And another...

...year has passed.

It is customary for most people, I believe, to look back on all that we've gone through and make some philosophical conclusions on how we could have done things better.

So before I start thinking about the New Year gathering I'm going to later (one of the millions going on in the world I suppose)...I shall pause and reflect. Hmmm.

I'm beginning to wonder if I generally fare better during the years which are even numbers. Or mebbe I just happen to hold more fond memories of '04 and '06, and am psycho-ing myself to believe that 2008 will be also similarly full of happy stuff.

That being said, 2007 hasn't been very enjoyable. Mainly coz of work. Of teenagers towards whom I feel a huge generation gap. Of lack of sleep. Of forgetting endless things, big and small. Of life centred on school and nothing much else.

But I also made good friends among my colleagues, and I guess that helped to neutralise some of my gloom and doom outlook.

alrites enough of the reminiscing. Looking forward now...

In the new year, I'm going to...(in the spirit of resolutions I shall avoid the use of the word "try")
- continue learning piano
- learn driving
- manage my time in school better
- stop taking the school bus (still not sure)
- take a firmer stance towards students
- be more organised
- adopt a more disciplined prayer life
- smile more (?)
- reply to SMSes and emails
- be more understanding towards my mom
- be more open towards relationships. There I've said it. It's not easy to maintain my usual indifference towards relationships when just about everybody around me is getting married/planning to get married/already married. It gets me thinking bout the "why" of going into a relationship with someone, what could I possibly be missing out on...and it doesn't help that just about everybody who's in a relationship has quizzed me about why I'm not. Well, I'm not sure why things turned out this way but maybe I'm just more enamoured of a solitary life than most people. Well, whatever...

Teeth...

Tis a significant day for moi as my upper set of braces got removed today, after two whole years of wearing them. The first time I looked in the mirror, I realised that I had forgotten how large my front teeth are. But it's nice to be able to close my mouth properly, the first time in my life. The dentist even gave me the mould of my original ugly, crooked, pre-braces pearlies..."for display on my mantelpiece", he says. Hurhur. But it's really some scary skeletal sculpture.

Anyway...I'm glad to be able to appreciate this holiday season for what it should be. Relaxing and most importantly...cool weather. Mmmm...

Was a little bored so googled my name and to my pleasant surprise found a pdf file that was the report that I wrote for my UROPS (undergraduate research opportunities programme in Science)...was part of this long long list of reports as part of a NTU site. Had done it four or five years ago..so...odd that a scientific report can be nostalgic but yea...I'm keeping this one as a memento of my initial research aspirations. Somehow that din work out.

It's less than a month to start of school. Yikes!! Why am I thinking of this...

Back from Vietnam

Yep...back after 5 days in Vietnam...and one of the first things I did upon reaching home was to record the entire journey in the form of a trip plan (which is supposed to be a plan b4 a trip, but whatever...)...and it's at Yahoo.

Slowly easing myself back into work mode....gaaaaah.