Holiday mood.

Been sucha long time since I blogged...

School has started for a month now. The holidays has gone by real quick. A busy holiday in fact, but a real fruitful one. Lets go...

A&F
Holidays started off pretty damn cool. Bro hooked me up with an interview with A&F. Gotta be honest, ever since they came to Singapore when I was 16, I have been wanting to work there. I was 18 and finally legal to work there. The interview was nerve wrecking! I was a little late and when I walked in, I was the shortest and smallest size among all the other guys. I was definitely nervous when the questions were asked, especially in a group interview. I stayed confident and tried to hide my nerves. I guess I did pretty alright :-) About 5 days later, I got the call saying I'm offered a job as an Impacter. And there it is... I'm officially an employee of Abercrombie & Fitch. So far, so good.

Taiwan Training Trip
I wasn't supposed to go. Bangkok trip with the bros were in the way. And at the very beginning, I had to choose one. I tried to convince mum and dad that I really wanted to go for both and they eventually allowed but the only way I could go was to pay that huge penalty for changing my BKK flights. AND I am so so so glad I made that decision. The penalty was well worth. When we jetted off for Taiwan, I was actually worried this trip might be really awkward because as a team we didn't get much training time together and we weren't really that bonded. Oh did I forget to mention, we went there as Team NP, with the netball girls and volleyball boys. 7 days over there, I couldn't tell you how much I appreciate every moment of it. Waking up 5.15am every morning for PT, training at 9am approximately, another one at 3pm and a friendly game/ training at night. Our bodies were sore...or at least mine was. And to go through that together with everybody, made me appreciate each and every one of them, who pushed themselves when they couldn't and never gave up. There bound to be complains about the little stuffs here and there but that wasn't the main thing. Managed to catch the volleyball boys game and netball girls games throughout the 7 days and the support we gave for one another even from a different sport really made me appreciate this opportunity I have to be a student-athlete in NP. That's what keeps me going at the very least. Really miss the taiwan trip now while I'm typing this. Just wish everybody is doing well now...

                                 
BKK
4 days after I came back from Taiwan, I jetted off again with the brothers. This time, to Bangkok. At that point, I was still having withdrawal symptoms after coming back from Taiwan. I just didn't felt like flying any more. But as always, hanging out with the bros lightens the dull mood I brought with me to BKK. Shop like crazyyyy. Eat like crazyyyyy. I think the guys really enjoy it! especially zong and chris. Shop their way to empty pockets when it was time to go home haha I think I spent the least among all of them. Just a nice getaway before school went underway again.

Just a real quick post since I hasn't been blogging frequently. On to the next...

I actually smiled.

8.37 am, 13th September 2013, I woke up to the immense drama unfolding on Twitter. "I made it!", "...disappointed.", "I should have done better" are just some of the few tweets I saw out of the many. Without washing up, I flipped up my laptop screen and pressed on the ON button with surprising ease and relaxed mood. It was my 3rd time doing so since I stepped into Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Year 1, with disappointments on results day taught me a lot about myself.

Continuing on...

Google Chrome was my regular internet browsing go-to and NPAL was where I'm headed. The screen appeared without any lag time which I did not expect and what greeted me was 2.3182. I...

Maybe I'm wrong but I will never understand those who allows their grades to affect who they are and those around them. At this point in time, I wish I could tell them with a straight face but knowing how distraught they already are, I tend to keep quiet but I wish they are reading this. Barely making the 2.0 barrier, I found myself comforting others who were doing better than I am, I found myself in absolutely shock that to them it meant a lot and it didn't quite affected me as much. Just to clear things up, I do think my grades sucks and I do understand the different expectations all of us have of ourselves. I just don't understand and find myself still searching for the answers. My thoughts are that whether you make it or a not grades wise, your love ones are still there for you, your true friends are still there for you either way. Nothing has changed so why frown? You just gotta believe you are better than those grades and move on. Probably nobody will understand but I don't understand either.

I... I actually smiled. Yes, I smiled at 2.3182. Mum walks in and we started talking and she said "All pass can already" (in Mandarin). If I can smile it off at 2.3182 and actually look forward to the next semester, I honestly hope everyone that is reading this could laugh it off if you didn't feel your grades were good enough.

"Be content with what you have, remain hopeful for what you want."

Reflection.

Woah its been close to 3 months since I blogged. The 3rd month of 2013 has just flown by just like that. I've titled this "Reflection" because there are just many things going on in my head, where my perspectives of things have changed.

Starting of with basketball. Basketball has been a really great deal in my life since my primary school basketball coach put that ball in my hands when I was just primary 3. 9 years on, I'm already 18 and I'm stuck at a crossroads. To speak of team achievements, I only have one back when I was 10, 3rd in East Zone. To speak of personal achievements, I have none. As of now, its been almost 3months? (i think) since I had a proper basketball training. My whole year 1 of poly is wasted in terms of basketball because of my poor GPA that didn't cut the grade to represent the school for POL-ITE and IVP. I know I was good enough, I gave my all in trainings and always played with a chip on my shoulder. I had something to prove. I know I was better than some of the others that made the cut, and I wanted everybody to know. After exams, I was looking forward to proving people wrong again but we didn't have trainings for the whole holidays. (WTH?) As of now, having not touched a basketball for so long, I can already feel those passions and motivations fading away. Even though, I have had opportunities placed in front of me to play and train, I decided not to pursue them. And trust me, that wouldn't have happened 2 years ago. It left me wondering, "Is this it?", "Is this the end?". I still have no conclusion...

Moving on....its what every kid has to go through. GROWING UP. To start it off, I'm doing really badly in school. Well, I didn't fail any modules this semester but its not any better (GPA, I'm saying) That's what got me wondering. For a long time, I always feel like life will be good, results doesn't matter as long as you have the heart, you will make something of yourself. And as I'm growing up, and with reality hitting me in the face, I start to worry if my past perspectives were right. At this point in time, 1.88 ain't getting me anywhere. Just to say, I'm hoping to attend university overseas, preferably the States, but Australia seems the more realistic plan. For the next two years, I have got to pull it up to at least 2.5 to get me to where I want to go.

All these had got me thinking. I feel like I'm growing up slowly to face this scary reality right in front of me. On a positive note, I'm getting my priorities right. For too long and too much, basketball was the front runner in my life, and I was wrong that life is going to be easy for me. As of now, basketball has taken a back foot and whether I'm returning to basketball when school reopens remains a doubt. I will be really happy if I can finally play this year. If things don't go my way, it may just spell the end of it. And a new chapter in my life will emerge... I hope.

It's a mess.

This 2nd semester of my year1 in poly has been a complete disaster. Thinking back to semester 1, I thought this semester can only get better. But hell noooooo... Everything is just starting to take its toll on me and I don't know how am I gonna finish my year 2 and 3.

The kind of person I am is, I can't do something I have no interest in. And doing BIT has been probably the worse decision I had made in my life. To anyone intending on coming to BIT and ain't an IT savvy kinda person, the only thing I wanna tell you is "Welcome to hell." Sigh I never knew I would come to this. I thought I would make it to VJC as I only need a 15 and didn't planned a back up. Hastily chose BIT and now I'm in real shit.

I knew I was never a very good student in school, and I've never been that since I was in primary school. But I never knew I would come to the point, which is now, where I just don't wanna do anything about what I'm doing. The only reason I'm up early and getting my ass to school is because of attendance. Nowadays, school is more of like, I turn up in school and I just wait for it to be over. I'm not motivated in class whatsoever. I totally understand that people around me is saying things like "come on, just bear with it". I say that to myself all day, but....urghhhh I just don't know how to tell you guys about how I'm feeling.

Results are a messed. I have one module to catch up with my schoolmates with as I failed my POA module last semester and its really shit to have to retake a module I guarantee you. And with this semester coming to an end and exams looming, I would predict I would fail another 3. And if I really do, I would definitely want to leave school, cos I'm so sick of this already and I'm at the edge. I just wanna quit. With all this said, I feel awfully sad for my parents who always gave me the best I ever could have.

Throughout my schooling years, I've never felt bad about myself and my results. I knew I wasn't academically incline but I always felt I was better than many people around me in other aspects.

I'm just very afraid of a disappointed look on my parents again.

Our virgin trip!

Happy New Year! (even though I'm a few days late but heck) Holidays have ended and we are all back to school. Went to HK with the guys during the first week of the holidays, it was the first time we travelled together and I have to say, I cant wait for the next one!

First day, we did'nt really do much as we reached HK @ about 8+ pm. Went out to have our dinner at Dragon Best Restaurant which is really near where we stayed. First taste of HK food and it was pretty good! Didnt do much after that, we went back for our sleep to prepare for the second day!

                       

                           

Second day started with breakfast at some dimsum place that Chris had brought us to which turned out to be really really good, like seriously super good! We were all really full and couldnt finish the food but for 7 of us, the total bill was only 82SGD! Cheappppppp! The Char Siew Bao there probably the best thing I have ever eaten! Gotta try it out guys! After breakfast, we took off for Mongkok! Mongkok was really good! Did some street shopping and its really something you cant get in Singapore! We didnt really get a lot of stuffs from there due to the rain. I got a pair of fake Toms! Along the streets nearby were official retails stores full of sporting goods and everywhere I go was shoes...shoes...shoes! SHOES EVERYWHERE! Didnt really get anything from those retail stores because they were just about the same as the prices over here. Spotted a NBA store that sells all the basketball stuffs, the coolest basketball stores I have ever been to! They have everything over there, jerseys, tees, socks, just really nice! Copped myself a pair of black NBA socks over there. After shopping, we went off for our dinner! Dinner @ some place that sells claypot rice and I have to say, that was the best claypot rice I had ever eaten in my life and I'm pretty sure some of the guys would agree with me! Headed by to our apartment and we played cards through the night.

Third day started really late. We were all tired from the day before and when we woke up, it was almost lunch so we started the day off with BRUNCH! Went to the place Charles had recommended us called Tai Hing! We had all kinds of meat there and even though it was slightly on the expensive side, the food was really good, you will never be able to find char siew like that in Singapore anywhere. Its a MUST TRY guys!

One thing that we had to do in HK, was to look for Hollister! And we did. We went crazy shopping in Hollister and spent about 2 hours in the store just shopping for clothes! And the Hollister models were....OMGGGGGGG PRETTAYYYYYYYYYYY.... I honestly haven seen Asians so pretty in my life ever and their English were spoken perfectly! Especially the ones at the counter and the fitting room. The one at the fitting room was really cute! I was trying on clothes and half way through, she suddenly opened the door of my fitting room as she thought it was not occupied, she said sorry in a really cute way! WHO CARES IF SHE OPENED THAT DOOR, SHE CAN DO IT ANYTIME! hahaha I sound obsessed dont I? haha! All of us came out with more than one item from Hollister. So, MUST GO! Proceeded on to Abercrombie & Fitch afterwards but it was pretty much a disappointment, the store was really big and nice but none of us bought anything from there as it was really expensive. (Probably because we spent too much @ Hollister) Spending too much at the Hollister store, we decided to head back to the apartment and have cup noodles for dinner!

Fourth day was all in Ocean Park! Had a quick breakfast @ Cafe De Coral near our apartment before heading off. First ride of the day was Hair Raiser! And it was really good! Really liked that roller coaster except for the fact that we had to queue for really long (1 hour + maybe?) There were full of kids our age in Ocean Park that day and I think they skip school luh! Cheaterssssss. Second ride was The Flash. I swear, Idk how I get the balls to go up that ride. Its like a 360 degrees turning thingy. When the seat belt and safety thingy was like secured, my mind was like "Where is my mama? ):" But overall, the ride was really good but I just swear I couldnt go a second time, Ruizong was with me on that while the other guys went for a second time afterwards. Watched the dolphin show for a while until some cheena porks pissed us off because they keep pushing and we took the hair raiser for two more times I think, and another roller coaster called The Dragon, which wasnt fun.Ocean Park was good except for the fact that it closes @ 7pm which was really early! After dinner that day, we were all kinda broke but thanks to my uncle! He borrowed us another 1000SGD so we could survive the trip.

Fifth day was spent all @ Citygate Outlets. Bought some tees from there, Yihui and John got their soccer boots. All of us got something. Pretty much nothing that day other than shopping! We had mini steamboat for the night and that rounded off our last official full day over there. Went back to the apartment and we were reluctantly packing to head home.

                               

Last day over there, we were all scrambling to get to the airport because we were late and this was the first time I got on the plane last! We were on last call and we were all running like crazy with our bags and everything! Luckily we got on the airplane on time and off we go.

We are back home now and back to reality. All of us have returned back to our normal lives of school and everything. But all I know is, this is our first but will definitely not be our last trip together. I will be looking forward to the next one. Peace out!

I miss the holidays so bad

School is into its 5th week already. Damnnnn it seems like it was just a few days back that I returned to school. Time really flies. This semester has been really hard for me. Lesser and lesser motivation just to turn up for school as each day goes by :/ I have no idea what has got into me this semester, I should be more motivated to do better, especially when my GPA is...ok its shit to be direct. I need to find myself again and hopefully before Common Tests starts, if not I'm gonna be really screwed for CTs.
Really miss working during the holidays. The work wasn't necessarily the most fun one but it was the people I worked with that made it such an enjoyable experience. Rozai, Zuhairi, Hakim, Nas, Suhaila, ZiHui just to name a few. They are really nice people and I could really relate to them from time to time. Laughter definitely wasn't lacking during work and we really bonded well together. Hopefully I will get the chance to work with them again in the future (:
Milo Cup has started recently! And its been a real excitement for me because I finally have the chance to represent a team for the Milo Cup. Finallyyyyyyy at the age of 17. HAHA I'm old. I'm playing for Tong Whye this year. Took down our first opponent, Pei Hwa (Green) 96-28 and we will be playing against our strongest opponent for the group stage, Siglap next wednesday @ Kampong Ubi CC. Come on down to watch the matches if you are free people! Really a nice competitive atmosphere out there on the courts. Lastly, GO TEAM TONG WHYE! Hopefully we make it pass the group stages this year. Take it one step at a time.
Imma end it off here, long time since I blogged. Till next time.

POLYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!

OKAYYY, where do I start? Yes, I'm finally a polykid! After such a long long holiday, everything was just starting to get really boring and I wanted to go back to school so so bad. Well, half a semester has passed and er...how should I put it??? Hmm...Poly is'nt really what I expected it to be, I guess. First day into school, I was really nervous as I didnt really know anyone in my course except for Rebecca. Luckily, I had her to sit with during those first few lectures and all, if not I would have become a real loner. OH, she is a really nice and friendly person. The first person in my course that I got to know and..thats a pretty good start to school. First tutorial lesson was ITB. Little did I know then that it sucks so bad but on the first day I had no freaking clue. Waiting outside the classroom for the lesson to start and I didnt know anyone! Then came Techin Phwi...(whatever it is) aka Fat Thai (every story has a fat guy HAHAHA) I needed to go to the toilet pretty urgently so I took the initiative and asked if he could take care of my stuffs. THERE YOU GO! my first friend in class! FAST FORWARD.I started to get to know people in my class better. Like, Matthew, Shengyi, Junrong and a few more. Those guys are full of bullshit (in a good way!) and it was all starting to get more fun as we did our projects. Side track a little, before I came to poly, I was told to pick my group mates for projects properly or things like pick my friends properly. Linking to that, I dont see how anyone I know right now that are "backstabbers" or a bad friend. They are all pretty much nice people. I got into the basketball CCA, which to me was a surprise! Then came another bigger surprise, I was one of only 8? year1s that got selected to train with the first team. That was a huge morale booster as I was starting to doubt myself as a basketball player. Then came quickly was the Common Test, in the midst of all the trying to adapt to poly life, late training hours and long travelling journeys to school, it all started to take its toll on me. Not trying to push the blame of my bad results to all those factors (YES, i will fail like crazy, i know.) I should have studied earlier and harder. Well, its not the end of the semester, and I have to buck up real soon! Here are some pictures of my early poly life !

TT21/TT23!

YUP, my havaianas just snapped in school ):

BIT CAMP!

Our first Bcomm lesson!

Queuing up for the NP shirt (we gave up haflway HAHAHA!)

Orientation group outing!

Awkward...HAHAHA!

Tracing back my roots.

I have been to Europe, America, Australia and many other countries in my life, but not one of those trips have affected me so much in a way I could not describe. Who would have thought huh? Its Indonesia! Many of you people would'nt even know of this place. You can't find it on a map, and when you google it, the result turns out to be in Japan. Moro Island. The place where my family really started. Yup, not Singapore, its Indonesia. Just for you guys to know, I'm truly Singaporean but after this trip, I hoped my family were still there. I was curious and tagged along with my dad to pray to our ancestors. Having got there, I felt a certain pain in my chest. The place was just totally not developed. No fancy houses, no roads, no cars, hardly any road lights and no tall buildings at all. The only thing that was tall were the trees. We took a motorcycle to the graveyards and the guy driving me was my age. MY AGE AND DRIVING A MOTORCYCLE LIKE A BOSS. After we prayed, we just hang out at the boardwalks outside of my grandma's best friend house, which was facing the sea. It was so beautiful. I felt free for once. A feeling that I had never felt in Singapore. Life there had no pressure. That was when I really start to envy the kids there, that was their life. And then the opposite side of it. Those kids had absolutely no future, they will never experience the life outside of that small kampong. The feeling I had ever since I came home was undescribable. To the point where I don't know how to continue blogging this. Long story short, this trip changed my whole opinion on life.