act 1: protagonist heroine as a young girl, playing on sundays with cousins and on weekdays with her toy friends and teacups. school hours were standard and the band practices were regular. life was simple; and the phenomenal decision that she had to make then are really quite silly now on hindsight.
act 2: protagonist advances in age and folly somewhat. gets a JC and university education. lived more, loved more, cried more, indelibly marked more. but life was good, the daily grind of school wasn't too bad, jc was an amazing social experiment and outings meant quests to try all the new spots in town. uni was even better; hostel life = freedom, choosing electives meant 3 day weeks and 2 hour school days.
act 3: WORK! the hours are regular again. report to work at 9am, and leave work at a very regular hours of LATE or LATER. Dinner plans are scuttled at the last moment when a dreaded phone call comes in with urgent instructions, or when a task is given and due the next morning. life is put on standstill; when she dreams, it's about sitting at her office table. but its still the first month and there's still a sense of novelty to it; wonder what things will be like once it has become much more routine.
anyway hello again, i decided to post something here since i don't want the poor blog to hog space in the great big www and collect dustballs. i cannot believe that we've bade our 16 year profession as students farewell already. no more discounts or afternoon specials! but beyond that, we're changing in many more ways; some people now find themselves too old to club, some realise that they're dating the wrong people, some already want out of something that they barely warmed the seats of. i see my friends changing and am slightly perturbed that i don't sense anything different in me. perhaps i'm coasting along and unaware of what i want; if so, that is most tragic. yet, i'm not unhappy per se, life is alright this way (though of course i'd much rather still be young and carefree forever). maybe i'm just easily contented and highly adaptable. haha, that's a nice way of putting it.
// ho chi minh 5 - 7 dec 2009 // lovely restaurant interior // mandatory tour of the cu chi tunnels // motorcycle gang // the ubiquitous vietnamese spring rolls //
Think of me, think of me fondly,
when we've said goodbye.
Remember me once in a while -
please promise me you'll try.
When you find that, once again, you long
to take your heart back and be free -
if you ever find a moment,
spare a thought for me
We never said our love was evergreen,
or as unchanging as the sea -
but if you can still remember
stop and think of me . . .
Think of all the things
we've shared and seen -
don't think about the things
which might have been . . .
Think of me, think of me waking,
silent and resigned.
Imagine me, trying too hard
to put you from my mind.
Recall those days
look back on all those times,
think of the things we'll never do -
there will never be a day,
when I won't think of you . . .
Flowers fades,
The fruits of summer fade,
They have their seasons, so do we
but please promise me, that sometimes
you will think of me!
from my favourite musical.
in case you were wondering, the singer is familiar because she has abandoned her pride to participate in that shitty dragonball movie recently. travesty.
Anywayyyy the point is, a chapter is about to come to a close. walking around school and seeing the multitude of "law admissions interviews at eu tong sen building" signs plastered around today made reality hit home all at once. a new batch is coming in, and i won't be around to mock at how flustered they are over LAWR, bitch abt how irritating and know-it-all they are, comment on the good bad and uglies of the batch etc. because this batch is taking over mine. the dean is right, every year marks the end of a 4 year cycle and mine is about to come to an end.
i still think i left my heart in KR campus, in pgp, along the corridors of our beloved old law fac campus. constantly i get flashbacks of the brown tiled floor and wooden tables of the empty space near the old student counter. i'm not sure why i recall such a nondescript location; maybe the times spent preparing for moots and lawr, and for law camps and passing through to get to the biz canteen have made a more lasting impression on me than i realise.
biz canteen... the pgp girls (hah yes the habitual latecomers who colonised the back row of the LT) would eat together after lectures, and tg8 (what a vibrant bunch we were) would share breakfasts after morning tutorials. i'd eat the overly sweet mango sago dessert, or the pomelo salad from the pseudo vietnamese stall. the guys would go crazy over "next please" sausages and western food.
pgp. i think i've reminisced ad nauseum about it already. but there, i found friends, experienced freedom and independence, shared fun, shed tears, grown up. to whom it may concern, remember remember, that night in december, april, may and baileys+soyabean.
Flowers fades,
The fruits of summer fade,
They have their seasons, so do we
but please promise me, that sometimes
you will think of me.
the coffee from booth X at the careers fair today is working wonders for me at this small hour of the morning. well done coffee bean! anyway, law careers fair today was not a disappointment there was complimentary food to be had --> money to be saved + happiness to be eating sth other than canteen food. it was rather saddening that we were discriminated against because of our age; we were denied gifts because we're year 4. do not discriminate! treat older workers equally! :p that aside, this is my last careers fair and next year, i'll be the one at the booth (hopefully) trying to convince kids that the office where I'm sweating blood at is fun and merry land. such a sobering thought and once again, i sigh for my age.
i do not take well to gambles that turn out badly on hindsight. yes i know hindsight is 20-20 and that there's no point crying over spilt milk, but i just feel such a sense of waste and wahlao-ness when something better subsequently comes along. a few weeks ago, we thought that our $1.4k flight to San Fran on NWA was a great deal, and based on the knowledge we had then, it really was a good $500 or so cheaper than the average flight. but today, there's some pre natas promo on cathay for just $1.1k. arggg cathay service and flights are so much better! i would feel some pain if the flight was also $1.4k too, much less even cheaper. sigh, i shall fly vicariously through Adr who will be taking that flight 2 hours later than us. but if life were an open book and u knew the ending before it came, any decision wouldn't really be a choice then would it? would you rather be satisfied with every decision you make, or choose to live for the day and relish the rights and celebrate the wrongs? somehow, i might actually want to read the story of my life.
sadly, the xmas- new year- chinese new year festive season has come to a close already. i'm feeling quite tired of after the first month of school already, possibly because it got off to a bad start with the add drop dramatics. february's gonna be a month of nightly intensives (yes, i'm a student of the night; coming to school as people start to head home) and 6 day weeks. i draw support from the fact that it's actually just 18 nights of 3 hour courses, but when i'm in the room with FOUR people in it and i can't even msn in peace, things get somewhat harder. yup.
