Just wondering what became of the person i used to call my best friend. 

What makes a person change in such a short time? Or was it that it was already like this and i was naive to have though otherwise?

Anw, i'm glad i didn't plunge into anything that would have made me feel regretful, or hurt. Not saying that i would if i had, but really, i prefer to keep the memories of our times tgt as just that. What one might call childhood or maybe more appropriately, youthful innocence. But over the last few months this innocence seemed to have evaporated away. Nowadays, i feel like i'm hanging around this stranger, trying my best to see things in his perspective, trying my best to accept him and his ways. 

Trading true friends for flings and his dignity for a little high and booze. Really? Is that what he wants?

Part II: Proud to be

Wow, i just had to print screen this when i saw it on fb. Thank you Mr. Tan for pointing out (no offence to Mr. Nah/ Mr. Chan).

I'm not sure if it's the same people who did this poster (for goodness knows what event) and the road run "brochure", but similar glitches for 2 major events is just too much no?

Proud to be

Njc ah njc... 

You inform and invite your alumni only 3 days before an event through an email. 3 days... who's gonna have time to take leave/ adjust their schedules to make time for the event? 

Then you send a detailed email telling us what the programme is about, what you are commemorating, the venue, the various starting times of the runs and even who the guest-of-honour is. But you didn't mention the date of the event at all. "Road Run 2013". Yes i know it's happening this year, but exact date please?! You even requested us to rsvp by 20 Feb. But no date of event. Good job. The only saving grace was the pdf copy of the "brochure" that you attached. Which, thankfully, did have the actual date stated on it. 

And by the way, i don't think that is called a brochure.

confession time!

Wow didnt know zhu laoshi is such a hearthrob amongst the recent batches of cgs girls. So many posts about him on cgs confessions.

To all his fans out there, i received a liuqian disc from him as a gift all the way from china just cos he knows i like LQ ^^

HAHA talk about cheap thrill. But yeah, those who got him should be happy. He was (is?) a good, motivational teacher. 

Missing crescent!(L)

On a side note, i think i may have an idea who posted the confession about mr tan tze yong. I think that infatuation still lasts today, at least that's what i gathered from the last time i talked to this person. Not so anonymous afterall eh, confessions page. 

What happened to the place called "home"?

6.9million seriously?! So we're studying so hard, working our ass off and burning midnight oil now just so that we can squeeze and suffocate more in the future?

Suffocation

As it is, trying to get on a bus in school during peak hour is already a great difficulty. Most of the time, we have to wait for 2 to 3 A2 buses to pass before being able to board one. And even then, the bus is packed to the brim. Packed like sardines. A phrase that we used to use so freely in our primary school essays (90's kids will understand) but something we live through everyday now. 

Having worked the common office hours myself last year, i understand the pains of those who travel by public transport to work during peak hours. We have come to the point where the frequency of the trains are already at their maximum (or at least close to that - waiting time of at most 3mins during peak hours). But the trains are still as packed. This is clearly not an issue about the inefficiency of the train services (maybe the technical faults, yes, but not the inability to accommodate the human flow). We have even gone so far as to station staff on the MRT platforms to direct the human traffic. But really, is that the root of the problem? That we commuters lack the basic courtesy and common sense to move in to the cabins and make a little space for others? Or could it be simply that there are just too many people? More than what our infrastructures can accommodate?

A stranger in my homeland

Taking the internal shuttle buses in school, i look around and wonder if i'm even in Singapore sometimes. I just need to listen to the conversations around me to know that i'm surrounded by non-locals. Not that i've anything against them. It's just that the numbers are so overwhelming. It feels almost as if Singaporeans form the minority in Singapore. Of course, statistics confirm that Singaporeans still constitute the greater part of the population but we should not be taking the absolute values.

Money matters

Indeed, our total fertility rate is too low for our own good. We need to employ the help (manpower) of non-locals to support the economy especially as our population ages. But in the first place, why are Singaporeans so unwilling to have children? Aside from the rocket high prices of flats and the inflation of prices of most commodity today, could there be other factors holding couples back from having children? Say, lifestyle. Having a child/ children is a big financial burden on the family's finances, like it or not. And definitely a greater burden than in the 1990s. Think about the mandatory tuition fees parents have to fork out for at least 10 years of their child's education journey. Mandatory because tuition is no longer for enrichment or for 'slower' students to catch up with their school work. Mandatory because every other child they know attends tuition classes and no parents want their child to be academically disadvantaged. This would mean additional costs to the household (and by no means are tuition fees cheap). Consequently, couples might decide that it is safer for both parties to take on full-time jobs, given the uncertainty of employment and the financial needs of the family. Then comes the problem of who to take care of the child. Hire a maid? Money issues. One party to stay home and do the job? Money issues again.

A rat race

Everything here is a race. Competing to get into branded schools, competing to get good grades (or rather, competing to stay afloat and not get trampled on by others in the bell curve), competing to get on the trains and buses, competing for job positions, competing for a flat... Our standard of living may be one of the highest. But quality of life? A nation of unhappy, stressed out citizens (and a good portion of non-local residents).

Our future

We are keen to project growths, developments, achievements... Higher productivity. Larger population. Better infrastructures. Greater innovations. But is anyone going to project a pathetic country state for the future? How about "More Soul-less Citizens by 2030"?  Maybe it is time to pause and think if trading our happiness, our freedom and that little bit of space we have left for all that glitz and glamour is worth it.

 

Lack of endorphins

I need to exerciseeee. Zy plays tennis/ squash trice a week. Zx runs everyday. Hy runs every other day. I am just eating and sleeping -.- THIS IS SO BAD. 

Played frisbee a few days ago with og peeps and as much as i hate to admit, my fitness level was CUIIII. I hate being unhealthy. I will exercise hmph.

billionaire playboy philanthropist (engineer!)

We have our own local Tony Stark right at nus! Haha! Okay minus billionaire, playboy and philanthropist (i dont know about those) but this phys lecturer who majored in engineering certainly looks like the asian version of tony stark and has that swag.

Haha ok all these less important things aside, we all agreed he's probably the best lecturer most of us have had so far in terms of delivering the content. Clarity? Good. Pace? Good (at least for now). Just that he doesn't end lectures on time too hmm. Not that it matters a lot to me (other than the fact that it's annoying cos it means they're covering more content which means i've to revise more content that day), but i pity those who needa travel to other lecture/ tutorial venues. Lecturers should be more considerate in this way in my opinion.

/Sidetrack/ Sakae at edusports is a disappointment. No conveyor belts with sushi, expensive food, inefficient staff. 

K back to studies. 
EG lab manual is 13 pages long kill me now. CS is fun only when u can compile a programme successfully lol. Heard we gonna programme a sudoku game later on (wow and sigh at the same time). Math got lab this sem... interesting.

17 weeks to go!