land all by myself.

Pre-departure preparations have been very hectic and there seems to be endless stuff to prepare for and endless things to worry about. Packing has been challenging - thinking of what to bring, what is absolutely necessary and at the same time, worry about what you might forget to bring.

It makes packing harder when you know that you will be away for a long period of time and that you will miss your family, everyone at home and the comfort of just being home. Well, i just hope that i made the right decision to want to travel somewhere so far away and take some time to really get to know myself and who i really am. I do hope that this is money well-spent and time well-spent.

Alright, besides lamenting, i am definitely looking forward to the adventures and potential pit-falls, so i can pick myself up, learn from it and grow to be a better person.

Happie Birthday to myself ")

I'm glad to have known so much nice friends and it has indeed been a special day for me ")

Thanks to one and all and everyone... Thank You!

Well, since i am getting younger le, i've got more to think about and i realise i cannot carry on my ways that has been with me ever since younger...

I should embrace change, and i think i know where to start from. I should learn to be more decisive and think less. I feel that i tend to read too much into issues and think too much about stuff... and i think i am too obessesive towards delayed gratification and storage of old stuff... so i am going to be more xiao sa (cool) and take things much lighter. I should not be too affected by routines and norms, when things don't go in my way, i want to accept it with an open heart and hope it does change my life for the better!

Yeap!... i wanna try to be a better me and i am going to work hard towards it ")

Happie almost 2009...

2008... wad a 2008... it was even faster than any of the other previous years...

A brief look back...

Jan: Sch starts + resolution making... i don't think i accomplished all, but i think i did some") + birthday ")
Feb: Juggled school with ICT... but i survived + chinese new year
March: Juggled school with Arts Camp and Arts Flag organisation
April: preparing for exams
May: Exams + bangkok trip + preparation for Arts Camp and Arts Flag + life changing interview
June: Arts Camp + Arts Camp
July: O-week + Arts Flag
August: Arts Flag + Esplanade + Life changing Decision + school starts in yet another new environment
September: School + messy admin stuff
October: Saturday Submissions + Sunday Take-homes
November: Preparation for exams + getting to know my class so much better
December: awesome holidays + cameron highlands + christmas + new year + preparing for law camp(super minor but it starts here)

Yup... that is 2008... looking forward to a better 2009!!

But i loved ya 2008 and all u guys ")

Its november and the semester is coming to an end...

I'm not sure if it is too fast or i just need more time, so i was really so busy this semester that i didn't realise how time flies... cliche, but true

well, after 3 months in law sch, i'm not regretting my initial decision. Although its tough and its really demanding, but i do learn a lot more and really used my brain quite a bit. It is and still will be a sleep-depriving situation, but i think i'll learn to cope with it and i hope i will have the motivation to stay on and really push my way through.

Luckily, i made really awesome friends in school and i like my class a lot... They are really a cool bunch of peepz... I'm so glad i made the choice, and i got to know a lot more people and tried a lot more new and interesting stuff ")

Hmm... feeling super stressed out these few weeks, especially so when i've gotten back some results which were devastating, like almost ground shattering kind... gosh... i really have to buck up...

Sometimes, as a way of trying to think things through in a motivational way, i would tell myself that all these things arent really that difficult, which really isn't, its just that i'm not putting in enough effort. I mean i just need to put in my effort to really work things out and i am sure i can do it.

So now, i'm rather motivated to work hard and i'll continue to do so until i can hit the target that i'm setting, to pursue a dream and not give up half-way (although many a time i thought of doing so, which i know ITS WRONG and i should never have done that).

well, on the bright side, i had super cheap azabu sabo ice cream in school. 2 scoops for $3.90 when the original price is like $5+... super cheap and i had it for 2 consecutive days... ops...

Hmmm... the financial and monetary movements around the world has been very significantly active and it seems that most of the government around the world are injecting liquidity to either stabilise their banking and credit industry or "reviving" the dying industry.

It looks a global inflationary process is en route to materialising. The 1970 Singapore situation, where a bowl of noodles, costing only a mere 10-20 cents, had inflated to around almost $3 in today's context, triggering the whole process of societal evolution, and the process of adjustments, albeit ongoing, is going for a more drastic jump forward.

Pay hike, pay rise, cost of living rising and things like that aren't just going to happen to Singapore alone. It's going to be a global phenomena. It is where in the next few years, average price of all items will probably go up by 5% to 10%? In a sense that the noodles will no longer cost $3, maybe it'll increase to $3.50 or more, it really is hard to gauge, but that is only within the next 1-2 years time... scary right?

Imagine only a few more years down the road, a bowl of noodles will easily cost $4, and subsequently, $5... Feeling the pinch already?

当你笑着找到你的相信，我会将这三个字，化作你的名字，永远放在心里。

Isn't this just such a classic phrase?

Amidst the financial crisis, amidst everything that had happened, amidst the daily predicaments we face, i should point you people to something, that love is all around us.

我不能用理智回答，所以我问了我的心。他告诉我，不要因为害怕而不敢答应，不要因为不敢而轻言放弃。所以我的答案是。。。我确定！

I really have to blog this down, and i think its something that i have thought hard about and sincerely accord my greatest respect to them - athletes, especially those at the paralympics.

I heard it through the radio today. It was a track event at the paralympics and the runners were all on prostheses. The race began and they sprinted towards the finishing line for honour and glory. During the course of the race, one of the athlete fell and those beside her, having no choice but to finish the race for sportsmenship, accidentally scratched her face with their prostheses. She was bleeding, but still picked herself up. By then, the rest of the runners had already finished their race and all went back to where she picked herself up and cheered her on and ran with her all the way to the finishing point. I was almost brought to tears when i heard this. It just goes to show the immense humanity and love you can feel if you are over at the stadium itself. The profoundness of such is hard to fathom, but i truely and sincerely am touched by them.

If i had a chance, i would really like to train hard and join this fratenity of humanity and sportsmenship, where humans bring out the best in everyway.

Its the start of week 6 and it is still so overwhelming, well i guess then that would only mean that being super busy is an sttribute of the course.

Trying to make the best of what i have and hope that things will work out fine. The only consolation now is the fact that 绿光森林 is showing on TV. That is like my all-time favourite TV show. Even till now, i'm still up and hyped about it, not to mention that i'm still being touched by the show after like erm 3 years of watching it?

This goes to show that something you really like, will be timeless and really stand the test of time and tide.

And so it had :)

I can't believe 4 weeks of school had passed and i'm going to have my first test TODAY!... can u believe it?!?

Well, i've been diagnosed with "over-activity" and i'm advised to lay down a notch. Well, its hard when its an obligation and even harder when it becomes imperative. I've been sieged by a swarm of paper leeches, sapping my life-force away from me...

Somebody save me S.O.S!

To commemorate this day 20.08.2008, ie 20082008, beautiful doesn't it?

Well... to commemorate this day, i'm dedicating this entry to such a beautiful day... should really have posted it at 2008 hrs. It would have made more significance... welll yup... back to work

work work work

Well, i would say that the past week had been very eventful, especially when i've made quite a few really big decisions and worked through a conundrum (well a little exaggerating), but yeah to emphasis the point.

I've decided to pay to release myself from a certain bind, to relish the freedom and pursue the course that i would so much like to embark on. After a golden opportunity (with lots of opportunity costs and of cos dilemma and irritating administrative nitty-grittys that i have to be confronted with), was presented to me, i couldn't help but try and give it a go, even it does mean a lot more work to be done.

I hope this serves to remind me the pains and promises that i made to myself and also to motivate me to persevere on... no matter the obstacle, no matter the hurdle... all the way

At this rate that i am delivering vittles in me, its so much more alarming than probably the rate of global warming. I can't believe that half a huge bar of cadbury, a packet of potato chips and some other little snacks reside within the extensive tracks of my digestive system.

What am i suppose to do? I replenish much more carbo and nutrients - that are going to turn into fats if i weren't going to use it, than i actually exhausted during my run on Sunday. So when will be the next run? I don't realli know given the busy schedule (top on the list of the most convenient excuse)...

Someone! Please push me towards the route of exercising and shedding unwanted droops and excess... or i'll fall prey to the temption of befriending bulimia...

Let me tell you what's HOT in town!

Everyone out there should totally catch this when its still on the big screen... Its very worth the dime AND the time spent. It's so much twist and turns, i bet it'll even surpass the meandering routes up Mount Chi-Chi. Well hold on tight to the edge of your seats, cos this is going to blow you away. For first-timers... never will you be able to fathom the preceding scene and the adrenaline just keeps on pumping. The gadget, the moves, even the costumes and the fantastical Wayne entreprise (a pity that the castle was burnt down in the first movie), prove to be a feast to the eye.

Well, another interesting fact that you should probably notice is the way Christian Bale speaks. His trademark way of speaking without actually revealing his teeth kinda intrigues people whether he actually has teeth, and when he smiles, he has the vampire-ish teeth that is so distinct, no wonder he is Batman (no Pun intended).

Ah yes... The Joker - heath ledger, did strike fear in people with his slithering tongue and his sinister laughter coupled with his excellent act, incorporating such intense psychotic-ness. It is realli a superb role well acted out... too bad he moved on, if not i would be expecting some more from him.

Oh and Rachel Dawes, shed some years off the face and you'll probably fit in better with the whole cast. Bleahx

Hmmm, some randomly random thoughts...

I actually wanted to change the blogskin to kinda bring a fresh new start of something refreshing to empower me with the motivation to include something new on it at least bidaily. But else, the inhibiting indolence in me stumped the path with such a huge rock, that i just lay and rest on it.

So, instead of just continuing resting there, might as well crave something on the rock, at least it is some change. Therefore, i've decided to explore a little of the origins of the blogskin.

Hmmm, well one thing about masquerades, is that it is one hell of a party theme. Amidst the "multicultural" diversity of the local region, we seem to lack a certain "upper east-sider" kind of lifestlye. The splurge, the fashion, the exquisites, the unfathomable luxury. Well, party has a whole new definition here than what we see. Call that americanised, but it does seem much more fun than the existing "fun".

A mask hides a million secrets, and so what's yours? What is that deep dark secret that resides deep within the layer of glamour? what is that unspeakable that awaits its day to surface beyond the dark dwelling?... That is a mystery to uncover. Perhaps the after effects of inebriation would shed some light within this darkness, but isn't there always a price to pay to know the truth? As it always is, the truth hurts... and that is also why we hide behind this masquerade...

Y.O.Y.O
Gossip Guy

It is always true that the higher the hopes the greater the disappointment...

Well, i know i have not been fervently updating the blog but seriously, i do have lots of drafts stuck within the inbox waiting to be polished and uploaded... haha okie...

Well a general figure of things that is to come...
My trip to Bangkok with the Bangkies
ARTS camp as an Ocommer
My Korea trip last year (so super outdated)
My Europe trip 2 years ago ( ULTRA outdated)

and i think i might be going for SEP... as in i am not too sure about the procedure and i am not too sure if they have accepted me. I'm still lingering there. I hope i get certification soon, if not things won't probably be planned nicely.

Okie... now for my first 3 months holiday summary. I think i kinda wasted my 3 months plus being super non-productive, except for reading some stuff and spending seriously lots of money (which i have to try to earn back if i wanna have a nice SEP exp with the additional touring around europe)... Now i have around 1 month left before school starts, which means another sem of working extra harder...

Have been going out quite often for the past few days, tried many different stuff and yeah it was fun-filled, but sinful(both monetary and physically, cos of all the good food), so my resolution is to exercise a lot more!

Well, its another season of mugging and busy planting the seeds, awaiting its harvest. It seems that i do have not much time to realli mug, so i am super determined to stay away from all the unwanted distractions... which necessarily equates to lesser computer, lesser TV and lesser of all the stuff that isn't healthy for mugging.

Oh well, that's my resolution for the month of april through early may.