Sleepless In Singapore

Once again, I find myself unable to go to sleep even though I'm quite tired. What can I say, I'm a freaking owl! Which is not always a good thing.

I have finally sent in my application to NUS after much anguish over the choice of course. This might come as a shocker to many but I have decided to put my first choice as... *drumroll please* nursing! Paediatric nursing actually, cos I love kids :) I'm so happy to have found something I'm interested in at last. Well, maybe not really at last cos I have always, always loved food but when I brought up the idea of going to SHATEC, my mother wasn't too keen on it. Anyway, after that I realised that I liked eating food more than I liked cooking it so that was that.

As the aftermath of my announcement, those of you who have known me long enough will probably be asking "But Dina, whatever happened to marine biology?" Well, I found out that it wasn't exactly what I imagined it to be. (Editor's Note: Why is it whenever I tell people I want to be a marine biologist, they inevitably ask "You gonna work in Underwater World ah?" and they start snickering away. Whoever said I was going to work in Singapore? And btw fish are not the only creatures they work with!)

Ok it's 2.18am and I'm getting sleepy. I must get out of this habit of sleeping late and waking up late. It's totally messing up my body clock.

words of the day: precocious. indulgent. duress.

First Time for Everything

Wednesday's driving lesson:

Driving Milestone #1: I have finally gotten an instructor twice throughout my whole, albeit short, driving history. Okay that sentence sounds weird but I simply can't think of a better way to phrase it.

Driving Milestone #2: I didn't stall the engine! Whoopee! I'm especially proud of this one cos I have been trying in vain to achieve this. I did come very close 2 weeks ago but I stalled about 15 mins to the end of the lesson. What's worse is that, it occurred in the Driving Circuit! But everything's alright with the world now :)

Driving is so much fun.

*****

Rumour's going around that 'NSync are making a comeback, sans Justin Timberlake. I knew it! As soon as BSB came into the spotlight again, I just had a gut feeling that 'NSync would regroup. Battle of the boy guybands, anyone?

I hate 'NSync.

I aspire to write like Jason Mraz.

I just want you to know

Oh wow, I haven't updated in 10 whole days. Isn't that amazing, since I have nothing else to do anyway, besides deciding which course to pursue in uni. Which, I might add, is a HUGE decision so maybe the stagnant state of my blog is totally justified. Don't make me feel guilty about not blogging just because you, yes you, have nothing else to read... I'm rambling, aren't I?

Anyhoo, on Sunday Rochelles and I went to NUS' and SMU's open houses. NTU was just too remote for us to bother about going there. Went to NUS first and it is giganti-normous! Got a lot of brochures and saw an ice-cream making demo. Pretty cool actually, pun intended. We tried to find the Arts and Social Sciences open house but after wandering around and climbing staircases that came from and led to nowhere (really!) we gave up and took a cab to SMU. I was quite disappointed we didn't see the dorms but whatever we've heard so far about living on campus, I like. We reached SMU only to find out, again after many wanderings, that we were in the wrong place and the open house was at the Admin building which wasn't connected to the rest of SMU. So we walked and walked and I whined so much I nearly drove Roch crazy =) But in the end, Roch got what she wanted and I have to say, if SMU had a Science fac, I'll go there in a heartbeat. Had dinner and met Halimah after that to go to the library.

Tuesday: I just started reading the brochures I got from the unis and Arisya called to ask me to follow her to the airport so she could apply at Pacific Coffee for a job. I did and the reward for my effort was that Nuha gave us free drinks! Then I coaxed Arisya into eating at Gelare cos it was Half-Priced Waffles Day! If you didn't know that, shame on you. Halimah joined us and later we headed over to Arisya's house (our second home) to watch ***: Live in Orlando, which is one of my favourite concerts of all time. If you can't guess it, too bad and I don't care anyway.

Wednesday: Drove in the afternoon and I stalled in the middle of 2 lanes! I tried changing lanes cos a taxi stopped kinda abruptly in front of me. Apparently, you can't do that. My instructor hit the brake and I didn't clutch in, hence car stalled. I panicked a little but managed to get the car going again. Thankfully no honking occurred. Later on I was waiting for a traffic light to change and a split second after it changed to green, this massive truck honked! WTH. Firstly I'm a learner driver, you're supposed to be patient with me and secondly, the other cars with the more experienced drivers hadn't even moved yet! Stupid truck. After driving Arisya and I watched Sky High at her house - I told you it was my second home and Arisya says "Yes I agree." Went to meet her mum and Halimah to watch Shaggy Dog after that.

Thursday: I finally got down to reading the information on the NUS website and I was overwhelmed. There are so many courses to choose from and so much information. My brain got tired after reading endless pages of course details so I gave up. Even though I still didn't feel a strong inclination towards a certain course, I learnt that majoring in English or Social Work wouldn't be a bad thing. But why doesn't NUS offer Mythology?! I would love to take that course, whether minor or major.

So that's how I spent Sunday to Thursday with my rest day being Monday.

i wish the Big Guy from above would give me a sign.

A Tale of Two Cities

Well, I got accepted into Memorial U in Newfoundland, Canada. They're one of the universities that kinda specialises in marine biology, which is at the moment what I want to do. Sadly though, there is a veeery slim chance that I'm going cos my parents want me to study in Singapore for a few more years. The only way I'll get to study there is if I can't qualify for Sci Fac here but, to be quite honest, it's only a slight possibility. Then again, who knows? Seems like a lot of people did well this year and my grades won't be enough for entry. Good thing I have my Plan B in place :)

I am so looking forward to getting out of Singapore and living somewhere else for a change. I'm tired of the fierce competition; I'm tired of the rigid structure. I don't want to leave my family and friends though plus I'm not even sure if I want to be a marine biologist anymore. But I need to choose a course soon! Such a dilemma.

Talking about education, I just read an article today about how primary school children are being pressured by their parents and/or teachers to do well in school. A nine-year-old boy even broke down before his exams. For God's sake, he's NINE! The Straits Times published the timetables of the boy mentioned above and an eight-year-old girl. Needless to say, I was quite shocked. The kids are bombarded with enrichment classes or revision almost everyday; they don't seem to have much of a childhood at all. I understand that in this day and age, one needs to be outstanding to be a cut above the rest but I would rather my child not do as well in school and have a great time being a kid than excel academically and break down. It's just not worth it. One of the few times you get to be carefree is during your childhood; why take that away?

I'm glad to say that I enjoyed my own very much, cycling, playing rounders, blind-man's-buff etc etc. Those days were some of the happiest times of my life.

I miss the park people.

Thank you Arisya

As you can see I have a new blogskin! Hurray. And yes now you all know that I like the Backstreet Boys so much I'm actually willing to make them the theme of my blog and risk facing ridicule. But I don't really care what people think, so there.

Anyway I bet Arisya is just waiting to see herself being credited as the creator of the skin so...
Thanks very much my dear Miniature Pone-Head :)
I really appreciate it.

My Day of Reckoning

Managed to get a B B C. B for Bio and Math and C for Chem. A little disappointed for Math cos I was really hoping to get an A. Dammit.

I thought I'd burst into tears when I got my results back (whether good or bad) but quite surprisingly, I didn't. I guess it's cos my results were what I expected. I actually got B4 for GP! I honestly thought I was going to get C6 or somwhere around there. GP just isn't my thing.

Did the rest of you notice the influx of SMS-es, calls and chats? People you haven't spoken to in ages suddenly ask you about your results. I just find it a bit amusing :)

Anyway I'm glad the wait is over. No more black cloud of anxiety hanging over everyone.
I feel much lighter now than I have in a while.

*****

On a totally unrelated note, SAJC band will be playing for the Queen of England! They are so so lucky to be getting this opportunity. How many people can say they've played for the Queen? Less than 10 Singaporeans? I'm really proud of them. The only downside: only 35 players will be needed.

Can we truly experience joy without sorrow?