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IF YA SMELL WHAT THE HOCK IS COOKING??!!
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Memories...
Sunday, June 01, 2008
ON AN UNFORGETTABLE GRAD TRIP
It feels surreal to be back here in Singapore after almost a week in Bali.
But wow, what can I say?
Unbelievable trip. Unbelievable memories. =) Just too hard for me to put down in words. Maybe the pictures ll help...once they are uploaded by dan, jiajia, n nydia haha.
I did a lot of things there..n a lot of 1st times. Para-sailing, jet-skiing (which really turned me on coz its like riding a bike on water haha), white water rafting (n dropping into the choppy river twice haha), playing up close n personal with monkeys, smoking cigars, chionging into the highest seawaves i ve ever seen, drinking Bintang beer n other exotic Indonesian booze, doing a forfeit in the resort's swimming pool at night, viewing a beautiful volcano crater at the top of a mountain, visiting the famous Balinese temples, sampling unique Indonesian coffee with a Somalian druglord, paying my respects to the victims of the Bali bombings at the famous monument outside our resort, making a new Indonesian friend in Lanang (our local guide) etc etc....
But of coz, the company is always the most endearing to me. =) In fact, I oredi miss Bali todae liao, but upon deeper thought, I think what i miss more is the wonderful group of Bali gang which made the trip really enjoyable. Again, how do u put all these friendships & bonding into words here?
Maybe what I can say is that I really got to noe each n every single one of the other 10 friends much better. =) And it makes me feel happy about that. I was telling my 6-day roommate (haha) Daniel that familiarity breeds contempt, but it is thru familiarity that ironically, contempt can be circumvented n bonds of friendship strengthened.
Even Jiajia, whom i have known for 4 years ever since FOP 04...I got to noe more about her thru the trip haha. For eg, she is a voyeur n that she has grown more evil after the prior Bangkok trip whahahahaha.
Anyway, I noe its tough to write all my Bali memories down here, but i m sure they ll always stay in my heart. =) And it is something I ll treasure for the rest of my life. There are certain things that only come by once in life. I think a Grad Trip is 1 of them, and I m just thankful to all the other 10 PS friends who made this once-in-a-lifetime grad trip such a sweet & memorable one for me.
Oredi looking foward to our next gathering!! =p
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On a separate yet related note, I checked my exam results in a Bali internet cafe yesterdae morning...And was really elated! If I exercise my SU option (which i ve oredi done), my CAP score for last sem ll have been 4.6. If i dun exercise it, the score ll be 4.3. Either way, it doesnt matter anymore, as my total minimum CAP has hit 4.04. Which means the most impt thing is that I have secured 2nd Upper Honours after 4 long years!!!! YAHOOOO!!!!!
Which also means that I have cleared the final hurdle for my job at T3, coz its stated in my contract tat I must achieve 2nd Upper.Well, I guess barring commencement ceremony, this spells the end of my academic journey for now. I have really done what I could given the limited studying time I had due to Arts Club and other CCA commitments over the 1st 3 years, before really chionging in the final lap of Hons year. I m relieved to have finally crossed the finishing line, and I really thanked my elder sister whom I had a heated argument with when i was in year 2 sem 1. I had contemplated not doing Hons year n even if so, just doing a happy-go-lucky route during year 4. But she was the one who talked sense into me, challenged, & pushed me to go beyond my comfort zone & raise the bar not for anyone else, but for myself. Not surprisingly, my family members were the 1st whom i shared my joy with. My elder brother, who had grown up with me & always given me advice, & a peek into life 1 year later from now. (As he's only 1 year older haha) My parents for obvious reasons as well. I had this interesting conversation with Daniel by our resort poolside on the last dae of Bali, where we remarked that in the Sg context, it seems rare that we tell our parents verbally that we love them. But Daniel mentioned that we can do it in other ways, such as studying hard n getting a good job to show our filialety n love for our parents. So in a way, this degree scroll at the end of so many years of studying is also a tribute to my parents. Last but not least, I hope I can be a living example to my juniors that even someone with a CAP score of 3.1 in year 1 sem 1, and needing at least 4.3 in each of the final Honours year semesters to hit 4.0 overall, can do it if he or she believes in him/herself. As the old saying goes, it aint over till the fat lady sings.Believe, Believe, Believe. Believe in yourself n study not just hard, but smart as well. I also probably wouldnt have believed in myself so strongly if I haven't known from Steve that he achieved almost perfect scores in his final Hons year, n from Serene that she had friends from her batch that pulled up to 4.0 from 3.80. If other people can do it, so can you!Actually, I think that applies a lot to what we do in life as well. As what Stephen Covey would say: "Begin with the end in mind."Indeed, the power of belief & imagination has no bounds.-------Oh btw, after the entire trip, as well as after listening to Alene & Gracie's stories, I must add that I really love and have a better appreciation of Singapore. I also tell myself that I must strive as hard as I can to make Changi Airport the best airport in the world, give the best airport experience to travelers from both Sg & around the world; as part of our bid to keep the Singapore flag flying high.Goodnite world. =)
