Back from 13 chalet :D

From the bbq-ing and ridiculously starting the fire and playing with it, to staying up all night(or day for that matter) to play Wii, this year's chalet was pretty awesome. Not to mention, almost everyone, v13 people and teachers turned up  :D

I'd say the highlight was the celebrations though. Of the birthdays, and the performance we put up for Mr Koh who's leaving soon. Other than that, it was nice to see the usual madness and antics of everyone again haha.

It's true what Mr Koh says, along with the rest of our teachers. Our class is rather special, different from any other class. We're more than just classmates, we're more of some kind of weird second family haha. I'm just grateful to have such a great class. Hopefully we'll stay like this as the years go by :)

Anyway, back to reality now sigggh. OCIP prep is getting insane, along with the games booth for community affair. Not to mention the cleaning programme I'm in charge of. And finishing all the HBL lessons.

Just gonna take a quick nap, since I haven't exactly slept much for the past 30 hours-ish haha. Then it's down to work. BRING IT ON.

Final edits :D

There we go, font's all okay now. Guess this round of edits turned out pretty well, time to start brainstorming for another character to use for my next one :)

To always be better than you were the day before

Feeling quite accomplished.. using two raw images,

One of them this:

And another one of my sketches:

I made this in 3 hours total :D

Not bad I'll say, considering I haven't been doing editing for a pretty long time. This gives me inspiration for some more works hehe. I foresee days filled with drawing and editing on Photoshop :)

Doesn't look like there's much hope for humanity.

Haven't posted in quite a while again, it's been quite a busy period, with PW and all.. Seems like an endless marathon till the end of A levels next year, sigh.

It's annoying how people can be so selfish, or stupid, or lazy, the list goes on. Trying to be nice to people all the time in spite of that really doesn't seem like it's worth it anymore. Selfishness begets selfishness, I guess.

It's quite sad to see how there are so many people out there, who only have their own interests in mind. But I guess there are exceptions to everything, and I'm glad I've had 10v13 classmates who were nothing like that (mostly anyway, haha).

Looking forward to class chalet during e-learning, especially since so many people can make it this year :)

Sometimes, it's best to fight fire with fire.

Been quite busy the past month

Haven't posted in the past month, because there were really too many things going on. Nothing that eventful happened anyway. Mostly.

It's a drag to have to study for promos. I kinda know all my stuff already... but whether I'll do well depends on the day itself. Just want to get it over with as soon as possible.

I know there'll be PW after promos, but I guess I'll still have plenty of time to relax and all. It's been so long, that I've actually kinda forgotten what I want to do after promos :/

Strength of mind, that's all that's needed. Easier said than done though.

Ao no Exorcist was simply amazing :')

The plot, the characters, the soundtrack... Those 25 episodes were just amazing. It can really bring out all your emotions, it's amazing how it can make you so attached to the characters over only 25 episodes. I swear, if this continues with more seasons, it'll replace One Piece as my top anime. Words just can't describe how awesome AnE is. I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't watched it yet, definitely worth 8 hours plus of your time :D

Battle's over, time for a short break before the war

Guess I did okay for all my papers, except chem. Well, lesson learnt on time management I guess.

Anyway, LET THE ANIME MARATHON BEGINNNN. I know I've got plenty of other stuff to do, but I think I'll prioritize slacking this time. Gotta live life while you can I guess.

Oh yea I feel alive again... don't even feel sleepy from the lack of sleep the past few days :D

Less than a week till my AnE marathon :D

Can't wait for MYEs to be over... the more reviews I read about Ao no Exorcist, the more I'm sure it'll be a great watch :D So many other animes, so little time. Ah well, guess there's always the Dec hols :)

Lunch with 13 today~

Had lunch with (half of)10v13 today, including Jamie who returned to Singapore for a while. Somehow, even though we don't meet up that often, it's nice to know that some things never change, like our usual conversation topics haha. Was really good to meet all of them together again after so long... Looking forward to the next class outing, whenever that is :D

Back from volunteering at another event :D

Was a volunteer at the family games event organised by MPFSC yesterday. I had a more important role in this one because there were really quite few volunteers, so me and the rest of the interacters were assistant leaders for the groups. It was quite an interesting experience, once again, mainly because of interacting with the people there :D

We've all been living quite sheltered lives, we've barely stepped out of our comfort zone to see the other half of society where people aren't so fortunate, though we like to think we do. It's very easy to take for granted what we have, and assume that people elsewhere can't be that much worse off in comparison to us. But it's really all a matter of getting exposed to these things. We'd never feel the full impact of poverty unless we visit countries where this is really a problem, and see it for ourselves.

Talking to these people really makes a difference, it makes you aware that you should be very grateful for what you have. Nevertheless, it's still quite nice to still see them all so happy and positive, even with all their woes :)

Everyone has a story to tell, don't assume there's none simply because you haven't heard theirs yet.

So much for catching up on my sleep this hols

I'm staying up late every night.... Nope not to study, just to draw. My inspiration's suddenly come back, I just can't help it. I've gotta admit, for not drawing for some time, my skills don't seem to have worsened. In fact, I seem to be able to draw much better and faster now :D Quite happy with my works so far, might scan and colour one of them after my mind years.

Urrgh mid years.

Guess the holidays aren't THAT bad after all

Think I've been slacking quite a bit this week, partially because I think it won't make much of a difference if I study more anyway. Gotta get rid of that mindset. 

But this week was good, with meeting Mr Ng to go exploring around Tiong bahru and lunch on Monday, a rather fruitful Tuesday of PW, dinner on Thursday, and meeting Keith today. Today's 5 hour Xbox/PS2 marathon was a pretty good way to unwind... I've lost my touch in SC4 after not playing for so long. But Marvel vs Capcom was still pretty good, I managed to win half the matches or so :D 

Went to the library on Wednesday, and guess what, there's a big comics exhibition right at the entrance. Quite interesting to see other younger kid's works, they're actually not bad. If only I had those opportunities when I was younger. Anyway, I borrowed a book on anatomy  by Christopher Hart, specifically for manga. It provides quite a lot of useful details that I've kinda always wanted to know. Sadly I won't have much time to practise this hols, but I'm thinking of buying the book during Dec hols, along with a few other books I found. I realised Kino is not only a great place to get manga, but also a great place to get books on manga drawing too. I swear I love that bookshop. 

Anyway, time to get back to reality. Mid year exams in two weeks. I've reaally gotta stop having such a relaxed mindset. Not exactly that optimistic about these exams as I usually am... just hope I can scrape As or Bs at least :/

So many animes I wanna watch now

I mean besides the usual long and still-continuing animes, like Fairy Tail, which I'm gonna spam after A levels. I've found quite a few short and completed animes, that are pretty good. Ao no Exorcist, Shakugan no Shana, and Soul eater. Plenty more actually. But I think I'll start with Ao no Exorcist after mid year exams, it shouldn't take longer than a weekend if I marathon-watch it :D
 
 

Decisions always somehow turn out to be the right ones.

Similar to when I was applying for IP, I had no idea what was in store for me when I applied for Interact Club. Only after being in it I realise that I made the right decision. Being in Interact really exposes you to the other side of life that we don't commonly experience, be it kids from disadvantaged families, or simply lonely elderly people.

Started the day today with the last homegroup session of the term. I'll admit, the kids were pretty rowdy and hard to control, but it was fun watching them play I guess. Though most of the games were kinda fail with the children haha. And it was pretty nice that the people from the centre held a mini party for us, with food and even a small cake for us, in appreciation of us tutoring the kids every week. I guess I would miss the kids in some way over the holidays :/

Went for Makan Love after that. I thought that I wouldn't be able to communicate with the elderly much due to the language barrier. While that was mostly true, I was lucky enough to have an English educated couple at my table. I talked to them a lot, it was a really interesting experience. Both of them were 80 and 83 years old, and they had very interesting life experiences, like studying in Cambridge and failing, but still being able to succeed in life, and also travelling all around the world, to many many countries. What I found really cool was that they too volunteered a lot, even when they were in their 60s and 70s, and only stopped recently. Was quite funny when we talked about how things have changed since the past, like how music was supposedly better than the "noise" we have now haha. Somehow after talking about their grandchildren we ended up on the topic of my want to study medicine in future. I honestly felt really encouraged, and somewhat touched by the things they told me, like how I really shouldn't worry about things too much now, and that I should enjoy my youth.

They were really eager to talk to me too, probably because they don't live with their children, so they don't really have many people to talk to. But I think a really felt a true "warm fuzzy feeling" after talking to them, knowing that I at least managed to make a connection with them, even if only for that short period of time. That's what being in Interact is all about I guess. It's not just in being a volunteer in various events, to help with manual work and all. It's about the personal experiences gained from these events. Something like how my hospital attachment earlier this year was much more enriching and enlightening than any other hospital attachment I would have found on my own.

Another thing I found very interesting and impactful was the spirit of volunteerism. It was really there, with volunteers who were complete strangers to other volunteers helping each other out, and all of us staying back to clean the place even though we didn't really have to, till like 9+. I know those sound kinda trivial, but I can't really describe what I felt that really made an impact on me. Once again, seems like the decision to join Interact was a good one, as I'm now amongst people who have similar mindsets towards helping others.

Yes, I know I'm very busy now and haven't been blogging much, but I felt this was something important that I'd really like to capture, something that I'd really like to look back at and remember, in time to come.

"Don't be so uncertain of yourself, the future will only turn out the way you want it to be, if you're certain of yourself."

There are many small bit of our past that we tend to forget, aren't there?

In the midst of this hectic-ness, I've been thinking about what life used to be like before. Not just last year, but way before that.

I miss the times when I was much younger, when I didn't have any reason to use the computer, and when every day just revolved around drawing comics and reading fantasy novels.

I miss the times when I could wake up every morning, actually looking forward to the day.

I miss the times in primary school, when we used to play ridiculous pranks on others(including the security guard), and when life seemed somewhat of a crazy adventure.

I miss the times when it was normal to talk to my primary school friends for hours over our house phones.

I miss the times when I was in VS, when we'd use every project as an excuse to go over to Keith's house and slack.

I miss the stuff we used to do in IP, the projects, OI, and everything else.

I miss having a class that I could say I truly felt part of, and having a classroom that we could call our home.

I'm not saying that life's gonna completely suck from here on, I'm just saying, it'd be nice if I could go back in time and relive all those memories again. Just once more.

Memories are precious, make sure you constantly remind yourself of them. To forget them, even the smallest pieces of them, would be to lose part of yourself.

I really need to take time off to draw.

Sadly time is already scarce enough as it is. Damn, JC life really sucks. Just saw some works on deviantart that really got me inspired. But not like I'm going to be drawing anything anytime soon. Sigh. A mad, mindless, soulless rush to the finish line, before I get to relax eh?

HBL kinda sucks.

Much more work to do than a normal week. Only good thing is that I get 9 hours of sleep a day. One thing I realised from HBL is that, tutorials and lectures are kind of a waste of time when done in school. I can get them done at a much faster pace on my own, fastforwarding through all the duh parts and all. Which of course leaves me with more time for other things that I actually want to do. Sigh, guess I'll have no choice but to waste such time for the next one and a half years.

I really want to catch up on OP anime, but instead of doing it in bits and pieces,, I've decided to spam it over the Dec hols. By then I'd have an estimated of 45 episodes to catch up with. Which is equivalent to about 4 days of watching :D

There's something about One Piece that makes it awesome in manga, and undescribably awesome in the anime. (Well I couldn't find a better word to describe it)



The courage to follow your dreams. Perhaps that's what makes One Piece so great.

Into the midst of hectic-ness

Haven't had much time to blog recently. Well, I went for my first homegroup session on Saturday, it was an interesting new experience I guess. Was teaching a Sec 1 normal acad girl, who wasn't quite motivated to study. Hmm, shall try teaching other levels in the following weeks, and see which one I'm best suited for.

It does seem to be getting quite busy, with PI, the fundraising this Saturday and the preparations for it, the proposal for the workshop for kids, and of course schoolwork. I have got to find some free time to draw. Feels like ages since I've done so.

Back from Interact camp :D

The past 3 days have been pretty awesome :D Not only were the games fun and all, but I also got to know some new people, people I'll be working with in future. I have to say, the group I'm in is pretty awesome. The camp also was pretty useful, there was stuff like the design thinking workshop which was really quite insightful.

Well, it's finally time for me to be responsible and be active in a CCA. I'm gonna give this my best. Going for this camp was also good in the sense that it gave me a well needed break from work. It's kinda ugghh to have to come back to reality though.

Oh and I can finally sleep on my comfy bed again yay :D

This is not quite good

My habit of usually being prepared for the future, expecting what's going to happen, is a little... self-destructive now. I'm a little worried about what will happen if it turns out taking KI wasn't the best choice. Or even if I switch to GP, if it would turn out to be a good choice. Some might say it's a little too early to think of all these, but I'm really kinda worried about how this will impact my eventual A level grades. After all, it isn't an understatement to say that your A level grades determine your life. Sigh. Mental strength eh?

Fear is paralyzing, crippling. Somewhat a self fulfilling prophecy too. I have to find a way to escape this.

Time kinda flies

It's already the end of term 1. Something tells me this year is gonna go by in a flash. Sigh.

Anyway, meeting v13 before and after school today was pretty nice, and somewhat nostalgic. Doing stuff like bringing the sofa back to our class, and just talking crap at the treehouse, it really brings back a lot of memories. Well, at least we'll always have that painted mark on the tree in the treehouse (hopefully it doesn't get removed). Though we've been separated, whenever we get together it always seems like nothing's changed :)

Escape from reality

Well today was kinda nostalgic, walking up to class (what used to be my classroom anyway) and seeing the usual bunch of people. Sigh, I do miss my class. Being so busy with everything hasn't allowed me much time to think about it, but nothing could ever be equivalent to the past two years I've spent. Though we're all in different classes, it's really nice that we can all still come together these few mornings and gather in class, just like old times.

The older you grow, the more memories you carry, the more you realise the past is something you can never return to, and that all you can do is be hopeful of the future. As much as we'd like to, we can't live in the past, we have to accept whatever the future throws at us.

The eye of the storm

I've managed to move away from all the madness and stress around me, well not move away, but I've found peace somewhere within it, yet away from it. I seem to have gotten my confidence back. Regardless of how tough this year's gonna be, I WILL do well. As for KI, all I can do is hope that I can handle the essays decently well.

No point over-thinking about mistakes that have already been made, I'll have to have trust in myself and move forward, just like how I've always done so. Though how I managed to do that in the past seems a little alien to me.

This is annoying, studying is taking up waaaay too much of my time. It's just like exam period, just that this is merely to catch up and follow lessons. Sleep is really a scarce resource now. Sigh. We always think that our current situation is hard and difficult, that whatever life was like before this was much better. But after moving on to the next chapter of life, we'd feel the same way. It's a reality that we've got to accept, life just gets harder. But that doesn't mean that you can't be happy. Just that it'll be harder.

Time seems to have passed quite quickly, don't you think? It seems like an eternity ago that we were carefree children. Those are times we can never go back to anymore.

Busy busy busy

Oh god JC1 really is as busy as they say it to be. Even now I'm using precious time of which could be spent finishing my tutorials, reading ahead for my lecture notes, so I don't have to stay up tonight to do them. Well, it's really about taking your own initiative, so from now on I don't think I'm gonna waste break times, time is way too precious now. Who cares what others think, I'm just gonna go study in a corner every break.

Well I'm hoping I get into Interact Club, so I'll have a main CCA for once. Think the reason why I avoided that all along was because I'd rather not have the responsibility, and slack off. Guess it's time to step up and actually take up responsibilities.

I think I've been following decently well for lessons so far, though I kinda feel insecure, being in a new system. For one, the learning curve is really steep, you've gotta prepare beforehand if you want to be able to keep up in lectures.

Quite glad I'm still in close contact with my OG, I think if it wasn't for them, JC life would kinda be a little more lonely, since I haven't gotten to know my class that well yet. But then again, I doubt classes can be as bonded as they were in IP, being so busy and all, and people being split for different lectures.

Gotta really work hard, and sacrifice a lot. My weekly entertainment has been cut down to a bare minimum of just reading the weekly manga. Don't even have time to watch the anime anymore.

Alright then back to work now. Good luck to myself.

Last day of JCO

Havent been blogging at all recently because all I do everyday once I reach home is sleep. Anyway, I started this week thinking JCO wasn't going to be that great, that I wouldn't make many lasting friends. How wrong I was. R6 I the best sub-OG I could ask for :D

It's been a long time since I've enjoyed myself this much and gone so crazy. Going to Changi and Marina Square, playing Ultimate ninja till late at night, going back to school the next day dead tired, but not letting that stop us from having even more fun, with mass dances and all. I really have to say that these few days have been awesome, I really hope I can continue to keep in touch with these awesome people :D

"One whom in in control of his mind, is in control of everything around him, of the world."

Been thinking a little about whether I should really study medicine, after my job attachment revealed that I may be quite uncomfortable with seeing needles and stuff being injected into patients. Well, humans are supposedly very adaptable creatures, and seeing enough of the same thing would make you numb to it apparently.

But that's not really what I want. I don't want to become numbed to it, and become unfeeling towards patients or something like that. I don't want to just view them as just things that need to be injected. True, it may be less difficult for me if I do that, but I don't think that's right. Knowing their pain is important, but once again, if I keep getting light-headed like I did during the job attachment, that's not gonna work out as well.

Just need to draw the fine line between sympathising with patients and not getting too affected by their pain, or emotions possibly. Perhaps all this will come with experience. Hopefully it will. Only time will tell, I guess.

Wonder if there really is anything that can't be changed by the mind, be it fears or mindsets. People find some changes impossible, but perhaps it's just very hard. It is possible, it's just about how far you're willing to go to overcome it.

Universities somehow don't seem that different from what we're already experiencing.

Perhaps that's just an outsider's perspective. Went to SUTD and SMU already, going to NTU tomorrow. Honestly, I think I'm either going to NUS, or maybe the new Duke NTU thingy, so yea, the visits are kinda pointless for me. Anyway to sum today up, I learnt balloon sculpting. Was interesting, though most of mine were kinda fail haha. Let's see how Bollywood dancing goes tomorrow.

Ignorance is bliss, it seems. But what can we do when we're no longer ignorant?

Back to school... again...

Well the good news is that I've finished reading all the manga I have, basically I just read volume 58 and 59. Also read Blink... it was an interesting book. To be taken with a pinch of salt though.

Anyway school starts tomorrow, again. I think I said that two weeks before. Anyway, back to waking up before the sun rises. Not that I didn't do that during my work attachment. But well, it feels more draining to be commuting on the MRT with other tired and drained working people every day. I'd really prefer school to that. Only got two more years of this kind of life (mot including uni), have to enjoy it while it lasts.

So... the JC1s will be coming in next week. Time to get back together with the people from the main stream I guess, no more IP. Hope it won't be that bad. Hope I get a decent class as well. Sigh, whatever it is, I'll just have to go along with it for these two years.

I got some ideas once again, but once again I don't have the time do draw them. Ok I have to admit, rewatching Death Note anime might have been kind of unnecessary for the past few days, but ah well I really couldn't help myself. Shall try to get them drawn over the next few days I guess.

Time taken: 3 hours

Sleep deficiency

I'd really prefer going to school to going to work, even if I do get new work experiences every day. Probably because the day is so long, and I'm too tired to do anything once I get back. Plus the 1 hour commute with the rest of the working population every morning.

I think I'll dedicate a post to my whole two week of this work attachment, but I'll get down to writing it maybe this weekend. But if I'm too lazy I'll just leave it.

I have planned out what I'm gonna do over the CNY hols very well. Work-wise, yea there's the Pulse newsletter. But I also intend to finish reading OP volumes 58 and 59, Blink which I bought from MPH with my voucher, and colour in that scan, draw a few new characters maybe, and practise scenery. Yup, got a hell lot of stuff to do. Just hoping that time might pass slower this weekend.

Perhaps my aspirations need a little re-thinking.

First week of work attachment

I have to say, this work attachment really gives a good experience, I'm glad I'm in it. To sum up what I did over the past few days, it was basically following patients in the Falls clinic to observe their interviews and consultations, running the clinic in the Geri department, got to see a lot of people with dementia as well. Sat through a session where the doctors and physiotherapists discussed the individual dementia cases too. Went for surgeries in General Surgery for the past two days, mainly saw hernia and gallstone cases, though there was one with a pancreatic cyst too. Don't think I want to become a surgeon though, this isn't the kind of thing I wanna do. Chanced upon an emergency case in the OT next to us too, it was a boy involved in a motorbike accident, had injuries on his head, face, and torso. Was a new experience seeing the seriousness of an emergency surgery. Well at least the boy survived, though he's in really bad shape now.

I've been so busy the past week that I haven't been able to blog much. I think this year I may really have to cut down on my weekly anime and manga, I already can't catch up as it is, not to mention tumblr. Sigh, it's about time I started sacrificing these I guess, it's a wonder how I did so well last year with all these distractions. Once lessons start, I'm gonna go all the way, these two years are really important.

Looks like Sunda's the only one I know coming to VJ. Rest of them didn't do so well. Sigh, guess we'll have to catch up at Keith's house every holiday just like we used to, just that it'll be harder this time.

I finally got volume 58 of OP, thanks Farhana for the really late present :D I've really got to set aside time for reading my remaining OP volumes, and some books I bought with my MPH voucher, pretty interesting ones. Probably over the CNY holiday I guess. Free time is running out, really gotta make the most of what I have left. Oh here's what I drew the other day, I really wanna add in the background and colour it soon.



Yup, gonna settle most of the small remaining details for the Pulse newsletter tomorrow, and hopefully start colouring that.

Sigh, life is just a sequence of repeating cycles it seems.

Back to school tomorrow

Sigh, back to waking up at ungodly hours in the morning again, along with really long bus rides. Can't believe the holidays are over. There's still plenty of things I want to do. Sigh, I'll try to squeeze some time in for them in this soon to be packed year.

Went to Astons at City Square for lunch today. Thanks for the present guys, now I can beat THY in pokemon hehe.

Just realised I haven't uploaded any scans of my recent drawings. I'll do it sometime when I'm not too lazy. Alright, I'd better sleep now.

Class chalet

Came back from class chalet today, it was a pretty good time haha. Barely slept there, there's really no difference between day and night there. The nightwalk went relatively okay, but something tells me this might be the last nightwalk there is, assuming we have more chalets in future.

Well, I'm seventeen today. It's a nice number :D Had wonderful chocolate cake this afternoon, then I kinda napped for a bit too long to catch up on lost sleep. Gonna read OP volume 52 now. And I think I'll try so sketch out some characters I had ideas for earlier on.

You'll never be as young as you are today. These times will all eventually come to pass, you'll have to make the best out of it while you can. I'm gonna make sure this year will be a good year. Bring it on, 2012 :D

Read OP Volume 43 today :D

Started on the One Piece volumes I bought, beginning with 43. I think when I'm reading it printed out on a book rather than off a screen, I pay more attention to the art style and details. Damn, One Piece is everything I would ever want in a manga, honestly it's the kind of manga I've always been wanting to make. The reader's corner, the way the preview for the next volume is done, the random stuff like the popularity polls, all of these I have done before in all the old comics I made when I was in primary school.

Well, at least now I can learn more from Oda's style, and get better with effects, details, and maybe hairstyles. Oh, and these volumes I bought are also a good reference for action poses, since they're all more or less in the fighting phase of the storyline.

I really need more time to draw. Sigh. I'd be lucky if I get another one-pager done before my job attachment starts. On the bright side, at least now I'm reserving a few hours a day for reading manga :D

2012

Well, it's 2012 already. Looks like I've lived through yet another year. I've said it before, but I don't think anything could compare to the past two years. I'll just have to see what 2012 is gonna be like. Bring it on 2012, and JC1 life.

Read my Death Note today. Took me like 4 to 5 hours to finish it, and that's only one book. It's been so long since I read it, I now remember how it's one of the best manga there is in terms of storylines. It's a great mystery story, with a touch of the supernatural, that I'd recommend everyone to read. There's only a hundred chapters. And reading the manga is different from watching the movie, the story in the manga is different, and much better than the movie. Never judge a manga by it's real life movie. Judging it by it's anime might be okay though.

Gonna start reading the OP volumes I have tomorrow too :D