Someone's Watching Over Me (Hilary Duff)
I found myself today
I found myself and ran away
But something pulled me back
A voice of reason, I forgot I had
All I know is you're not here to say
What you always used to say
But it's written in the sky tonight
[Chorus]
So I won't give up
No I won't break down
Sooner than it seems life turns around
And I will be strong
Even if it all goes wrong
When I'm standing in the dark I'll still believe
Someone's watching over me
I've seen that ray of light
And it's shining on my destiny
Shining all the time
And I won't be afraid
To follow everywhere it's taking me
All I know is yesterday is gone
And right now I belong
To this moment, to my dreams
[Chorus]
It doesn't matter what people say
And it doesn't matter how long it takes
Believe in yourself
And you'll fly high
And it only matters how true you are
Be true to yourself and to follow your heart
So I won't give up
No I won't break down
Sooner than it seems life turns around
And I will be strong
Even if it all goes wrong
When I'm standing in the dark I'll still believe
That someone's watching over
Someone's watching over
Someone's watching over me
Okay, you may say that it is a typical feel-good song with inspiring lyrics, but somehow, I felt I could really identify with the lyrics and the song brightened me up when I was feeling totally stressed up doing homeworks.
Anyway, I finally received my Financial Engineering grade today! And with that, I have gotten my first-ever 4.0! Of course, I'm happy about it and I hope I can maintain that for my last semester, but yeah, it is a very pleasant closure to last semester.
Having a headache planning for my trip after graduation. Maybe I should be more considerate and less selfish. Then this whole thing wouldn't be such a mess. Ah well.
I hope the weather gets warmer soon..the cold is really getting unbearable. I hope this week will be a better week too. I hope I can manage my time better and have more motivation to really do work when I'm supposed to do work so that I can find time to do other things instead of doing work all the time!
School has been pretty good so far and I like all the classes I'm taking this semester. But I don't think this will be a slack semester for me, even though my schedule looks relatively easy on paper. Taking 1 project class (in applied math, like a version 2 of financial engineering haha) and another class (corporate finance) which has a capstone project instead of final. I don't know how I'm going to cope dealing with more projects after last semester, but it's no use to think too much about it and besides, in the real world, I'll be working on projects and not doing homeworks or taking exams!
Homeworks have been coming thick and fast too. I already have 3 due on Tuesday and 1 homework + 1 quiz on Friday. I thought I would have more free time this semester, but I'm not so sure of it now. I don't want to spend my last semester doing schoolwork only! There are still a number of things I want to do before I graduate and leave, and time is gradually running out. Then again, if I keep telling myself that I have no time to do this and that because I'm too busy with work, I'm never going to find the time to do them.
Still missing home. Why oh why??
Sometimes, I just hate myself for worrying too much over trivial matters (I know hate is a strong word, but I can't think of a better one). As they say, don't sweat over the small things, and I keep telling myself not to worry too much, but I still do that pretty often. Something to work on I guess.
Spent most of today at home packing. Had a good workout this morning playing tennis with my brother. It's probably going to be a while before I can play tennis again, considering the weather over there haha. Had a very filling lunch which included carrot cake, oyster omelette, yong tau foo and sambal goreng tempe! Just had to have carrot cake again on my last day in Singapore hehe. Went to have dinner with my family at Din Tai Fung because I was craving for their xiao long bao and la mian. We also ordered dumplings with yam paste for dessert which was very delicious as well. I will really miss my family there and I wonder how much my brothers will change the next time I see them.
Even though I'm not entirely looking forward to going back, I'm actually quite excited for the new semester. Feeling very refreshed and recharged after the break and I wonder what lies ahead in the new semester. Just the other day, I was wondering whether I will be too slack and have too much time on my hand after having decided not to TA, but it seems that I already have a few things to occupy me with: Studying for GMAT because I intend to take the GMAT before I graduate (GMAT scores are apparently valid for 5 years) and perhaps getting a US driving license (we'll see about that). I have also decided not to take piano because I think the lessons are rather expensive.
Going to sleep now..intending to go to church tomorrow morning before I leave for the airport. Will be departing from terminal 3! On to Pittsburgh!
I was talking to my mum about my future plans. Work for 2-3 years before getting an MBA and I was telling her that I need to save part of my pay to finance my MBA education when all of a sudden, she interrupted me and said, "Who knows in 2 years, you're going to get married!" My immediate reaction was, "Choy! Get married at such a young age!" Hahaha. But I guess like a friend said, we can never predict what's going to happen in future. Plans change and things you'd thought would never happen do happen.
Anyway, I realised that unlike most of my friends who've studied abroad, most of my friends overseas are Singaporeans and it does make me wonder whether I've wasted the opportunity of making friends with non-Singaporeans and meeting different people. I mean I have quite a few American friends, but most of them are on acquintance level and people that I can't share honest conversations with (perhaps due to different attitudes and mindsets?). In fact, my closest American friends would be my comp finance friends (and that's also cos there's no other Singaporean in comp fi) and probably my cell group. Ultimately though, it's really up to you to decide the group of friends you are comfortable hanging out with and race is just a superficial issue. What's most important is the friendships and bonds that you form. So even though most of my close friends in college are Singaporeans, I am very thankful with the friendships that I've made and the times spent together that have made my college life a blast. And after having lived and studied in different places, what I miss most out of each would be the people. Sure you miss the place, the life, the food, etc, but it is the people that define the experiences that you have in each place. The place may be boring, but the people can brighten up the life there and conversely, the place may be interesting, but if the people and company are not as great, the experience is likely to be less memorable and cherished.
On a lighter note, I went for a haircut today and let's just say..I'm still getting used to my new hairstyle and to the fact that my hair is SUPER short now. Sigh. At least it will grow over time. Two more days in Singapore before I go back to the States and I'm really not looking forward to going back at all (well, who does?). Time to start packing already.
Today, met up with one of my colleagues from internship for lunch. Got to find out more about the newcomers and fellow college hires. Listening to all the banking stories makes me kindda excited for work, but I'm still not sure. Decided to drop by the office after that and met up with more people I worked with during my internship days. The team has changed quite a bit after I left..it's a much bigger team now and that's quite obvious from the fact that there are no more empty desks at the office! Wonder where they are going to put us up next time. Didn't get to see the newcomers as they were out for lunch though. A pity my boss was on leave too. Met up with Zaneta and Anna for a pizza dinner at Sixth Avenue before we went to Venezia for some ice-cream!
Will be meeting up with more people over the next couple of days. As you can imagine, I've been eating a lot a lot a lot! But it is really nice to just sit down and talk with friends, catching up and sharing stories and all, given that we are so busy to do that during school term. I wish I will have the time to do the same even after I work next time.
It has certainly taken a while for me to update, but anyhow, I am back in Singapore now after spending about 10 days in Jakarta and Bali. It was a very relaxing time back in Indonesia and I really enjoyed the slower pace of life there. I played tennis once, and I was exhausted pretty quickly after about 1 month of not exercising at all, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to play more tennis because I fell sick with pretty bad sore throat combined with headache and stomachache. I seem to get sick whenever I go back to Indo and I still have no idea why. I was able to recover in time to catch up with close primary school friends and eat a little of the spicy and delicious local food.
We spent about 3 days in Bali for another family reunion, although it was a much smaller reunion this time round. If the highlight of the 2006 reunion was the water sports, the highlight of the 2007 reunion was the food! And shopping too. We spent an entire day to travel to Ubud just to eat the 3 famous dishes there - bebek bengil (fried duck), babi guling (suckling pig) and ribs. The food were really really yummy - I especially like the ribs and couldn't get enough of them - no wonder I couldn't recover from my sore throat quickly! We also went water rafting, but it was less exciting because there were fewer people. Still, the current was probably stronger than last year because of the heavier rainfall and there were much more rapids as well. We were fortunate that it only rained at nights and that we didn't have to deal with the rain when traveling during the day.
For me, what I really appreciate the most of my time in Indo was spending time talking with my mum and my youngest brother. My brother has really matured a lot and I am really quite impressed with the way he is handling things in his life now. My mum took us to Dunkin Donuts one day for breakfast and we tried the green tea there (which is very very good!) and talked quite a bit over breakfast. It was a really good time catching up and it was then I realized that both of us have grown up and changed so much ever since our childhood days in Jakarta.
I had plenty of time to reflect on the past year as well. 2007 was definitely a significant year in many aspects. In short, I have certainly learned a lot, gained new experiences, grown up and matured, and learned to use my time more wisely. I'm not sure how the coming year is going to turn out. I have a feeling it is going to be another happening and learning year for me, but one full of uncertainties as well (read: graduation and my first job). I have often said and I will say it again that I am not looking forward to graduation and having to deal with more responsibilities after leaving school. But one can't always be stuck in one place all the time and I guess it is time for me to leave my comfort zone and move on to the next phase of my life. Perhaps it is a good reminder for me that I can never get too comfortable with life and that He is in control of my life.
I tried to find the list of my 2007 resolutions to see whether I have really accomplished (at least) some of the things I had set out to do, but I don't remember where I have written them. I guess it is a habit for me to make new year resolutions and I have again made my resolutions for the coming year. In short, I hope that I will be able to find a better balance in my life, be less insecure of myself and be more faithful in my Christian walk.
It has definitely been a good break for me so far, a little slow perhaps but it's a nice change from all the hustle and bustle of the past semester, and I'm looking forward to catching up with more friends in Singapore.