Words of a 21 year old

Alrights, this is the first entry I'll post as a 21 year old.
Obviously, words coming out from a 21 year old should be kinda wise.
Let me think of something wise to say with a considerable impact on you, my friends!
I reckon I'm the oldest among all who are reading this! So... let me play my role (chuckles with contentment)

Ok, behold the wise words of the 21 year old Huiling.........
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I think Frodo is damn pretty!!!!! Look at his eyes! They are mesmerizing. Don't you agree?! That stupid ass always called me a hobbit in JC and I hated it! But now I really don't mind being Frodo Baggins! And Jo! You are Samwise Gamgee! HAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA Sigh... I'm on to my 2nd time watching it -___-"

Alrights, cut the crap. The above is just to show you that Huiling is still young at heart! =) All my posts are of total crap recently! Cause I'm in a very good mood =) Anyways, lets move onto something a lil more serious.

‘The Era of Procrastination, of Half-Measures, of Soothing and Baffling Expedients, of Delays is Coming to its Close.
In its Place We are Entering a Period of Consequences'

Sir Winston Churchill, Nov 12 1936

Yeah, Huiling is being a slow pok again. She just watched 'An Inconvenient Truth' by U.S. former Vice President Al Gore - which was out probably 3 years back.

Another call to us to save the environment. Although everyone's been harping over it, nothing substantial was actually done. Well, not enough I suppose. I always tell myself that I must do something. Anything. Just do something to help when I watch these kinda documentaries. Regardless if its about the environment, about poverty, about drugs etc but the urge only lasts for that moment. It may plague me for a period of time but it usually fades off.

I remembered I was so inspired by this Nobel Laurette (see, I even forgot his name) who came up with some economic system which contributed heaps to this community of people. I was like... oh man, I'm gonna do something like him next time. Next time. When is my next time? When is your next time?

I've heaps of excuses for not doing anything about the environment. For not contributing to the society. For not participating in voluntary works. I admit it. I know that many would probably say if I've the heart to do it or if I have the determination to do it, I will. I'll say that I can't contribute much. But of course, you can tell me the old saying that everything, no matter how small matters.

However, I still hold my point that yeah, I may be able to contribute something now. But its not worth it. Its too insignificant. Why not concentrate what I do best now and perfect it? After which when I've gained a strong foothold of what I'm doing, do something more enduring about societal concerns? Its something like gaining economies of scale. Its more efficient that way, ain't it?

Yup, be skeptical about my point. Yup, it may just be another excuse which sounds a lil more justified. Lets just hope that Huiling keeps her promise to herself about what matters most. There are gonna be many temptations, many issues concerning morality in years to come. Maybe I'll be blinded by wealth, by authority, by relations. I can't say for sure that I can always hold true to my principals. I may be determined but I cannot be certain because there are going to be many unexpected situations which I would probably face. But lets just hope that I'll be true to what I believe in and remember my purpose in this life I lead.

Ludicrous me

When Huiling likes something, she don't just like it... she gets obsessed with it..
It was once NarutoThen BleachThen Prison BreakAnd now... THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Yes, I know, its been years since it was on screen)I have never watched it because I was never a fan of fantasy. I felt compelled to when I came to NZ (since it was filmed here and Peter Jackson is a New Zealander) but I procrastinated till a couple of days ago. I remembered when I was backpacking NZ 2 years back, I've came across a couple of LOTR's site and LOTR's shop etc and I can never really get to appreciate it. But since we are doing the Tongariro trek this summer (which is the site of Mordor if I'm not wrong) I decided that I MUST WATCH IT. And as you can see, I'm hooked on it.
This trilogy is really...classic. I finished the trilogy and the documentaries on it, behind the scenes videos within 2 days. Its as if I was assimilated into their world and I just couldn't stop watching such that I refused to get out of my house on my 21st birthday. I contemplated for quite some time (because I know this birthday is of special importance and I can watch LOTR anytime later) but... the attractive forces of the TV were just too strong to withhold and I 'unconsciously' reached out for my phone and changed my appointment to another day. Because...I think LOTR is more worth it! YOU ALL MUST WATCH IT! (Although I bet you guys did already) Peter Jackson is a genius man! YAY! I've never felt so proud of NZ before! Everything is just so darn real and the casts were...so beautiful! Ok, everything is so beautiful sans the orcs and the forces of darkness. Frodo's (Elijah Wood) eyes are so alluring!And Galadriel is so fair you feel as if you'll just melt in front of her.And of course, everyone loves LegolasAnd Aragorn... the character which I used to dislike last time - thinking that he is constantly dirty and oily but not so now!Sigh...I'm really quite sad when it ended. Its as if I went through the whole journey with them (-___-" I know) such that I even teared. Dottttsssss Huiling... you are being overemotional again. Haha pardon my deranged mind!

Anyhows, recently, I've came up with a couple of new dishes! Introducing...

Ah Hui's Chai Tou Kway
(Ah Hui's Fried Carrot Cake)According to the order of the photos...
Step1: Shred carrots
Step2: Mix rice flour with water
Step3: Mix till smooth
Step4: Add shredded carrots into mixture
Step5: Continue mixing and at the same time, boil it
Step6: Transfer into a metal plate when it is half-cooked
Step7: Steam
Step8: Carrot cake is ready
Step9: Fry radish with onion, garlic, chilli
Step10: Fry with eggs and dark sauce and this is what you get...
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A FAILED FRIED CARROT CAKE! Hahahahahaha you've been fooled! Apparently it didn't turn out that well.

K, never mind, there are more!

Ah Ling's Sauteed Salmon
Ah Chen's Modified Gong Bao Pork coupled with 'special' Yong Tou FuHaha I know the name sounds totally wrong
Lastly,

Ah Huat's Special Scallop Con gee Alright, I've ran out of names and I think Ah Huat is a typical Hokkien name so yeah..Ah Huat's Special Con gee! (Which is actually, nothing more than plain porridge hahahaahha)

Sigh...LOTR has ended. =(

Stop the time NOW!

Before I do anything, I MUST post this entry.

Its a few hours before I turn 21 (NO! I'll pay a million bucks for anyone to stop the time now!) This would be my last post before I enter into the stinky adulthood.

Sighhh...Its really...not a happy birthday. I am too young to be labeled 21. To express my grief and sorrow, I've changed my blog's music to one which is fitting for this occasion.

And as if to mock me, there was a massive display of fireworks outside my apartment.
To reiterate again, its not a happy occasion! I must wear white and continue mourning tomorrow. Haha alright, I shall stop being melodramatic and turn 21 happily.

lalalalala

Yes! I've harnessed today's energy into a sudden surge of excitement!!
Haha ok the above sentence doesn't make sense at all...but you get what I mean.

So I went down to check my letter box and saw a slip of paper asking me to collect my parcels from the reception. Got pretty excited thinking that my employment pack has finally arrived, I rushed to the reception, which had a bigger surprise for me!lalala
Can't you see! I LOVE RECEIVING PARCELS!!!! It makes me very happy for at least 24hours. One of which is from JAPAN! Stop it MP, stop making me jealous. But anyhows... yay! Thanks. You guys rock! lallalallala you all made me realize..
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how I can better use my energy.
(Hahaha I bet you all thought that I was going to say that you guys made me realize how important you all are to me.. NOT!)
No la. You all are quite important la. Hahhaha

3.14

Finally, after a couple of years, I've finally decided to read this book.
Yeah... 3.14 = Pi

Life of Pi
Its...not bad.Well, I can't comment much on it since I'm not even half way through it. But I know its gonna be good since I'm still reading it after 10 pages.

Summer school is... boring. (Can't you sense it from my tone above?)
So darn boring.

Why Summer School is boring:
1) Because its summer. And summer pairs up well with vacation not school. - 'Summer Vacation' NOT 'Summer School'.
2) Because I'm only doing 1 paper. 10-12pm Macroeconomics, Monday -Thursday. Even if I want to be hardworking, I can't with just 1 paper.
3) Because everyone is back in their respective countries playing.
4) Because its so glaring and hot you just feel like sliding down the chair and evaporating into thin air
5) Because Huiling is still Huiling and she feels that she has 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 KJ of Energy but no where to pumped it to.

So....... Huiling resorts to
1) Roaming around the house (which has only 2 rooms)
2) Yawning and being a lump of meat in front of the TV, half baked under the sun
3) Trying to be intellectual by reading more articles from Wikipedia
4) Day dreaming and gradually hallucinating that she is backpacking in Japan (My mom asked me where would I be traveling in NZ during the Feb trip I replied Japan)
5) Sitting at Gloria Jeans, trying to learn Japanese or pretend to be studying and feel that she is actually doing something productive

Yawns...

This is the time which I can feel that I've ALL the time in the world to waste - A stark contrast from a month ago. Yet, I still can't get my arse to the driving school and take my theory test.

I think... the only thing which stimulated my brain and made me feel that my heart is still beating today was... buying a calender. Yeah. How thrilling. Its a lonely planet festivals calender which was on sale - 75% off, which amounts to $7.50 instead of the usual $29.50. Yeah, I'm bloody happy because thats exactly what I need now - the pictures of festivals all around the world, right smack on my face to tell me that there is more awaiting for me.Yes...I've so much time that I can even take a photo of it, upload it to my laptop, then to this post.

Oh! Oh! Oh! And something else got me excited last week. And that is....A PARCEL from Korea!!! Cheers to WB! And this is what I found inside..Just what I need for traveling! A passport cover with pockets to stuff all the tickets! I'm so pleased with it because it is something given to me by a friend which I can bring around the world! Its like bringing something close to heart around the world kinda thing - reminds me of my close ones when I'm far from home =)

The next thing I need is...a Travel Journal!!!
And you see again, Huiling is all prepared for traveling. She just lacks the money and air ticket.

And after ranting for minutes, Huiling still has ~99999999999999999999999999999999.99KJ of Energy left.

So she decides to use up another 0.1KJ of her Energy to take another photo of her study desk, upload it to her laptop and then to this post.And for the rest of the KJs of Energy, Huiling is gonna use it to... continue learning Japanese and make her year-end trip a success. (Freaking 10 more months!!!)

Time leacher

Top 5 Time Leachers

1) Serial Dramas
2) National Geographic Channel
3) Discovery Channel
4) Wikipedia
5) Lonely Planet

And they ALL have good, sound justifications for spending time on it!

E.g.:
Serial Dramas - I need to know the ending. Or else I cannot concentrate studying. I will study doubly hard later.

National Geographic Channel - Its an educational programme! It widens our general knowledge. Its not wasting time. Its good. Its good. Really.

Discovery Channel - Doesn't the name already explain its usefulness? I am discovering something new! Its not wasting time. Its not. Really.

Wikipedia - As the above examples already suggest, its useful!

Lonely Planet - Erm.. its useful as well!

And sometimes I wonder... How can I be complaining bout how boring NZ is yet I have no time to sleep.

I never thought science was interesting...

Causes and effects of Seasons:
The seasons result from the Earth's axis being tilted to its orbital plane; it deviates by an angle of about 23.44 degrees. Thus, at any given time during summer or winter, one part of the planet is more directly exposed to the rays of the Sun. This exposure alternates as the Earth revolves in its orbit. At any given time, regardless of season, the northern and southern hemispheres experience opposite seasons.
Alright... I didn't know about that. And apparently the moon has some very important characteristics which we probably won't be living in this earth if not for that.

World's most endangered locations
1. Dampier Rock Art Complex in Murujuga, Australia
2. Sonargaon-Panam City, Bangladesh
3. Chinguetti Mosque, Mauritania, West Africa
4. Panama Canal, Panama City, Chagres River
5. Dhangkar Gompa, Himachal Pradesh, India
6. Old Damascus, Syria
7. Babylon, Iraq
8. Leh Old Town, Ladakh, India
9. The Coral Triangle, Sulu and Sulawesi Seas
10. Greenland

Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike is a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) that started on November 5, 2007. The WGAE and WGAW are two labor unions representing film, television and radio writers working in the United States. Over 12,000 writers joined the strike.

Thats why season 3 of Prison Break just stopped half way. =(

Republic of China
is Taiwan not China (Haha I always thought it was China)

Book of Genesis
Genesis is the first book of the Bible. It recounts a history of the world from the Creation to the descent of the Children of Israel into Egypt, and contains some of the best-known stories of the Old Testament, including Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel, and the biblical Patriarchs.

For Jews the theological importance of Genesis centers on the Covenants linking God to his Chosen People and the people to the Promised Land. Christianity has reinterpreted Genesis as the prefiguration of Christian beliefs, notably the Christian view of Christ as the new Adam and the New Testament as the culmination of the covenants. Muslims revere Adam, Abraham, and other figures in Genesis, but regard the book as a corrupted version of Allah's true revelation in the Quran.

Jews and Christians alike traditionally viewed Genesis as the word of God as recorded by Moses. Since the 19th century, Biblical scholars have viewed it as a composite text made up of originally independent sources dating from the 10th to the 5th century BC.

Nefertiti
Nefertiti (c. 1370 BC - c. 1330 BC) was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. She was the mother-in-law and probable stepmother of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Nefertiti may have also ruled as pharaoh in her own right under the name Neferneferuaten briefly after her husband's death and before the accession of Tutankhamun, although this identification is doubted by the latest research.

Anyband
Anyband is a promotional Korean group formed by cell phone giant Samsung's Anycall to promote their latest product "AnyBand" new cell phones. "AnyBand" consists of BoA, Xiah Junsu of TVXQ, Tablo of Epik High, and jazz pianist Jin Bora.

The seven minute commercial was shot in Brazil, depicting a city controlled by a Big Brother-type figurehead that constantly watches over its oppressed citizens. The law is for "no talk, no play, no love," and the citizens are strictly controlled and monitored by their government. However, four individuals form a secret alliance to challenge the government's power. Their motto is "Talk, Play, Love," and they keep in contact with each other through the use of their Anycall cellphones, a possession that is closely guarded as it is illegal to possess cellphones. Escaping the police and security, they infiltrate the government's computer system and broadcast their message through their song TPL (Talk, Play, Love), also recorded using their Anycall cellphones. They later go out in the open on top of the city's high rises to send a live message through their music, "Promise U". The people follow and rise, and the opressive government in the end is defeated.
I remembered when I was in Korea watching their music channel, this video was aired. I saw Boa holding some small satellite thingy on top of the mountains singing and my first reaction was... to laugh.

I laughed like mad thinking that it was darn nonsensical. But...but.. haha now I think that Anycall's promotional adverts are real cool! As in, I think it appeals to the younger population and its very entertaining. Check out Lee Hyori's promotional videos as well!

Oh...did I mention that blogging is another time leacher? Damnnnnn

Jonestown

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
-quotation on placard over Jim Jones' rostrum at Jonestown

Have you guys heard about Jonestown before? Its appalling..

Basically, a 'paradise' was built in Guyana by the Peoples Temple, a cult from California. Named after Jones, Jonestown was founded on his initiative in the mid-1970s, as an agricultural commune. It stood amidst jungle, about seven miles (11 km) southwesterly from Port Kaituma. Jonestown's population was about one thousand, once it was fully established and the bulk of Jones' followers had moved to it, but most of them lived there for under a year.

In November, 1978, Congressman Leo Ryan responded to charges that the Peoples Temple was holding people against their will at Jonestown. He organized a trip to the South American settlement; a small party of journalists and "Concerned Relatives" of Peoples Temple members accompanied him on his investigation. They were in Jonestown for one evening and part of the following day. They heard most residents praise the settlement, expressing their joy at being there and indicating their desire to stay. Two families, however,slipped messages to Ryan that they wanted to leave with him. After the visit, as Ryan's party and these defectors tried to board planes to depart, the group was ambushed and fired upon by Temple gunmen -five people, including Ryan, were murdered.

As the shootings were taking place at the jungle air strip, Jim Jones gathered the community at Jonestown. He informed them that the Congressman's party would be killed and then initiated the final ritual; the "revolutionary suicide" that the membership rehearsed on prior occasions. The poison was brought out. It was taken.

Social psychological concepts can facilitate our understanding: viewed in terms of obedience and compliance. The processes that induced people to join and to believe in the Peoples Temple made use of strategies involved in propaganda and persuasion.In grappling with the most perplexing questions - Why didn't more people leave the Temple? How could they actually kill their children and themselves? - the psychology of self-justification provides some insight.

The final ritual (recorded):

Jones: I've tried my best to give you a good life. In spite of all I've tried, a handful of people, with their lies, have made our life impossible. If we cant live in peace then lets die in peace.(Applause) . . .
We have been so terribly betrayed . . .
What's going to happen here in the matter of a few minutes is that one of the people on that plane is going to shoot the pilot - I know that. I didn't plan it , but I know its going to happen.. . . .So my opinion is that you used to in ancient Greece , and step over quietly, because we are not committing suicide-its a revolutionary act . . ..
We cant go back . . . .

First Woman : I feel like that as there's life, there's hope.

Jones:Well, someday everybody dies .

Crowd : That's right , that's right!

Jones: What those people gone and done, and what they get through will make our lives worse than hell... But to me, death is not a fearful thing. Its living that's cursed... Not worth living like this.

First Woman: But I'm afraid to die.

Jones: I don't think you are. I don't think you are.

First Woman: I think there were too few who left for 1,200 people to give them their lives for those people who left... I look at all the babies and I think they deserve to live.

Jones: But don't they deserve much more they deserve peace. The best testimony we can give is to leave this goddam world.(Applause)

First Man: Its over, sister... We've made a beautiful day.(Applause)

.......

Jones: Take our life from us... We didn't commit suicide. We committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting against the conditions of an inhuman world.

Around 900+ people died and ~300 of which were children

Prison Break

Prison break has warped my mind.

I know I should do something more productive then sitting on the coach for 12 hours but.... hmmm.... maybe prison break teaches me something even more! Right??!! Yes! Right!

'When you lose yourself, you lose everything'

Anyways, I wikied Prison Break and read up a lil on it (since I don't understand a few parts)and I started reading about D.B.Cooper: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper (a character in Prison Break and in reality, pseudonym of an aircraft hijacker in the 1970s) and damn it it was interesting. Then I googled it which led me to this website: http://www.crimelibrary.com/index.html

Erm and I was a lil disturbed after reading it. Under 'Young Killers':
Mary Bell:
Who could look at the face of this sweet 10-year-old girl and ever imagine her to be one of the youngest serial killers ever discovered. Was this youngster who killed her playmates without any feelings of guilt the result of a monstrous family or a bad seed or something else?
Erm............................................................................
Yan, if you are reading this, I salute you man! Continue being sane alright! Haha

Ok, I will get back to my normal life once I finish Prison Break. No more late nights. And...I WILL NOT start watching Heroes!!!!

Sounds...difficult

I need a very long run to figure things out...

[Edited]

I reckon I don't need a long run to figure things out. A short walk would do. I forgot the fact that Huiling thinks too much and things would figure themselves out and time would tell.

1) There are many issues which are piled together to make a situation complicated and more often than not, we, or rather I take them as a whole when it should be dealt with individually.

2) You don't use mistakes to counter/solve mistakes. If someone commits a mistake and you've the burden of handling that shit, you don't get back by making another mistake just to make life difficult for him. Thats just being a petty dumbass. And you don't get things solved.

3) Aiya... just heck it all. I reckon I think too much bout morals. Or rather what I perceive as morals which sometimes ain't as important as it seems. Not that morals are unimportant but the timings of thinking and practicing it. I reckon many face struggles with their conscious and the reality which seems void of morality. I always believe that I won't be bothered bout how people do things, how they are immoral or moral etc. Just as long I do stuff which ain't against my conscious, I'll be fine. But sometimes it ain't as easy as it seems. Yeah, thats the general idea but general ideas don't really apply to all situations. But anyhow, I'll figure it out. Even if I don't, time would.

4) I don't need to prove anything to anybody. Not you, not my parents, not my friends. I just need to do what I want to do and how I want it to be done.

5) Huiling is gonna make another big change in her life to embrace her 21st year in this world!

Re-adjusting

And if you don't already know... I'm back in Auckland!




Good Bye Singapore!!
The good thing is...I've finally internet at home.. so you'll probably see me online more often, posting more often, emailing more often.

It feels once again, surreal.
Trying to recall how I lead my life here, I do what I always do.

1) Attempted to run to Mission Bay again
2) Ran to Viaduct Harbour
3) Visited GJ at Borders
4) Cook
5) Clean up the house
6) Read
7) Plan
8) Sleep

I spent the past few days reorganizing everything - getting prepared for Uni, sourcing for scholarships and grants, finding for a job, settling student loan, unpack and pack etc.

This is another start of a new year and everyone has their new year resolutions. Some stick to it, but I reckon most don't. I don't really have a proper resolution, just to do anything and everything to achieve my goal in life which actually, have remained constant throughout most of my life. That is why, I find no reason to set a new year resolution because ironically, though my goal in life is always constant, my plans and methods of achieving it also change constantly. I reckon I don't really want to bind myself down to 1 plan, 1 way, 1 method because along the way, you realize there are more possibilities which you've never even imagined before.

So....I've just 1 big goal, many lil plans and methods which I can choose from. Some may say that I'm fickle-minded but changes in life makes it more exciting. I may not carry it out in the end, but it gets me going rather than idling around.

And so I sat in GJ at Borders for an afternoon, reflecting about what happened the past weeks, what is happening now and what is going to happen or rather, what I want to happen in future. Initially plans for this year looked a lil boring so I decided to venture a lil further.

I briefly browse through the lonely planets for different countries and started planning my travel. I nearly hyperventilate when I saw the costs for traveling in Europe. The budgeted criteria is still way above my budget so I concluded that I should go there for an exchange programme to make traveling plausible.

But I'm kinda set for the next 2 years. I've just started learning Japanese through self-help books and will be taking a paper on it in my 1st Sem. I've also just sent an email to Tokyo Uni to check if they've a short language course at the end of the year, during my summer vacation which I can apply for. (Like what Esther is doing!) If there is, I can stay there a lil longer and backpack a lil longer. If not, I'll just do what I did in Korea. For that, I've to work my ass off this summer and during the breaks.

Then! For next year, work my ass off again and off I go to Australia! Not exactly extremely excited bout Australia since I've been there quite a number of times and its a lil similar to NZ but I reckon you'll learn something new in every trip and experience something, good or bad. You'll never know so just embrace it, since its the cheapest alternative other than traveling within NZ (which I won't anymore!)

As I was flipping through the stack of lonely planets, Dad dropped by and gave me a puzzled look, 'Ling ah, why you like to travel suddenly.'

Yeah, its kinda a 'sudden' thing. I remembered I didn't like to travel in the past. I traveled quite a lot when I was young with my family. We usually go on tours and are surrounded with Singaporeans not the locals. I missed my friends and all I thought was: when are we going home.

I miss my friends, I miss the food, I miss my bed, I miss my country, I miss this and I miss that. I've never learned to let go. I've hanged on to my past so tightly that I don't look forward. My friend told me very bluntly one day, 'Huiling, why are you ALWAYS talking about your past. FOR GOD'S SAKE..MOVE ON!' I was never extremely close to that friend of mine but I've learnt a lot about myself from her. We are so different such that personality became clearer to me and I realized I've been living in my own lil world with my own circle of friends all along. There are indeed, many many types of people in this world. Her bluntness towards me made me feel like strangling her most of the times but at the end of the day, I reckon it exposed me to another kinda perspective.

Anyway, back to the point about traveling. I told my dad bout the stuff I've learnt from traveling and how much it can change a person. Its not just the thrill and fun of it but I guess, it allows you to see the bigger picture. It exonerates you. It makes you feel that your life is worth living. It makes you know that life don't just end when you've achieved what you've planned because there are more things you can do - just that you didn't know. In short, there is more to life. Don't think that there is nothing to do. There is a whole lot of things to do. My dad said, 'Yeah traveling is exciting. But what happens if you've finished traveling?' I don't think I can cover everywhere in this life. Even if I do, there is still more! Every country has its culture, how can you finish learning all within a hundred years? How can you learn all the languages in this life? Even if you can, there is more to uncover! Music, Arts, Languages, Science, History etc. My god, I can't list everything that there is to uncover in life. Plus, you'll never know what will happen at any point of life. I've never expected to study law, I've never expected to like or dare to backpack, I've never expected to study in Auckland...

Life is really full of surprises but whether you want to seize them, let them pass by you and lament that life is just like that.. its as I've always said.. up to you.

Live your life to the fullest, they always say. And I always will agree.

Korea - Photos

Day 1
N'Seoul Tower


Standing at the top of Mt Namsan in the heart of Seoul, N Seoul provides the city's highest view point.
It was Korea's 1st integrated communication tower, transmitting TV and FM radio signals for the metropolitan area since it was constructed in 1969.

Day 2
Panmunjom and DMZ Tour


55km away from Seoul - established on the ceasefire live at the end of the Korean War in 1953. One of the most heavily fortified borders in the world.

Leeum Samsung Museum of Art

Leeum Samsun Museum of Art holds unique collections of traditional Korean art and modern contemporary art.
Void in Korean Art - This exhibition ambitiously encompasses a broad range of works of art and objects from many genres of visual arts.
The exhibition is organized around 3 sub themes of 'Discovery of void, Nature', 'Freedom, Void but Fullness', 'Void, a Passage to Imagination'.

Day 3
Changdeokgung

Changdeokgung was constructed in 1405, the 5th year of King Taejong. It was the secondary palace to Gyeongbokgung, the main palace.
The Secret Garden of
Changdeokgung is one of the most enchanting spaces in Korea. The palace complex was inscribed on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List in 1997 for its outstanding architecture and a design that is in harmony with the landscape.

Day 4
Seoul - Daegu (3.5 hours drive from Seoul)


Day 5
Haeinsa Temple


This UNESCO World Heritage temple is 1.5hour drive from Daegu, situated up in the mountains. Haeinsa holds 81, 340 woodblock scriptures, making it one of the largest Buddhist libraries of its kind.
Known as the Tripitaka Koreana, the blocks are housed in 4 enormous buildings at the temple's upper reaches, complete with simple but effective ventilation to prevent deterioration.

Day 6
Seoul - Gyeongju (1hour from Daegu)
Timuli Park, Wolseong Park, Anapji Pond


Wolseong Park - Cheomseongdae constructed between 632 and 646 - its apparently simple design conceals amazing sophistication: 12 stones of its base symbolizes the months of the year. From top to bottom there are 30 layers -one for each day pf the month, and a total of 366 stones were used in its construction, corresponding to the days of the year.

Day 7
Gyeongju - Seoul (4.5hours drive)

Explored a lil more around Seoul after Grace left and met up with Esther, MeiPing and Tim.

Day 8
Seoul - Incheon - BeiJing - Singapore

For the Odacians

I have never felt that this summer hols were actually hols. It ended too quickly and too many things happened.

I didn't have enough time to blog about what happened during the hols which was really a pity because I guess I've learnt a substantial amount of stuff. Ok, i'll do it for the next few days.

I just wanna say that I was really touched by the Odacians.
Honestly, I was never really very close each and every of them and I wonder why did they ever wanna put in such effort for my 21st and what did I do to deserve it?

But then again, Odac is kinda like a big family where you may not see each other every day, may not be very close to each and everyone of them, yet they will go all the way out for you, do nothing to harm you, be nice to you...

In short, a bunch of reliable and life-long friends.

Its difficult to imagine how this is possible... everyone has different backgrounds, different personalities yet were 'forced' to come together in JC. After which, went their seperate ways, led their own kinda life yet come together every now and then and it seems as though nothing had changed.

Its a very comforting feeling...like... a lil shelter which is perpetually there.

In all honesty, I never felt that I was very close to Odac in JC. I was kinda living in my own world, doing my own stuff.. yet after graduating I noticed the difference in Odac..they bother to keep in contact and showed the rest that friendships do not end when school ends.

Ever since I've left Singapore for NZ, I always thought that I do not really belong to a place. My friends in Singapore have moved on. I am just another foreigner in NZ. But the 21st party made me feel that...really Huiling... you really don't need to be with your friends constantly or talk to them constantly to maintain a friendship. One day, everyone is gonna work... some may travel.. some may have other commitments.. but friendships don't just end there.

I guess you all know what I mean. Its difficult for me to accept it then. But after 2 years overseas and then meeting up with my friends in Singapore...it feels that nothing much have changed. We are still good friends. We are still more or less the same. Its just whether you allow pessimism to cloud your thoughts.

I'm just...so bloody thankful for every single thing which happened during this summer vacation. I've really learnt a lot.


Got these from Shiqi's blog because I don't know how to do collages hahaha




Thank you Odacians. You've no idea what this 21st means to me.
Of course, thanks to the rest who attended...
Like what Hendric said.. I'm the luckiest shit haha