I've recently caught a couple of movies over the past weeks. Deadpool was the first, and I don't think I need to talk much about it since everyone is already raving about it? LOL. I caught it with Yongxiang and loved it omg and I couldn't stop urging my friends who haven't watched it to go.

Caught How To Be Single with Jolaine on Monday and even though I was having doubts about how the movie was gonna turn out since it's another chick flick, but it's actually really good! I was telling Jolaine how I was gonna hate on the movie if the director ended it off with the protagonist finding herself another boyfriend (because come on, you should not attempt to make life happier by finding someone else, because happiness should be something that originates from yourself) but the show far exceeded my expectations, and was quite relatable.

After that show, there was a sudden desire to go backpacking again. It's already been six months since my solo trip to New Zealand, and I'm missing trekking in the wilderness and climbing to reach a summit. Thankfully, my school trip to Laos is in less than two weeks and I am so stoked!!

Anyway, I digress. On Thursday, I also caught Gods of Egypt with two of my most favourite people - Jolaine and Ziman. We had high expectations for the movie but I thought it wasn't that great lel.



That's pretty much what I've been up to over the past week, together with some late nights out and afternoons spent playing World of Warcraft (Jo totally brought me into it...) and planning for my next Japan/South Korea trip in Oct! Omg I can't wait to experience Autumn for the first time!! It's always been something on my bucket list.

Slowly, I'm starting to tick off more of the things that I've always wanted to do. Because you know, we always say that we want to travel to someplace faraway, or maybe have a go at running a full marathon, or pick up some new sport/language. But most of the time, we never get around to doing it. Why is that?
I guess in the recent months, there were times when I felt hopelessly lost and it's not like I managed to entirely reroute my life just yet. But because of these setbacks, I am now more aware of who I am and what I needed. And hence, with this newfound freedom since graduation, I've been doing more of the things I want and love.

It's not that I haven't gone through my fair share of grief, because I have, and I chose not to let it rule my life. I think I've become far more optimistic since 2016 started?? LOL but really, it's all about surrounding yourself with positive people and changing your own self-talk.

Even if the year didn't kickstart nicely for you, I hope you keep slayin' because there are beautiful people and things out there, it's just up for you to find them :')

Disclaimer: this is a note to self (this post came about as a result of the recent events in my life and the friends who are going through a difficult time)

Remember all the pain that you’ve been through before. Remember all the lessons you’ve learnt, remember the mistakes you’ve made, remember the things you’ve taken for granted.

Those are the things that make you the way you are today, and you're no longer the same person as when you were still naive at fifteen.

You're stronger, you've learnt to be more accepting of come what may, and you now know the importance of appreciating the things that you do have instead of the things you've allowed to slip through your fingers.

There was a time when all you wanted was to be wanted, and you might have gone out of your way for some people who you realised weren't around to stay for the long run. Maybe you built some of your dreams of the future with them too. But remember, these people who left, they have the right to make their own choices too, even if it doesn't involve you.

But what about those who chose to stay? Think about those who choose to put you in their hearts even at the times when you're not really worth loving.

It's easy to hate on the people who take your kindness for weakness, but don't. You have a lot more love to give to the ones who really deserve it. And when you do come across toxic people, cut them off from your life if you have to, because the ones who really love you will never make your life difficult without reason.

There will be a time when you'll feel like you're drowning, and you're going to think that maybe you won't survive the storm. But in time, you're going to realise that you have bigger dreams, and for the scars that don't go, they are proof that you did indeed pull through, like that scabbed knee you got as a child when you first learnt how to cycle.

You're not always going to believe in yourself, but you just have to damn well make it seem like you do. Like a misshapen slab of iron, you’ve come out of the fire, shining and razor sharp. So don't give your ghosts the power to put out that spark that you're reigniting, because darling, you’re still growing and you’ll always be capable of so much more.

These two weeks, it's been rushing through my final assignments, report, dealing with a whole lot of bullshit and drama (i'm so glad it's over lol) and celebrating CNY with my childhood and new friends!
The start of February wasn't exactly the nicest. It was quite a tough time, struggling with my personal problems and tight deadlines as I approached the end of my school semester and internship. But thankfully, I had my friends to pull me through the emotional roller coaster and things are starting to look bright again.

After the CNY break which I spent visiting many of my friends and relatives, I practically slugged through my last poetry assignment and final report. I still remember how sleep deprived I was over the weekends, trying to churn out that 3k word count (this is what you get for procrastinating urgh) but all submissions and missing sleep have ceased as of today!!!
My three years of schooling at Ngee Ann Polytechnic has finally come to an end, and all that's left is waiting for my official graduation in May, when I'll receive my diploma.

And to celebrate the end of our poly life, Jolaine and I decided to splurge a little on a cafe trip right after we submitted our final reports! It's been a while since our last cafe venture and we settled on PS Cafe @ Dempsey which we've been eyeing for a while :)









We got ourselves their Smoked Salmon & Camembert Sandwich with Portobello Mushroom Soup, Chicken Rossa Penne and Truffle Shoestring Fries. For drinks and dessert, we got their Lychee & Mint Soda with Lemon Pie.

Their sandwich/soup was kind of disappointing for the amount we paid, but everything else was good!! Definitely going back for their truffle fries (if my wallet allows me to) and their lemon pie!! Think Jolaine's and my fave has got to be the sour and citrusy dessert.

But still, the whole cafe setting was pretty photo-worthy and I'm so glad I finally got to take my camera out to shoot something good. It's been sitting in the dry box since forever.







That's pretty much all for the past two weeks. Now that my school's over and done with, I'm practically a free soul until I start work probably from March on. That's not a really long break isn't it LOL
I might blog about my CNY/Valentine's celebration soon... Or not haha I'll see how it goes.

But I'm gonna make it a point to start blogging more frequently, like I'd usually do during semester break or holidays. Time to update this space with more photos and head out to do the things I love. Or for more adventures hehe.

One month of 2016 has passed by just like that??

January whizzed by way too quickly. I thought that everything would be smooth-sailing for the start of the year, but life always has a way to throw you a curveball when you least expect it huh.

Internship is almost coming to an end in a couple more days, and I'm almost done with most of my projects with the exception of final presentation and report, and my last poetry assignment for my creative writing mod. Seems like I survived this semester after all.

Even though I still have another week to go, I'm pretty much in the celebrative mood already...
Just last Saturday, it was CCHY reunion with the bros (classmates from 3F'11/4F'12) and because I procrastinated booking the bbq pit till the last week, we ended up having steamboat at Kelvin's place instead! Huehue actually it was all part of my plan la... But thank you bff for hosting.



I don't think anyone uses maggie mee for steamboat, but we did LOL. And we got waaaay too much food. But the night was pretty fun with some drinking games at the end of it all. I think I cut down a lot on drinking lately so I guess my liver won't be failing on me so soon :')

For my other weekends, I've met up with Arif, Bryan and Jolaine to just chill and catch up. Then of course there's meeting Ziman and Trisha every other day just to... Idk we're always doing nothing but something. And of course there's some other individuals as well.
My new year resolution is to keep my close ones closer and be nice to everyone until they give me a reason not to. I think it has been going well so far.

February is already here. Valentine's day is in two weeks and honestly I'm not looking forward to it at all. What do you do when all your best friends are attached/down with NS ):

But still, looking forward to CNY and the coming weekend with some of the childhood friends!!