October !

Hello! I know it's been eons since I've written anything on this blog and I really do apologise for my lack of activity here. It reminds me of how in my previous school my Biology teacher would get so fed up when she asked a question like "is everyone clear about this?" and we'd all either be busy scribbling down notes are simply too tired from the school day to give her an answer and she'd go "RESPOND LIFE FORMS!!" hahaha she really was my favourite teacher :) 

Current happenings & Prospective projects

What's another word for 'future'? More like how 'current' is for 'present'/'now', and 'then' is for 'past'. Hold on, I'll check my dictionary app.

Okay, it says 'time to come', 'forthcoming', 'in store', or 'prospective'. Hmm I think I like prospective the best  so I shall use that in the title.

Now, getting on with what this post actually is :) It's a compilation of the stuff that currently fill my days/thoughts and what I hope will fill my days/thoughts in the days to come, hence: current and prospective.

Right now I'm in the midst of my holidays so this means that I have much time to sit around all day and just do what I like (which may not always be a good thing for me, having so much unobligated time. Why is there a red squiggly line under my "unobligated"? Is it not a proper word? They have it in the Google search but they don't have it in the Collins dictionary. Huh. Well okay, unoccupied/idle time.) Anyway, the point is that I've been spending my time reading books. And you might think this is a good thing, you know how expanding your pool of knowledge and broadening your perspectives etc is supposed to come with reading, making it a beneficial pastime; but I think that it's starting to become more of an impediment than a help. This is because I think I'm a bit excessive about it. okay maybe that's an understatement. I go through one book in a day and have been doing so for about 2 weeks now, not to say that I've read 14 books, but close. They all have about 350 pages each. The sad part about this story is that I haven't ad any time to do other things. Almost all I do everyday is read, eat, sleep, read, eat, sleep. I borrow a book from the library one day and return it the next, yeah, I guess I should probably say it's an unhealthy obsession. Literally. haha well because of this (and because of a pretty serious foot injury that came with a sprained ankle), I haven't been very active or exercising regularly which is bad. Especially for one like me who enjoys life's simple pleasures like a few squares of Kinder Bueno or a Happy Hippo, also from the Kinder company, every once in a while. (if you don't know what these are, you've been missing out on life!! Big time!) I also like Vanilla soft-serve ice cream and Froyo sometimes. SO back to the point: My holidays are dwindling away quite unproductively and I'm getting fat.

Excellence and one-hit wonders

This is a topic that's been swimming around in my head for a while now; I even had quite a lengthy discussion about it with my sister in the wee hours one night. 

So I used to be in the choir in my old school where we had some amazing and incredibly insightful people for conductors. They didn’t just teach us to sing well, but also imparted valuable life lessons that I treasure to this day. There was this one quote in particular that really spoke to me: “Excellence is not an act but a habit.” By Aristotle. In context, they were telling us not to put on a good show only for big, important performances (i.e. competitions or events where we are judged and assessed), but to dedicate the same amount of effort, focus & dedication to the casual performances (like those for school-based events). In other words, not just be like a “Peacock choir” where everything is just-for-show and the best is only displayed when the stakes are high, but to consistently bring a good Hand to the table; making Excellence a Habit instead of a one-off Act. 

In the same way, people are always telling us that “consistency is key” (to success/good grades, etc.) but I didn’t fully grasp the concept consistency until recently, when I had an epiphany! J So you know how we look at the world in terms of our schedules, like in block periods? For example, I’ve got this week with all my assignments due, then the next 2 weeks are my major exams then for 2 months after that it’s holiday! What I’m trying to get at is that our outlook on life consists of a few milestones, or important events that we mark out on our calendar as they determine our “fate” in some way (testing and grades determine which classes/schools/scholarships you’ll get to apply for), and leave the rest of it (the ordinary days/ maybe even the individual days of a long break) with no clear vision or goal. In the days leading up to the big exams, we study so hard and deprive ourselves of all the luxuries in life (like going out, shopping, eating fancy, watching movies, stalking people on Facebook, SLEEP) to bury ourselves in study material; we suddenly become so Systematic, as we plan out our study schedule, Efficient, as we time ourselves with revision and practice papers, and Productive as we are spurred on by stress of each passing day (and possibly the caffeine in our system from all that coffee. Or tea). Now we may think this kind of discipline is good for us (and sure, it is, if you keep it up even after your tests are over) but in truth, I think it’s more detrimental than helpful. This is because most of us will immediately let everything go and indulge ourselves in all the activities that we were deprived of for the past weeks. We indulge to such an extent (because we can; don’t have school/ a care in the world) that our lifestyle becomes very unhealthy. Sleep at unearthly times, wake up after noon, shop till we have no more money/ we can fill another closet, stare at the computer screen till we have to get new glasses. And basically, if we don’t plan our holidays and fill it with events like what we did while studying, we just waste it away, day by day, transforming into a big blob of goo. Shapeless and helpless. (this often leaves us feeling horribly unprepared for the new school year and thinking how the holidays passed by so quickly)

So I just wanted to say, through this long but hopefully not confusing post, that Consistency means doing the same thing as you would no matter what the circumstance. And obviously, “doing that same thing” means putting your 100% in aiming for Excellence in all that you do, in every situation. This is REALLY a lot easier said than done but I’m pretty confident that if one was focused enough to apply this in their life and see it through, they would lead a pretty eventful and fulfilling life, and not regret a thing.

Getaways

Hello! 

I've been meaning to write something here forever!! But I just never seem to get down to doing it :( So I'm right smack in the middle of tests and assessments and stuff but I just wanted to write! Hee it's soo fun to just write without restrictions, not having to worry about grammar or spelling or whether your writing actually makes sense/ is answering the question. 

So I just found out a few days ago that my piano exam falls on 14 August, which is one day before the start of my major exams!! Sigh. That's a lot of added stress and I appear calm on the outside but I'm doing my best not to fall apart on the inside. I keep telling myself that I need a vacation and one place I really want to go to is America :) it's weird that people always ask me why when I tell them that. Because I always thought that it would be a country on anyone's bucket list, y'know? Like it's the one country that's so big and so influential and so many things that the world uses come from there (like the iphone). So it's only natural that you'd want to see the place for yourself, no? Well that's how it is for me :) That and the fact that one of my best friends is there, so that just makes the idea all the more exciting! and fun! and appealing!! Oh and I heard it's a pretty good place to shop as well, with the whole variety of brands and malls and stuff.

But I think most of all, I'd like to visit their parks! and museums hehe 
Another place I really really want to go to is England! and just the whole of Europe in general haha

I think the weather is one of the biggest draws. Because over there it gets really cold and rainy and I never understood why people detest gloomy weather. It's my favourite time! Everything being cold and dark outside makes everything inside feel so much warmer and brighter and cozier :) During such days, I just love to curl up in a comfy chair in a cool place (with good lighting) and read a book. That's my idea of the perfect afternoon/evening. 

But for now, I've still got school. Though the school semester is ending (which mean the final tests are approaching with unsettling speed) and I'll soon have holidays! During which I'll be going to Bangkok and having camps! Oh and going on a cruise!! (First time ever!) haha I'm also pretty excited 'cause I'm going to watch the Phantom Of the Opera musical soon and it's apparently the longest running musical. (Or is that Wicked?) But anyhow, it's pretty famous and I love the songs so I guess we'll just wait and see. 

On another note, my mum is in talks about going to Switzerland! It's been the ultimate holiday destination on her list ever since.. well.. she made that list. And she really wants to go see the scenery and just experience the whole place. Also she thinks that the world might be ending soon, what with the freak weather some countries are experiencing and the political stuff going on in others. The future isn't looking very pretty exactly. Oh and she was also talking about going to South Korea! mmhmm but then, the sad thing is, she isn't the type of person to make rash decisions and just do things on whim. So I guess I'll have to wait till I get older before thinking of going so far.

Okay! Time to get back to revision/ presentation preparation (haha alliteration). See you soon!

Change

Hello! So as you may be able to tell, I’m trying out new fonts to be used as the permanent “go-to” font for my posts. Initially, the font I used so much (for about the first 5 posts) which is called Simplicity was one of the prettiest ones I’d ever come across. But sadly, it has one drawback and it’s that the full-stops aren’t obvious at all. They just appear as tiny little dots squeezed impossibly close to the last letter and it becomes quite confusing when you don’t know when a sentence ends and another begins. Of course there’s also the problem of good grammar, and hidden full-stops do not help. So this font is the classic Times New Roman, I heard that it was scientifically proven to be the most readable font out there. That’s probably why newspapers and magazines use it so much as well.

But before you get too worried, no, I did not dedicated a whole post to analyzing my font type; that was just meant to be a side thing actually. I wanted to talk about how thus far, almost all my posts have had this underlying sense of depression and negativity. I just want to say that I am capable of writing normally but it somehow happens that when I blog about stuff I’m feeling rather down and discouraged and miserable about most things in life.

I recently read a blog of a friend’s friend and I think she might have saved me. There’s something about her posts that just energizes you. It’s like her bubbly personality bounces off every sentence and lifts your spirit, making you believe that the world is full of wonderful possibilities and life is worth living because of all the amazing adventures waiting for you.

It’s because of her that I contrive to make my blog a happier place and look at life with an optimistic thirst for that silver lining. :)

P.s. I'm also trying out different font colours!