This side

We don't see this often 

Much less getting such chance to be on this side of the system 

Life achievement unlocked 

Two piece. Maybe one-and-a-half

Early morning 

Late at night 

Was 60% gonna accept the Middle East offer, and when I heard the Brazil team's reply saying there's gonna be an interview and it's only going to be held next week, the impatient me changed my mindset to 70% Middle East. Jiaxuan then replied to say HDB might be able to sponsor the Brazil one if it matters for my thesis or helps in my future work at HDB. It's not so much about the sponsoring (cos I was prepared to pay out of my own pocket even if the PSEA option fails), but the questions she asked. How is it beneficial for me? I don't wanna go for something just for the fun of it; there's got to be more. 

Now I'm 70% Brazil. Would have been 100% if not for the risk and my laziness for yet another interview. Wish me all the best! 

Seasonal

My mind just kept drifting to last-year-this-time; post-exchange syndrome coming really late. And the whole 6-months just become this "ex" that I can't forget. A tinge of regret, yet it feels so surreal just thinking bout it... 

Recess doesn't mean the same thing as it used to

When we go into the workforce, recession would be such a vulgar word haha 

I think this is the most happening thing that happened. This thingy melted in the library and I dashed out at 7:57pm, got to Clementi mall, and eventually reached back library at 8:59pm. Without cab.  Achievement unlocked. But bought a new one for $56, not worth it at all. 

Whole first half of the week was just studying and project meetings until Wednesday night where finally we had some excuse to go back home cos Thursday was a public holiday. And this is what we did! 

Also, came back with all the aunts at my place and an ambulance waiting downstairs cos grandma had some emergency issue and needed to be warded. Mum was also sick, vomitting every now and then; and Dad was very affected by the haze. Busy evening of kaypo-ing and running errands before the rich ball treat came about. Was nice though! 

Next day went sis' place for teppanyaki and used her gym for some running cos we couldn't run outside. And here we have a happy family hahaha. MOMO! Walked him after a very very long time...

And this was what we spent most of our time doing: making rosti! Made about 3 of them and they're still far far from perfect. We'll keep trying haha 

Sent Ms Blur home before I went down to meet this gang. Reached my record of meeting two times this year and anymore before CNY would break that record haha. 

And this is what we call the team. When one met with quarter-life crisis, everyone chipped in some advice. Albeit a little warped ones. Haha

And I had the whole house to myself on Sunday cos grandma and her maid were still in hospital (nothing serious I heard), mum and dad were well enough to be in Genting, and Wiwik went to my brother's place to help out. So a rare alone time and some Maggie cooking. Awesome! Headed to my bro's place for dinner together and played with Lemon for a bit before I headed back to hall for yet another hell week. 

Midterm, come at me bro! 

I actually still have no idea why I chose SU

http://www.thelocal.se/20150925/11-reasons-students-choose-stockholm-university-studyinstockholm-tlccu

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Even after reading the article, I still have no idea, haha. And I was thinking if I'll wanna go back there and study; hell no. There wouldn't be anymore Joshua, Huihan, Yimei, Jiahan, Songen, Sho, and everyone else I've met there. It would be a very very depressing decision cos I would just miss the good old times every minute I'm there. 

I'll squeeze three weeks into one post

Everyone's talking bout this one thing the whole of the past one month, even until today 

I stumbled upon this quiz to find out which party are we our ethos/philosophy/ideals most aligned with. And I'm just gonna leave this no-surprise here to kick start this post 

This is one of the Thursdays probably around 3 weeks ago. Courtesy of Zongrui for bringing it back and done by masterchef Marcus Tan in Sheares. Pretty legit but I only had a mouth of it for reasons I kinda forgot haha 

Mi Band came but was spoilt so only used it this week and I still have no idea why I bought it 

Went for the Diverse-City Trail and found a hidden gem (in fact, more like hidden gems) in Jalan Besar and I never knew they had rental flats or so many legal loansharks or the numerous visa application shops advertising on Chinese or a super old coffee shop there or the fact that the place is just beside Little Thailand aka Golden Mile and that it becomes a Little Thailand and Philippines every weekend. And this is the place I've been few years ago for my H3 geography field trip and constantly returned to the area for its army market these few years! Singapore is such a small place and yet we are, indeed, a diverse city with many things to explore everywhere. Do you think you know Singapore enough? 

And this is the view from the rental house flats! Forgive the haze but that's MBS and Singapore Flyers! The question really is less of "why" but "still?!" Some pressure must really be around for their continued presence in this prime land! 

And this: have you seen signs in any language other than the four we have in Singapore? This shows how diverse we really are. And when you complain about the immigrant issues, remember your language was once a "new" language on the signs around the country. We are, by heritage, an immigrant country. 

Then we got our visa and entered Little Thailand! And interestingly, we felt foreign in our "own" country and for once WE are the minority. And even more interesting, the lecture by Tong Yee few weeks later (probably a separate post) at the Projector just beside Golden Mile talks about the idea of Chinese Privilege as a majority again. 

Then we had a very filling and awesome lunch but I still couldn't help it but to order this traditional kaya toast when we came to this retro-setting coffee house for Kopi Guyu

Fast forward abit to our mentor session at LKYSPP. First time on this campus of NUS (not exactly but yea) and it felt really more "intellectual" lol. And it was a fulfilling session, to a small extent. HAHA. Nonetheless, hope we'll be the subgroup to emerge victorious! 

Our topic and if you have any ideas or thoughts about it, don't be shy and email or text me!! Please! 

And yea, the thing. 

Met the Stockholm gang plus the NOC peeps cos Trisha's in Singapore! Saw her a few times in Kungsträdgården and it's nice to see her here again on our soil! 

Except the haze wasn't exactly the best thing to experience here in Singapore, on top of the already horrendous weather here. And look, something I found that I didn't even know exist before. People selling masks and air filters are earning so much money where year around this time, maybe I should do something...

Also, went to National Library and Arianto brought us into the dark room and I found another new thing in my day as a tourist: microfilm projectors! And they have year books or many schools including CHS!!! Cool or cool? 

And ya, the next day, when the haze got really quite bad. No mask, so I improvised haha 

Then it's back to this: what's keeping me occupied this whole sem. And I have to run these kind of story for 3 mods. Naise. Same story for the next sem I guess 

And this is what I signed up for when I told Prof Ko I wanna help him do some research work. Didn't know I was in the math department... 

Oneard to happier thing: lectures. Hahaha. Except this one is free and very different from what we usually have in school. Added bonus: cool venue haha. Maybe I'll post about it in another post, maybe I'll just skip it. We'll see

And also; Pung introduced me to this hidden gem (also in Jalan Besar!) but sadly, the whole market is closing soon... I've been here so many times trying out different food each time and every single time it never fails to impress 

Like this super delicious half-chicken plus two plates of rice: $10. Dafuq bro?! 

And back to beer, which is nice. What's even nicer is when Patrick came over to fetch us home! But the nicest thing of the night is that it reignites a lot of memories and probably heals some regrets I've had the past few years. Maybe one day we can get Matthew and Kris out for a meal together. Maybe... 

And then a date night with Ms Blur! My super weird sausage smile (I dunno why so weird) and her kena stunned face lol. And we caught Inside Out! And it's really worth the $13 I paid per ticket and the three buckets of tears I poured out during the show. 

Third time drawing this cos IVP had training. I don't even wanna think about it: LYLC but I'm not even sure if I will be able to play or even train. But we'll see. Leggo

And my favourite thing of the week: new personalized pencil case. Finally. 

Whitewashed

Firstly, just remembered TH's slogan during Open Day two years ago: "in White we Unite". It sounded so wrong because of the racial element in it; today, it somehow sounded wrong again, for some other reasons I cannot fathom. 

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Super accurate prediction by my brother, whom I believe is part of a very small population who thought so; I was bought over by him, but never as confident in the forecast. Perhaps he's heard the silent majority, perhaps his acute observation is why he's in the finance sector, perhaps it's because our father is precisely part of the population swayed. Also, featuring my die-hard PAP supporter sis and aunt, amongst many opposition-leaning relatives. 

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The results were shocking! Even to political analysts... Most of them attributed it to several reasons: feel-good effect of SG50, LKY's passing, PGP, AHPETC incident, lack of viable opposition, wearing off of the opposition novelty, left-leaning of PAP outflanking other parties' position, Tharman-effect, increasing hostility in the region, and many just generally felt that PAP really did worked hard over the past 4 years. And one factor that struck me the most is the psychological effect of having a large rallying crowd for WP: people who were politically "neutral" the previous round and voted for opposition to "have a voice in parliament" were scared off by the large opposition number turnout that they all turned to the incumbent to make sure the government can still be formed. It was a potential threat the last time, now shit just got real, and suddenly "checking" is less important than "doing" in the real world. "Neutral," in inverted commas, because I believe a lot of these swing votes belong to a group called "apolitical". And this, I think, despite the Whitewash, is worrying for the government; there's little unity in this if so many people are just swaying from side to side. 

Oppositions were shocked too, and went back to do their thorough AAR. Amongst the many factors listed, there's probably little they can offer to improve; much of the swing, in my opinion, were PAP's pull instead of Opposition's push. However, if they do wanna go about "improving," just make sure your further leftward shift remains on an economically sound domain. 

One thing I found very comforting, however, is the reaction of the opposition supporters: they scolded the Singaporeans' silent majority and want to "hear no more complains," (which sounded exactly like the threat to "repent" PAP have 4 years ago - what a turn of events), they blamed other oppositions for lowering the overall opposition standards (yes, in-fighting), and they even said they lost faith in democracy (they were just not prepared to accept the dark side of democracy when they fall into the "minority" portion). Truth is, they found faith in the democratic process - no one cried foul. No one suspected a blackout incident. No one accused the PAP of rigging (at least I have yet to hear it). They believe 

 in the process; they believe in the transparency; they believe in our civil service being corrupt-free. Even as they oppose the government, they agreed on our "cleanliness" and opposed on rational terms. However "backwards" some people say our democracy is, truth is, I believe, the system here is one of the most trusted ones. At least we don't have sponsors lobbying and backing us up financially (cues the US)

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National Swing. Using Sun Xueling's analogy, the husband has been complaining but he chose to remain faithful

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It'll be interesting to see what strategy this wife will use the next time round though; and of course, the next few years to come. 

Oppositions might wanna reconsider having large crowd for rallies too haha 

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And to end off with some randomness, I have this one friend who saw the politician side of me and asked me to start volunteering and learning Malay. Right. 

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Sudden reflection: Singapore has always been ran like a Singapore Inc. but some things have changed...

Words first

Am really exhausted almost every single day I have this semester so action's gonna wait; words first. 

I don't even know how many of those who used to read my blog are still reading it. It's ironic, you read to know more about the friend whom you're not seeing often, but as you see your name appearing less and less it becomes more and more tiring and pointless to read. 

So here's trying to keep the flame going:

Kangster, please jio us for random dinner more often and somehow someday we'll make it happen; we might just be that phone call away. Some day. Haha. Jiayou Mr Accountant! 

Kaung! I'm pretty sure you don't read this so I'm just dropping your name here to remind me that I still haven't find the opportunity to return your missed call hahaha. 

Andyyyyy~ still haven't seen you after so long and I think there's really a lot to catch up on (there's always things to catch up on on your haps life anyway). Missing the whole gang too but I know no news is good news from these people hahaha. 

Sam Sam also, though I see you once a week (more like take a glance), hall feels different without you and Bird (oh ya, Bird also). So the two of you, come back more often to sit sit talk cock ah. 

Ah Piao! Go holiday bo jio~ I hope you brought some presents back I'll claim it from you in the future after I become freer. Life is probably still as exciting for you as ever (that sarcasm though), tell me about it... 

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I really don't know who else I haven't seen for long reads my blog but anyway, just know that I'm one who lives in the past very often, having random recollections here and there of happy times I had. So unless we didn't have any happy times before, you are always randomly missed and thought of. See everyone soon! 

Cos we're only human

Can you imagine being in his shoes for one day?... 

Stories to tell

Some say he is biting the hands that fed him, some say he should spit out the scholarship money. But really, if he's served his bonds (if there's even one), he's a free man. And he's fighting for something he believes in, trying to make others go a shorter route than the one he took. I really don't see a problem; as pro-PAP as I am, I think we should look at both sides of the story and not shoot down everything the opposition presents. Look who's "opposing for the sake of opposing" now? Empathy; that's what the accusers are lacking. You haven't been through what he's been through, and you probably haven't fought as hard as he did.