Thou greatest enemy is thyself

On Sunday evening, I officially moved into NTU with my family in tow, who helped to clean up and arrange my belongings, Papa even volunteered to drop by if I need anything. Then we trooped down to Hall 9 canteen to have dinner and my mum started to nag about having proper meals and early bedtimes (ya right early in the morning 2am). Despite stoning throughout, I was actually quite touched by their presence. When they left, my heart felt a bit empty (._.)

A teeny bit only…I think I’ll adapt well to hall life after the initial ennui. Found the resident puppies and they were such CUTE FURBALLS! Still…they’re no a substitute for my kitties. Met my roomie JOYCE, who’s unbelievably nice and smiley. =) She’s studying English in AHSS, but but she likes to throw in some Chinese and Hokkien, which is so endearing.

 
Darn…I wanna hug it to sleep, lol…          Check it out…SYNCHRONIZED SLEEPIN’!

Monday first day of school. The aircon spoiled, projecter overheated, but our COM203 lecturer Sherian George’s wit and charm deflected those distractions and directed us to the most important questions that we should ask. Why are we here? What does being a media professional mean?  How are we going to be critical in our thinking? Gonna find the seniors and see things from their perspective. Hope to ask my idol in Kinetic too =DD

Next lecture COM205 was more meaty i guess but less appealing. Public speaking was something I’ve always dabbled in, but one thing really struck me: to do really well in it, we’ve GOT to put the audience first and GIVE them the best speech ever, instead of focusing on ourselves. I’m glad that my tutorials are given by the Australian angmoh, he’s less sleep-inducing than Verena Tay. Assignments include presenting an Aesop’s fable, 2 prepared speeches and 1 IMPROMPTU speech. (@.@”)

Spent $88 on stationery and the textbook ‘The Art of Public Speaking’. Should have bought it cheap from seniors, but I couldn’t withstand the allure of a gleaming new tome.  Oh ya met an old friend from Chung Cheng! EUNICE =) She’s into photojournalism too! Cool right… Who knows? In the distant future of doing FYP we might work hand in hand. x)

The low point of the day was finding out that I knew nuts about STARS, our exciting first-click-first-serve version of NUS’ bidding system. Basically, there are three strategies for getting the cores and electives you want; either camping at your com way before course registration starts fingers poised over the mouse to click the course you want, scavenging for droppings..sorry..dropped courses, or trading courses with other people. As a last resort, one could still appeal but I’m not counting on that. Collapsed at twelve midnight, which is a good sign that my body is adjusting back to its normal circadian rhythm.

Tuesday we had COM201, which is The Introduction, but we barely registered as everyone was staring at STARS and frantically reorganizing their plans, squeezing their slots into three or four days so that one day is left free, while considering the vacancies left for the course. I was really fortunate to have Jiang Shuang and Audrey help me through the phone the previous night, but it was only at this moment that Xiao Xuan corrected a huge blunder I made: I thought that I had to choose 3 new cores, but we only had to include the existing 3 the school allocated to us! Whew… Both Kenneths lent me their lappies too, but it was Xiao Ken the senior who helped me decide my final combi for the semester: COM201, COM203, COM204, COM205, HMF1 (French), MB107 (Business Law). Hehehe…I’m following in SJ’s footsteps, she was the only one who did COM204 and 205 concurrently. What’s more, this means I can take lots of courses that need COM204 (Basic Media Writing) as a prerequisite. Next semester, for Prescribed Electives I’d target MB103 Marketing, MB106 Management, PHO215 B&W Photography, BS804 TCM/ MP8085 HIstory of Great Inventions.

Thanks ken for your prods towards the right direction. =) I’ll find my way around somehow. And thanks Shi Xiong for looking out for me and brightening up my day with that very cheeky and vaguely tiko smile (I know you can’t help it LOL!). I have never found Buddhism as relevant as now, in an unfamiliar environment, feeling strangely alienated to friends and family alike, with the exception of two, Ling and Xing.

Went for Wushu training, on the rooftop!! What a training to remember. Foochow Assoc is really stifling our growth, no wonder Lao Shi’s moving to Tanong Pagar CC. Somehow, there is an urgent need to open my heart and vent out those chaotic feelings. Or I would lose even the love of my life, Dance.

~I think of you in the shadows of the night,
a solitary cat under the pale moonlight.~

~If love means letting go, why did I hold on to
the hope for a ‘happily ever after’…~