Travelling right
Thursday, June 25, 20156:52 PM
After this happening twice, all I can say is, travelling with the right people is really important.
There are so many types of people you can travel with, and at the end of the day, it's easier to travel with people you know very well because it will be easier to sort out your differences and the likelihood is that you will have the same mindset and thinking anyway. Also, it's definitely easier to travel in a smaller group because you have fewer opinions to consider.
Twice, in different groups and there have been some people who just kick back and rest on their laurels while the other people have to look up everything, from flights to accommodation to transport. And they don't even bother replying to messages. It is a group trip, why do some people have to do more than the others. Twice, I've had to compare plane tickets one by one, as if it's so hard to just load the airline website and have a look yourself. It isn't my sole purpose in life to make yours easier. Especially if you're more than a full year older than me.
There are also these people who have insane budgets or rather..not much sense of a budget. Or, they are just loaded. But then again, it comes to what the expectations of the holiday are, to relax in comfort or to go explore. At the end of the day, are you budgeting or are you splurging is the main issue at hand. When you can't determine this in a group and you cannot define your priorities for a group holiday, then you're most likely travelling with the wrong people. Of course it doesn't mean that you should avoid traveling with the same group of people ever again, it just means that you should learn to avoid the few who cause a multitude of problems and don't bother finding solutions for them. But I think the worst group are the people who are uncontactable before you travel. Like hello? Are you not coming as well? Just because it's a group trip doesn't mean 1 person ends up doing everything. The fact that it's a group trip means everyone should pitch in and help do some constructive contribution.
I was initially excited to be travelling again, but now with different views on transport, budget and even itinerary, the mood has definitely been dampened. After all, I'm the stingy one and I'm not willing to blow more than $1000 on a 4 day holiday to gold coast. I don't earn that kind of money and I definitely don't have the heart to blast such a large amount for such an extravagance. One day maybe, but not now. At this rate, I'm pretty sure it will hit close to $1000 each.
Sigh..alright enough of my ranting rawrrrr.
Wednesday, June 24, 20158:14 PM
Done with exams and finally enjoying a bit of a break.
Thank God I managed to somewhat finish studying for the last heck of a paper, and hopefully the results won't be too..horrific. This semester was so content loaded and it felt even more so because 12 weeks was squeezed into effectively, 6 teaching weeks plus a ton of recorded lectures -.- This semester has been the worst yet I think, despite only having 3 subjects. Never have I ever woken up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep before an exam, and it happened every single night before each exam this time. It's not like I didn't start preparing early, but then because it was just so much I think my brain just froze. Especially for the last paper, I only had 1 day to finish revising everything and nothing was going into my head because I was already panicking that I wouldn't finish. I have panicked before exams and even broken down but for this last paper..it was unbearable because nothing was going in and there was no time to cry. Managed to get in 3 hours of good sleep that night and got studying from 4am the morning of the paper and managed to finish with a calm heart and mind thanks to His grace. I really never thought I would finish, but all things are possible through Him. And...that's how I finished exams.
On another note, I'll be heading to surfer's paradise next week for a short spontaneous trip with some uni friends because this will probably be our last chance to travel together. It had been so stressful and there were so many wth moments because..let's just say I'm more stingy and have a tighter budget than what people are willing to spend on a short 4 day holiday. But it's al good now because the flights and accommodation have been settled, we just need to check transport and organise an itinerary so we don't end up wasting a lot of time. Can't wait to go away again!! Looking forward to the warmer weather further up too. It will be good..it will be.
Wednesday, June 17, 201510:21 AM
Should really be studying since my exam is in about 4 hours time but..have to get rid of all the anxiety and pent up frustration out somewhere before I get back into the FOCUS MUST STUDY mode.
There are these some topics..that even if you study, you still can't get the right answer in tests/exams-.- And yet, I still can't let go of that few marks because I don't know how hard the rest of the paper will be. Ok, so far it's pretty predictable since 3 past year papers have had similar answer-able questions. But some are just asdfghj literally. Even though they're mcq. I feel like my brain is so loaded with information, yet it's empty. I don't feel prepared in the least even though it has been 4 quite dedicated days of studying. Sigh..hopefully today's paper will be manageable. The worst thing is, because the paper is so..predictable in terms of the questions asked, the whole cohort is bound to do very well and they'll surely have to scale it somehow right? Surely they won't have an entire cohort of HD's. Which means in order to do well, I have to do better than the average..meaning I actually have to know the content super well....which doesn't help when my brain is a dead sponge now. Maybe I should just go have something to eat first and maybe my mental works will shift back into gear.
CIAO.
Tuesday, June 9, 20154:36 PM
Ok quick one since my brain has gone ka-pow, taking my memory and concentration with it.
First paper tomorrow..don't feel prepared at all but yet I'm not even panicking..even though I admit I woke up at 6 initially this morning because I was feeling a bit anxious..
I think it's come to the point where..whatever man. I've written and sunmarised my notes, have to get into the memorising when I'm done with this blog post. Hopefully tomorrow will be fine and I will not want to shrink and hide in a well when I'm done. I really have no idea why I'm so calm this time round and totally not caring that I haven't memorised stuff yet and I have half a day left to study. Concentration, focus and memory are seriously at an all time low it's worrying..
But then again, I think this happens every exam time, just to varying degrees. The next 10 days are 10 days downhill, I have so much to study for the next 2 after tomorrow's paper, it's no break until 19 June 5.40pm. I didn't even bother doing past papers this time round..just skimmed through and source out what I can answer and what I can't. Last year's MCQ was so hard D:
This was a very full on semester and it's crazy how much content they pumped into us. The one for tomorrow is alright, the other 2 are..mindblowing. The lecture notes themselves are super thick and considering those are printed super tiny..more toxic brain food. Assessments are meant for you to receive feedback. OHO they sure are -.-
Alright, enough ranting about the lack of concentration and motivation. FOCUS!!
Talk again folks.
51..61..852
Tuesday, June 2, 201510:48 PM
As a reward to myself for sitting through hour after hour of recorded lectures today, I finally decided to sit down and pen my bus down memory lane entry that I said I would do.
Had a think about it and turns out it wasn't just one bus..but anyway, it was quite a nostalgic trip for me even though it wasn't such a long ride. It took me through all the places where I spent the most time, where I had fun, where I was hurt, where I experienced many of the memories I have today.
So on that day, caught bus 51 from my cousin's house to queensway for some errands and passed by the old Malan Rd campus. The place hasn't changed much since the last time I saw it. There used to be a dinosaur thing and a well that was on the grass patch before the campus and after the frangipani eating place but those are now gone. There's nothing impressive about the building itself but yet it holds a lot of my memories, even more than my primary school. It holds my memories of being in rv for the short time that I was there, happy or sad. Even though my container classroom in 2009 has long been removed, the place still means something to me. Maybe not to tears sort of touched feeling but, memories that I smile at. A lot happened while I was in that campus. Unlike other people in my batch, I don't have any memories at all of the current campus because I never got to spend any time there. The campus I spent my time at was the old SAJC campus, with stories of the haunted LT5 toilet, haunted tunnel next to the performing arts block, container classrooms, minotaur and cross-country, band, weird music playing from the forest-y looking area and many more. Well, in short, going to the toilet in that campus became sort of a scary business and we should all never go to the toilet alone. I kid. It was the school my mother wanted me to get into. I even tried DSA and failed (piano does not directly translate to percussion people). But eventually I did get in at the bottom of the cohort. Ok, maybe not scraping the bottom but almost there. Initially I said I didn't want to get into band after failing DSA, but then again, comparing UG, I ended up in band. Irony was, I didn't want to do drills and go for camps, but who knew..bandsmen have pretty strict rules too and pt/drills were part and parcel. Heck, we were good at what we did. And so, I was destined to keblakan and japar jalan my way through. Academically, I was never very good, I think part of it was attributed to me not paying as much attention as I should be in class. And also, because I didn't have the motivation, nor did I know how to actually study. But enough about academics. Despite this adversity, I met friends whom I am still able to contact to this day. Band was also a big part of my rv life and with it came joys and despair. I still remember the time I played unexpectedly well in enchanted carousel and when the enchanted solo was suddenly passed to me to play while in the middle of the piece. I also remember the first public performance at VCH in 2008. And there was also syf, and the time when my mother didn't allow me to play for a concert in istana because I didn't do well for my exams. I met seniors, was a senior to the juniors and genuinely enjoyed my time despite the late practices and crazy early practices just before syf. I met people who mean the world to me, even today and I can't be more thankful for those 3 years. To me, that is not just an empty building. Yes, it is just a campus that we used for a few years, but it is the place where I forged friendships and imprinted memories, where I laughed and where I cried, where I froze(band room and container classrooms were COLD) and where I melted.
Next few places I passed by, were my primary school campuses. I was the fortunate batch to have 2 years in each campus, 1 of them was torn down to build the current one. So, in saying that, passed by 2 of the campuses, 1 of which was also an old school campus and had rumours of haunted toilets too...I would like to say primary school was an awesome time. Well it was alright because I quite liked my teachers but it got to a point where I had no friends in school because of a bitchy turn of events that I shall not delve into here. Primary school was nothing much actually...I don't remember much of the first 2 years in the campus that was torn down. I do remember one assembly and having to memorise the memory verse - If a man does not work, he must not eat. And I had a classmate who collected colourful eraser dust....and another who cried every single day in class, and another who went to the toilet every 10 minutes....Interesting classmates I had. Ohyes, we had the buddy system too and I ate macaroni every single day(60cents!) for a good part of the time because I didn't know how to say that I wanted to eat something else....The second campus I spent time at had a much larger field and a larger space in general. I remember..the haunted toilets, and forgetting to do my homework and getting told off..and the science experiment where you place a bunch of white flowers into a coloured solution. Yea nothing much. The last campus, actually doesn't hold fantastic memories. It was where the bitchy events kicked in but other than that, it was mainly climbing tons of stairs, being happy I didn't have to share lockers/classrooms with the afternoon session, staring at the koi fish pond and spending all my recess times in the bookshop buying...useless things I got scolded for. Oh and of course PSLE.
There was also that 7/11 I always stopped by both in primary and secondary school and then off it was to west mall where I did spend a lot of time at too. I used to go to the library, eat chicken rice at the food court, go to the arcade, buy accessories, buy bubble tea(my first bubble tea was from there), buy birthday gifts, go to popular..and the list never ends. Spent a while waiting for 852, which I also used to do, back in the day. Took me back to where I used to live and the places I used to go.
That day felt like I was retracing my life that now sometimes feels like a faraway dream and it sort of hit me how much I miss those days. Traces of me and flashbacks left in those certain areas of the country for me to recollect and put away in the locket of my heart. Just 1 week and 3 days after leaving, I'm starting to miss it and the people already. But for now, it's time to keblakan and japar jalan back into my books...
