Saturday, February 20, 2010

It's Me, Not You

Alas, my Chinese New Year break is almost at it's finale. It has been a week of pure hedonism - of glorious food, erratic sleep cycle, unsullied books and abundant gatherings. It has truly been a complete layoff from the student life I have been living for the past seven months. Now it is the time for me to pick up the pieces and strive on. For A2 is no laughing matter. Just thinking about the daunting prospects that awaits me for the next two months are enough to give me the goosebumps. *shudders*

Happy striving everyone!

Friday, February 19, 2010

Of Social Contract and Human Relationship

A series of events unfolding have by chance reinforced my belief. A belief that to establish and sustain human relationships is in fact a weary process. One has to go through the seemingly endless cycle of introduction, discovery, exchange, bonding and whatnot. I find myself completely drained out just dealing with my current social circle at times. The melodrama, obligations, and conflicts have too often eclipse the merrier aspects of the social contract. Perhaps it's my ideals in a relationship that leaves me feeling consumed during such eclipses. I am inclined to believe that there is an ineffable relationship out there - which is really quite silly of me.

I am reminded that the contract changes as time passes by. And that though it takes conscious efforts to form the social contract in the first place, it takes an even bigger effort to uphold it. As everyone progress and move into different phases in life, things do change accordingly, and human relationships are definitely one of them. That I am aware off.

I lament the loosening of ties as much as I celebrate the integration of ties into my life. Invariably, something is bound to rise while another falls.

At this point, I am not sure where I am heading off with this post anymore. From what seem to begin as an earnest post is rapidly turning into an emo post. I know not how to conclude this.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Know This

No matter what happen, know this - for every Chinese New Year, certain traditions will always remain a tradition to me.

  • The homebaked confectioneries ala pineapple tarts, blueberry muffins and Cornflakes cookies.
  • The decorations consisting of pineapples, pappercuts and angpaus (which may be glaringly missing especially over the years) and the cookie jars.
  • The packeting of angpaus as well as the last min sprucing up of the house.
  • The huge fuss on the preparation of the reunion dinner.
In actual practice I may not know how long these traditions will be uphold in my household nor can it withstand the changes in circumstances, but as far as I can see, they would all remain as a fond tradition file under the to-do-for-the-Chinese New Year-list.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Why I'm in Love with Thursdays

By far Thursday is still my favourite day of the week. Back when I was schooling in Kedah, unlike the others states, our weekends begins on Friday itself. I would be looking forward to each Thursdays with glee as it would signifies the end of a week's worth of schooling regime. There would be two days of R&R (minus the tuitions) to savour and to sleep in.

As of now, even though my weekends (officially) begins on a Saturday instead of a Friday, I am still looking forward to Thursdays on my calender. On a superficial level, as I do not have any classes on Friday (at the moment), I have the entire day off. Hence, my weekends still starts from Thursday. Amen to that!

But on a broader and deeper spectrum, I would like to believe that the significance of Thursday is not yet lost to me. If I am to probe deep enough, I might just find a plethora of childlike enthusiasm to look forward to on that day. I find the thought of waking up mechanically in the wee hours of the morning to pull myself together to the bathroom and having a meal before beginning the day banal and to a certain extent - horrifying. But if I can wake up to the thought of, "Hey, it's a Thursday!" and jump out of the bed with an eagerness to start the day, I would generally find the day to be very fulfilling and be in a genuinely good mood through out the day.

As such, Thursdays are my weekly dose of endorphins.




Took this picture at the Penang Bowl. Inherently, I decided to mess around with the photo customization.