#007: 2016 in review

On a whole, 2016 may be a rather shitty year to most; Brexit, Trump winning the election, more bombings and flights crashed etc etc.

But to me, it's possibly the best year ever because well, it is this very year where I found love. I found someone who is always happy to listen to all that's going in my head

Who finds me endearing no matter what I do

Who loves me as the imperfect self that I am

and who, I know for sure, will never give up on us, just like how I would always fight for us.

Thank you my love, for always showering me with so much love. You are truly my life's greatest blessing and here's to endless happy days together for the rest of our lives ♥︎
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Besides love, there's other moments worth mentioning:

1. First overseas trip with a friend to Hong Kong, which is extremely rare because a. it's with only one friend and b. overseas??? whoa, sth I wouldn't expect from my usually strict parents but yes, thankful for sure

2. First (co-)choreography - a short Waacking segment for CAC+US performance - with Nic and solo performance for 1 eight :')

3. Joined OSN Vol 4 and auditioned again with Waacking (which is def way better than previous (few) popping auditions)

4. Survived telemarketing internship for the summer

5. First concert ever at Gentle Bones where we even get to stand in front of him!!?!?

6. Dyed my hair purple HEHE (it's the little joys in life guys / always wanted to do this before I enter the working world :>)

7. Took and survived Japanese classes YAS!!! Worst sem ever but I'm thankful to have survived

8. By some crazy luck, managed to secure a part-time internship at KF during the semester / winter break and met really really nice colleagues #thankful

9. Had the opportunity to travel to Myanmar for my case study (FYP) when I almost deprive myself of the chance by considering to drop the REITs module (thankfully I didn't)
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In 2017, I aim to love harder, and show my love to those around me (not just to L but also to my family and friends), to find a direction in life and secure a job asap upon graduation and to be less lazy / step out of my comfort zone more.

#006: overwhelming and thankful

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"Sometimes I like you so much I can’t stand it. It fills up inside me, all the way to the brim, and I feel like I could overflow. I like you so much I don’t know what to do with it. My heart beats so fast when I know I’m going to see you again. And then, when you look at me the way you do, I feel like the luckiest [person] in the world"

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Jenny Han, P.S. I Still Love You

#005: Happiness

I'm a lousy blogger I knowww... Kept saying that I will update on HK but I kept failing to do so oops.

But with internship during the summer holidays and now with the final year of school (read: 3 level 4k mods + 1 language mod (Japanese no less) + accounting mod + 1 day internship weekly), I really do not have the time to update frequently. So here's some updates in two photos since a picture speaks a thousand words???

 

Well there's also another reason for this busy-ness, and that's him hehe thank you for making me so happy always and here's to many, many more months of blissfulness together

#004: Kind Souls

Hi there.

I know I haven't been posting ever since Day 1 of my Hong Kong trip, and I blame it mainly on school (and also my lack of time management and laziness...) but trust me, it'll be up by the end of this month, if you're keeping a lookout for it:)

Anyway, I decided to revive this blog because of what happened this morning.

This morning, I blacked out again. Or almost anyway, I felt myself slipping away. So basically, I was kinda running late for intern work, so I just grab and eat a banana otw to the bus stop. While I was about to reach the bus stop, some 100m away, I realised that the bus is arriving in 1 minute so I sprinted all the way and voila, it just reached #madeit #yas. Probably due to the last minute dash, I felt kind of light-headed and having fainted a few times before, I knew that whatever that I'm feeling right now doesn't bode well. So I called my dad to see if he's nearby but nope. Having felt slightly better, I boarded the bus just as it was about to close the door.

It's the moment after I tapped my card when my mind goes, 'wrong move'.

'Cause the dizziness and light-headedness somehow manifested and oh god, I knew I need to lie down to let the blood flow to my brain #experienced. But the bus is filled with people such that I can't even find a seat so I ask this guy at one of the priority seats to let me have it 'cause I'm feeling unwell. And he went, 'Of course!' So I took a seat and tried to rest and tilting my head, hoping to feel better, but nope, I just kept breaking out in cold sweat. My heart's beating very fast and it's getting more and more suffocating such that I can't really talk a lot (I missed my family's calls 'cause of this, who called because my dad told them I'm feeling unwell). I remembered my head getting more and more light-headed and me losing control of my body. I can't even see much anymore; everything is pitch black, and I can only see outlines of people. The only thing that I still have control over is my mind, which is saying, yiting no, stop, open your eyes, don't go away. Finally, I opened my eyes and picked up my sister's call (actually I can't really see so I didn't know it was her till I answered the call). Then I put her on hold and tried to get this woman (from her silhouette) to help me by saying, 'can you help me, I'm feeling very unwell/dizzy'. I said twice but she ignored me, though to her credit, she may be on her earpieces (I can't see). I asked the same thing to the lady in the middle, who just got there 'cause the bus just reached a stop, so people are alighting and boarding and moving around. She's an Indian lady and she helped to fan me and I felt better almost immediately. My vision is slightly clearer (more lights). The other (Singaporean (cause simply Chinese could mean PRC)) Chinese lady beside her (not the first one), helped me answered my phone (from my mum) and said that she will bring me to Changi General Hospital. The Indian lady had to alight at the Simei MRT stop, so the other lady took over the newspaper and helped to fan me. At the following stop, she asked if I could walk and I said I don't think so, so she and the slightly aged man beside me (uncle or grandpa idk) helped me to the exit. Then she left me at the bus stop while she went over to the hospital to grab a wheelchair for me since I don't have the energy to walk. After the little schoolkid left the bench which I was on, I immediately laid down on the bench (even though I'm wearing a dress lol) 'cause I know that lying down is one of the faster ways to feel better. And yes, my vision cleared in a few minutes. There are a few other concerned passers-by at the bus stop telling me to keep my valuables and keeping an eye on me before the other lady returns with the wheelchair. One of the passer-by, an Indian guy, offered to push me to CGH while the other lady walked with us. That's when I know that she's a nurse at CGH. I told them to push me to the taxi stand/information counter as my dad is driving over in 10 - 15 minutes. But regretfully, I didn't manage to get their names...

Thankful, so thankful for these kind souls otw to work!! They have completely no obligations and could have just left me be and go on with their daily lives but no! So blessed. May these kind souls be rewarded with kindness in their lives, especially the nurse at CGH!!:)

#003: #cytwanders to Hong Kong (Day 1)

Hello!!

So I started off 2016 with a short trip to Hong Kong with Sherie! Some people say Hong Kong isn't any different from Singapore (urbanised city, high density, high costs, Asian countries etc) hence there's no point going but I beg to differ.

In this 4D4N trip, both of us agreed that HK is in some ways less orderly than Singapore. Housing are generally low-rise and are built way back in the 80s (?), with several others undergoing redevelopment. There are of course, shiny, modern buildings towering over its lacklustre counterparts, but really, its a serious case of misfits. Yet somehow, this is what makes up Hong Kong.

I'm gonna be adding some tips for traveling to HK so hope it helps!:)

Day 1

Hello from the plane! Photo taken with a 'fake' GoPro. Sherie got it off Lazada at less than $200 (during their End-Of-Year Sale!!) and it functions as a camera and GoPro at 1080HD + wide lens (as seen from the photo above) Pretty good quality for such a price!

It was a pretty uncomfortable ride though. Ah well, what to expect from a budget airline anyway. We also heard that other non-budget airlines (think SIA, Cathay Pacific) were having promotions to HK (and some other countries) for the period that we went at less than $300 per pax?!?? So

Tip #1: Check all airlines, not just budget ones!! It costs us ~$360 AND a comfortable flight to HK... By comfortable I mean like, drinks (or at least plain water) provided, choosing of seats without the extra surcharge, literally comfortable seats etc etc. I also read somewhere that Skyscanner doesn't take into account ongoing promotions and that's probably another reason as to why we chose Jetstar eventually since it appeared as the most affordable flight on Skyscanner.

Made it to HK after a 3hour plus flight, and oh boyyy the weather!! I. Love. It. It was super cooling (unlike SG's current warm weather omg). Upon reaching, we gotten our SIM cards at A13 counter and tada~ unlimited 3G for the trip! A HongKong friend of Sherie's told us that it wasn't necessary to get 4G hence we bought the 3G SIM card for 7 days at S$11 via Klook. The other packages available are 1 Day unlimited 3G or 5 Days 1.5gb 4G.

Tip #2: So if you're intending to travel to HK and wanted to get a SIM card/not rely on wifi, 3G will be enough!! Us Singaporeans are too pampered with our 4G LOL

Tip #3: Klook is the keyword here. I love Klook omg its a super good website to check out when planning trips to Asian countries!! It usually offers better deals than other websites (just see the price reductions!!) so yeah, just google Klook and you should be able to find the website! But do remember to cross-check with other websites just in case.

Anyway, back to HK.

It took us about 2 hours to get to our hotel from the airport. Our hotel was located a fair distance away from the MTR (their version of MRT in SG) so we spent quite some time finding the right direction. But despite its less-than-convenient location, I feel that it was a pretty decent hotel. We stayed at Best Western Plus Hotel Hong Kong, located between Sai Yung Pun MTR and HKU MTR. For 3 nights, it costs us only ~S$230 in total for a superior twin bedroom, which is really cheap actually! The room is also quite spacious for a hotel room.

Tip #4: We didn't airbnb 'cause we heard that it could be quite expensive (aka equivalent to hotel pricing so why not hotels?) in HK given the skyhigh housing costs plus we only started looking for accommodation in late December (the better airbnb would have been snapped up already) but my friend did (she's a solo traveller) and she stayed in a hostel so its not totally impossible I guess!!

I've been rambling on so much that I think I sucked at this travelogue stuff LOL

Ok back to HK.

The first place we wanted to visit was Sai Wan Swimming Shed (nearest MTR: Kennedy Town). Google Maps told us the fastest way to get there was via bus 54. So two girls who knew negligible Canto, boarded the bus (it was a minibus btw and it was SUPER fast, imagine 7 stops in 8 minutes??? but it was an interesting experience nonetheless) but we don't have any slightest idea on how to alight LOL #recipefordoom

Since we know HK-ers generally do not like PRCs (not being judgmental but its a fact) so we refrained from speaking Chinese by telling the bus driver... 'next stop'. Thinking back, that was a really stupid thing to say HAHAHA but then how do Caucasians communicate with the driver?! 'Cause there were two Caucasians in the minibus but we didn't manage to catch how they got off the minibus. We knew for sure it was in Canto though... LOL

But after a thrilling and somewhat embarrassing ride, we reached Sai Wan Swimming Shed!!!

Beautiful sunset at Sai Wan:)

It was actually quite scary (for me anyway) to walk on the bridge 'cause first and foremost, I can't swim at all LOL and to add on to that... the bridge was pretty slippery from the waves (did you see how big and majestic those waves are) and also the rain earlier on. We didn't manage to get good photos either cause of the direction the sun is facing, hence its either the background or our portraits are sacrificed (the latter as seen above :()

Tip #5: Avoid going Sai Wan Swimming Shed in the evening!! A preferred timing would be morning or early afternoon I suppose

We also met a friendly HK couple there (it was surprisingly deserted that evening, probably due to the rain) who told us how to get down a minibus by saying 'yao luo' (aka 'i want to alight'). But it turned out we don't need to worry 'cause the next minibus we boarded to Kennedy Town MTR has bells for passengers to press in advance. We didn't notice it in the previous minibus so maybeeee not all buses have the bells installed. But anyway, we were so happy we didn't have to speak Canto that we pressed the bell a tad too early LOL. The driver even commented something along the line of 'bell pressed too early' ahahaha.

We went to probably the most expensive place to dine for the whole of the trip - Sun Kee (Nearest MTR: Tsim Sha Tsui)

All 4 walls are covered with stars who patronised the place!!! This is only 1 side of it.

We had grilled pork cheeks cheese noodles + coke (a set for HKD $55). Yeahhh expensive?! But it was still really yummy so here's a thumbs up from me hehe

After that we toured the place and went to HK Cultural Centre to watch the Symphony of Lights.

Tip #6: Honest opinion? It's not worth going to watch the Symphony of Lights if you're on a tight schedule. Other than being a tourist hotspot (think alot of people congregating in a place), its just lights shining here and there (from less than 8 buildings) for about 15 minutes. But the view was amazing and its free of charge too, so if you're in the area then feel free to check it out.

After that we tried to find some cha chan teng to chill but our first stop doesn't look good, the second stop was closed and finally we went to Tsui Wah. It looks pretty atas though and since we're looking for a quick bite so we didn't order much.

Closed :(( Apparently it serves really good milk tea sigh...

At Tsui Wah!! Look at the cute cups hehe.

This was a pretty long post and I am contemplating on whether to proceed with the following three days in great detail or to just sum it up with all the tips in a single post hmm. Since school barely started so I shall see how it goes!!

Till next time:)

#002: Goodbye 2015

Hello!

It's been quite a while since my last post and look, its 2016!! Unlike most people, this NYE i'm staying in at home ahaha loving this super cooling weather in SG.

Pretty excited for January 2016 though hehe, mainly cause of the HK trip with Sherie whee!! Quite a number of friends are flying over to HK these days too so let's see if I will bump into them while in HK heh. It'll be nice to bump into familiar faces while abroad :)

So. 2015.

I'm feeling pretty neutral about this year. It has its hits and misses for me, with the hits revolving mainly dance and not entirely academics. So yeah, guess I'm still pretty lost about my academics/future career. But thankfully, I managed to pull up my CAP slightly after Y3S1 and that made me more determined to work harder in the coming semesters. Thanks to this semester, I got to know and befriended more coursemates and definitely learnt so much more from them, who are all so willing to share. So I guess I'm less lost... and I hope that in the year 2016, I will at least have some idea of what I want to do with my life.

I also hope to be less lazy in terms of dance. Recently I've been thinking about how much more I could have accomplished if I used this winter break practicing rather than simply nua-ing at home. Sigh. Finally found the genre that I'm interested in and I'm just so lazy...

Lastly, I hope to be less socially awkward (wrt the previous post). To be my previous self, the happy, laugh alot, friendly self. Maybe I'm just tired of making all these non-lasting friendships subconsciously... oh well.

May 2016 be a better year than 2015 ever was.

#001: focus

Hello.

So I finally decide to switch back to Blogger due to the repeated unsuccessful attempts at login in my Livejournal account which subsequently caused myself to be temporarily banned from entering for an hour lol.

I had the urge to post somewhere about my thoughts recently. It's getting too much to bear and I wasn't in the mood to (literally) talk about it now. I have been feeling out of sorts in the later half of 2015; I've been feeling increasingly socially awkward. I feel that people don't really want to talk to me, that I am dull, boring, that they have better people to talk to. Like how I'm the option, not the priority. Never the priority. These aren't baseless accusations. If you were me for a day, you would see how people look at me. You would feel how awkward the pauses could get because then I would try (and fail) to fill up the silence.

Maybe I am overthinking all this shit but somehow I can't put a stop to these ramblings and insecurities going on in my mind. It's so hard to be a normal human. Who was the girl before the second half of 2015 came about? How did she communicate with others then? Or was I always this cringeworthy awkward, oblivious person, only to know now?

So tired of all these going on in my mind.