4 More Months

4 more months to live, as a Polytechnic student. A week had passed, and it's November. It feels like I had just started on my first semester. I decided to keep the knowledge, discard the attitudes I had towards learning. Start from scratch, and hopefully, accelerate, and take off to what could be a nice finish to my three year journey.

The past week seemed to be an introduction, felt some intensity, but still manageable. Monday felt like a holiday when it shouldn't, since we were struggling to get back on our feet to re-route. The other days, we were making some progress, finally. The real challenge, begins tomorrow. Within a month, I'll need to gather enough momentum through lots of effort, if not, I'll start losing speed the same way I did for the past 4 semesters.

The night before, I celebrated my first Halloween night with the Toasties. Quan, Yee Tat, Hafiz, Dennis, Danial, Zarifah and I went over to Kim's place for dinner, movie and a computer game, all in the name of horror. The journey there wasn't that bad, with the start being kind of nice, when I saw people, young and old, families even all dressed up for a Halloween Celebration at an International school nearby. I realised I was going to be late when I passed Ang Mo Kio Hub at 7pm, when I was supposed to be meeting the group in another 30minutes! I asked a friend for help, so that I could gauge how late I was going to be, and I found out only 10 minutes before I arrived, which was at 7.30pm(without her help). That was, before she disclosed the amount of time I had to travel from my current location that evening till I arrived at the interchange.

Bought dinner after meeting them, and we walked 5 minutes to her home. We watched Mirrors, a movie I heard earlier this year at the loft, if I'm not wrong, Melissa was re-telling a movie to a group of us, and that particular movie fitted everything she described! 10.30pm, we went to take a trip down to a hotel, for a cyber night walk.

The journey home, I was wondering if I could make it back without being overly suspicious of my surroundings. Things went rather fine, and I took the unlikely last 147 home last night at 11.40pm, 10 minutes after the last bus had departed for Clementi. 2 hours and 20 minutes later, I got home. That's when the real fear got to me. Last night, I took a bath in the bathroom which had the smallest mirror, and slept with the lights on. Hopefully it won't be the same tonight. I had never watched a horror movie before, and that was my first.

Anyway, I had a dream this morning, where it was somewhere in December, during the common test period. There was a werewolf 'virus' loose in campus, started by an unknown person. Each day, a close friend of the werewolf would be hunted down right after the paper. Just observe, a group of students running down that slope each day in school. Shortly after, that stretch of road becomes completely deserted, and you hear a long, loud howl. Shortly after, you could hear slow, loud panting from a human, except you could expect it wasn't human. Once it spots someone it recognized, it charged forth, claiming its prey.

On a Thursday, one of my classmates was IT. We had a paper the next day, so we could be sure that the 'virus' was here to stay, at least till Sunday. There was a cure, but I woke up before I could learn what it was. For the paper, I left the moment the paper was done, and since I had a second paper in the afternoon, I stayed at the co-op stall in the new building. It was red, so I had the thought it would be safe there, at least. Oh and for some reason, the werewolf would strike only 5 minutes after a paper had ended, and each time, it ran down the hill. However, no one knows how or when the victim would revert to his or her normal self after that. A short description would be it had a nice coat of dark grey, white and black fur (imagine a German Shepherd dog standing 2 meters tall) and once it started running, one could hardly trace it with his or her own eyes. All it took, was to be bitten or scratched, to become the next IT. A group of friends came to join me soon afterward. Since the group of us stayed around the same place, we decided to meet there at 4.50pm, and regardless or whether anyone was late, we would leave at that time. I left the room at 4.30pm with a few others. Foolishly, we all walked down the hill, since I told them I was going to the new block 73. I met my friends there, and while my friend was paying for a drink he bought, another friend who was there with us, started to morph. Everyone dashed out. One of my friends looted a few snacks and bottles of drink before we made it out to the main road. I woke up when I noticed IT charging to the bus stop.

It's November tomorrow. Barely a month to go. I don't really care if it'll become a reality. I just want to do what I can, with what I have and know...

Last Week of the Last Polytechnic Vacation

In a few minutes, it's going to be the last week of my last polytechnic semester vacation. After that, it's going to be the final sprint(not the actual final sprint yet). 3 years sure came by really fast.

I found the courage to sing along with the Toasties during the extra night we spent at the Loft.

Today, just went home, bathed, slept, had lunch, slept, drove around with parents, ate, shopped, drove home after picking my brother up after his tuition, slept, had dinner, watched television, ran, bathed, watch television, and I'm back here. At least I feel more comfortable driving with my parents, more relaxed. When I tried driving barefoot, I realised although it was harder to step on the pedals, I was able to feel the exact amount of force I needed to apply the brakes and accelerator, hence I felt as though I had full control of the car, up to 70 kilometers per hour.

Tomorrow, it's going to be a great day!

Sorry I wasn't of much help earlier, other than lending a 'listening ear'...

First Camp of my First Polytechnic CCA

Today I just attended the first camp of my first CCA in the Polytechnic. Kind of a bad time, as I'm recuperating from a bad sore throat. Met up with Yee Tat and Kim outside the library to help them with the printing of stuff for the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Student Toastmasters Camp 2010, the first Toastmasters Camp in Ngee Ann.

It was the first time we planned a camp together, and it was also the first time I was part of the organizing committee of a camp. I was doubling up as the media crew and first aider for the camp.

So far the first day went well, though there was a major hiccup with the accommodation, but other than that, everything else went really well! My final Semester Vacation at Ngee Ann Polytechnic is coming to an end in less than 2 weeks, and I feel as though my motivation is increasing at breakneck speed under increasing acceleration, as I make it to the start line for my final sprint.

If only...no, I can do it.

FYP Transition

It's Monday again. I rather have the blues, than to be recovering from a flash fever that striked early Sunday morning, shortly after the thunder storm arrived. Had planned to start my headstart into the final leg of my polytechnic education that morning, but, it just came. It's the third time this year already.

Had trouble falling asleep on Sunday morning, so I decided to go look up some stuff for the project. It helped a little, and I finally went to lay down in bed. There was some kind of warmth I had been feeling since 10 on Saturday night, but it wasn't the kind of warmth that was feverish. 12am, it subsided. 2.45am, in bed, I felt rather queasy. Tried to sleep, which I did for only an hour at best. When I woke, I was shivering badly, felt the world spinning as though I was taking a ride at a theme park attraction(the spinning tea cup ride). Tried to sleep it off, but found it hard as I was afraid I would throw up(my stomach seemed to be very uncomfortable at certain positions). In the end, I simply lay flat in bed, waiting for 6am to arrive. 5.45am, I gave up waiting, and went to take a bath, before I finally fell asleep, for 2 hours. Finally took some medication, and slept all the way till 11am. Felt well, except that when I got up and tried moving around, it felt heavy.

At least this morning when I was woken up by a weird dream at 5.45am, I felt almost well again, though I still felt heavy. Dreamt that I was still at the F1 event, instead of working, I was among the spectators at the paddock this time round. Can't really remember much, except that all the drivers carried bananas in their hands after exiting. What was amazing was, the top 3 drivers switched cars that had no engines, or bicycles that had been modified to look like the normal F1 cars, for their victory lap.

The second dream I dreamt after waking, was more realistic? I was walking to the market 500m away from home with a shopping list in hand, but somehow I entered a fast food restaurant(maybe it was a food court, can't remember either, but it looks like the KFC at West Mall) later on, and shortly after I found myself following someone(can't remember if it was a kid or someone else) to a few blocks of flats, before I lost him or her at one of the void decks. I started running, and headed back for the fast food restaurant, after I remembered I forgot to pick up the food I ordered. When I left again, I saw some decorated truck(like those used in funeral processions) and for some reason, I remembered I should not be running since I was still recovering from my fever(a result of lucid dreaming).

Went to school today, things seemed well, except that the weather wasn't on our side today. After spending 3 hours in school, I felt it returning. I find it rather weird, since for the past 2 times, I recovered fully from the flash fevers within 12 hours. Went home with the smaller lens to do my own testing over the weekend, and after the storm clouds came, I took a bath, and went to get some sleep. In the evening, planned on what to do next with my dad.

Tomorrow, it's a visit to the dentist once again, though I doubt I'll be removing my braces before the end of the year. Maybe before June next year?

Feeling a little guilt each time I message when the sun is in the sky, but yet I still find myself typing away on the keyboard. Why is that?

Injury Day

The day I felt as though I was being bombarded with 'hurt' missiles. First one came at 5.58am. I was on high alert when I slept the night before, since today's Childrens' Day! Ok, not. I only wanted to make sure I had received an sms of my results, but I wouldn't want to read it till at least 10am when I'm half awake(usual when I have slept for 10 hours). He woke me with an invitation to have dim sum with a group of friends next week. Really apprectiate the offer, but sadly I can't attend due to a school event on the same day. I really did want to see my results till 10am, after enjoying another 4 hours of peace.

Typed my worries into a message, and sent it to a friend, who said it like someone talking in his sleep, except that it was in the form of a message. Oh well, at least it helped!

7am till 9am, my mum was trying to get me out of bed, to get to school to get some progress on my project. I did not dare break the news till I came home, so I just made it seem as though I wanted to just sleep the morning away. It worked. Before that, I was dreaming of my results. I remember there was one where I got nothing more than straight Cs, another I got what I hoped for, As and Bs. And the last, I dreamt I woke at 12pm, and my parents were home talking about my attitude and why I haven't left home for school, leaving me no chance to check my results. The moment she left home for my grandma's after I woke at 9.45, I looked at my results. Simply horrible. Nothing else to say. I deserved it in a way. It's the worst result I had ever had since I started my polytechnic journey. I had been holidaying for the past 12 months. It is time to wake from the dream, and chase it from where I left off 2 years ago.

In the afternoon, I kept making careless mistakes while still affected by my results, resulting in a scratch, crushing my own finger, burning another finger, and temporary blindness from staring at the intense light for way too long. Even till now, I'm seeing a tiny green shadow somewhere in the middle of my sight. However, that did not stop me from going on an 11km run and finishing it in 63minutes and 24 seconds.

The weekend, is no longer there for relaxation. 3 weeks to the start of my final semester(I don't want it to be the last in my educational journey). It's time to prove that I have what it takes to make it to a university. Plans. Local, definitely Engineering, or something related to Interior Design. Overseas, Highly likely it's going to be Engineering or Interior Design, or Medicine(nothing's impossible ya).

Making it known, I feel better.