Back to school

I moved back to the hostel yesterday. Well officially I'd moved back on Monday, but I only really moved in in Thursday when I got to stay overnight. This room is great! It doesn't face inwards to a circle of blocks, so there is better air circulation. Also, even though it's not a very high floor, it's actually something equivalent to 5 stories off the ground, so I'd say it's windy enough. There's also the forest to the right side, so that's going to make things cooler. I think I won't need any aircon at all. In fact I was rather cold last night, in my first night at the hostel. This, even with the night sky being cloudy, which tends to trap heat at night. The first night in the hostel wasn't that bad... I actually managed to sleep, and very soundly too even though I was cold when I woke up. However I woke up just as day broke, and I couldn't manage to fall asleep before the sun rose, so I didn't sleep at all and kept wandering between sleep and consciousness. Not a nice feeling. At least I didn't get a headache today any more like I did yesterday.

Hazel and gang had a night cycling outing yesterday and I'd previously really wanted to go, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I can't possibly go for it or else I would die for both my lesson on Saturday, as well as the one on Tuesday. Schedule is just so tight somehow... Hazel was rather reluctant to let me not go for the outing because she really wanted me to go. Well, in the end I was really really glad that I had taken the decision not to go for the night cycling, because even before 8 pm, I had already developed a splitting headache (but still practised through it because I thought that I would have a duet practise with hy today, which didn't materialise because hy messaged me that she had an important doc's appointment. Ah well.) Plus it became the 1st day of period for me. It was late btw... I was waiting for it already in mid-July. Ah well. I'd rather my periods came at longer intervals so that I can forget about it most of the time, hehe.

After I got into my room again (yesterday on Thursday), I realised that I forgot to bring a ton of stuff. Chief among them was the CD player which I'd promised Gulia to bring to the studio. Sigh. I also forgot other important stuff like my slippers, so when I showered I had to leave my shoes outside, with a wad of tissue paper outside for me to dry my feet and put them into my shoes, the moment I stepped out of the shower.

I moved the bed to the position that I had adopted for it in my 1st year, because if you just leave the bed right in the middle of the room it makes the room look really small. Sure I miss the huge table at shears hall which allowed me to be hugely disorganised by putting everything just on the table without actually organising them together, but I've been managing pretty well so far. In fact, I think that I might actually be more organised now than compared to my 1st year. Then again, I'm already 2 years older (and hopefully more than 2 years more mature) and have more awareness as well as control over my body's natural impulses and inclinations (i.e. being lazy and undisciplined). I'm going to have my own breakfast arrangement with containers and all, so let's hope it works. I don't really like the cereal, even though it's rather nice and crispy. Oh well. Can't get choosy.

As a result of that Thursday mistake of not bringing a ton if this and that to the hostel, I had to go home today to fetch my stuff. Which was when I decided to meet my (by far) favorite cousin Irene at the same time that I went back home (because she lives very close to me) and together go to Kinokuniya for their 20% discount for cardmembers. The shop has a great selection of books, most of which you won't be able to get anywhere else in singapore. No wonder Irene loves going there.

Since it was lunchtime when we went, we decided to eat in the cafe in the shop. We got to reminiscing about the last time we had visited Kinokuniya together, and Irene concluded that the last time we came was when I was still in upper sec. Boy do I recall that episode vividly. I was in the 'learn Norweigian' phase, hehehe. Which makes one wonder how long this period will last. I think it will last a lot longer than the Norweigian though, because Italian I will be learning in school, and for a period of 2 semesters too, so it should be good. I got 3 books in total today, 1 about Mao's Great Leap Forward, and 2 books on Italian, one dictionary, as well as a workbook for exercises. The workbook was a little crumpled at the edge and Irene pointed it out and said that we should go back and change for a nicer copy. I said I don't mind because that one is a workbook that is going to be thrown around anyway so I might as well, you know, do them a service. Also I suspect that with a book that's too pretty I might not want to bring out the workbook to study. Irene wasn't too comfortable with me buying a crumpled book and later on when we went back around that area she said, "Can you go back and exchange it for a nicer one, for the sake of your cousin who has OCD?" I said, "Ok lor, I'll do it to make you happy" and she was going, "Err..." I guess she didn't expect that, or maybe she didn't realise how far I would go sometimes to please others.

Afterwards, after we had parted, my mind went back to it and realised that actually, most of us have 'OCD', or what we consider as having OCD. For Irene it might be having a very pretty book with an immaculate cover. For C it might be meticulously visiting every canteen in the campus the same number of times, or toasting bread for exactly 7 minutes. For another friend, GY, it's about following her daily personal timetable in the exact order, i.e. A, B then C, and if something happens that hinders her completion of B, she's stranded there until B is completed, and she won't start on C even if she can. For me it's about using erasers in the exact way (only 1 side) or not using the eraser on the back of mechanical pencils, or brushing my teeth for 30 minutes a day (alright, that's not a compulsion, just something that I compel myself to do every night, although on some days my self-discipline fails :p). The point is that we all have our own so called 'compulsions', which I prefer to call as pet peeves, most of whom don't have any logical basis at all, but just makes us really upset if things don't go our way. Most of the time these pet peeves are harmless but we have to be careful sometimes and try our best to compromise sometimes, in the process suppressing our own natural reactions to things. I don't really get why we get pet peeves though. Maybe I can find out more about it from a psych student... :P

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Yesterday night, I was trying to be friendly to people in the cluster, so I said hi to all the people whom I met. The first was a girl who was looking at her phone. After saying hi to her rather loudly (well I naturally almost always speak loudly anyway :P) she looked up at me, then promptly looked down again at her phone and walked past me, without giving me any sign that she had seen or heard me at all. To her credit, she might have smiled or something, which I wouldn't be able to see because I wasn't wearing my specs at the time. The 2nd time was this morning after getting out of the shower, when I said hi to someone else, who also ignored me. Sigh. I did get lucky tonight though. After being ignored by 2 people that I said hi to, I finally got a reply from someone today. I think her name is Umbika which I think is actually quite a nice name. She's from India but has been in singapore for a few years (haven't found out exactly how long though) and she's studying chemical engineering. Wow. Take my hat off to that. All the numbers would just kill me, though I wouldn't mind chemistry too much :P She stays in M, the 2nd door away from me so well we'll see I guess.

The excitement to get back to school is permeating through everyone at YST. I think I pushed myself too hard today though... After Gulia pointed out my mistakes on Monday: I am HUGEly guilty of what on the piano would be known as the 'broken finger' syndrome. So I spent today trying to get rid of it in my left 3rd finger and now my wrist is really tired, so I think I shall stop typing here and get to sleep, there's chamber/studio class tomorrow at 10 so I have to wake up at 8 or something...

Last days before school reopens...

Went again to watch the HP movie, this time with Jasmine and Emma. I think I did pretty well this time in not being a spoiler. Haha. I'm getting better! :D I recall when I was P5 and our Rosyth choir watched Fantasia, I kept revealing spoilers all through the show until my friend told me to shush. Hmm. I was trying to recall her name a few days ago but forgot her surname. It comes back to me now though... I believe her name is Debbie Foo. Should check her out on fb :)

It's nice finally meeting our cedar clique again. Hmm. I can't seem to remember the last time we met up. Probably for HP5... Was a great catch up session. We agreed that the 'not my daughter you bitch' was underwhelming and Jasmine said that there's this artist, Acciobrain, on deviantART (love that site) who drew a picture with greater impact (in an image!) than the scene in the movie. Guess that shows you how poorly done it was. There were other funny stuff as well, especially the part where Harry grabbed Voldemort and the both of them went down into the Hogwards courtyard... that was a bit too.. radical I think. Also the part where Voldemort just flaked into ashes instead of clearly showing how the Avada Kedavra rebounded back on him... It's strange that this happened because JK Rowling was one of the producers for the movie, yet there was so much (strange) deviations from the text. Maybe it's a creative override from the director or something. Hmm. Oh I also liked the horn solos whenever Neville did something special... like when he clambered up to safety after the collapse of the bridge... it's almost like a heroic kind of Neville theme, haha. Afterwards we went to eat at LENAS which is beside M.O.F (and owned by M.O.F as well) where the food was a tad out of my budgety though it was pretty good. I liked the whole soup in a bread bowl idea, especially as you don't see it much in singapore any more: fondly remember the puff pastry on the soup in Pizza Hut, but they've long stopped that... Probably not going to eat there soon though.

I was so tempted to get a Build-A-Bear! They are just too cute! Oh my gosh... but it will be added pressure on my budget... hrrrrrumm.

It's time to start spending less, I've been like a total spendthrift this vacation... When school starts it will get much easier because I won't be going out much, plus I'll get pocket money again. Breakfast will be repackaged breakfast cereals and also I'll have to avoid the fast food in school. Wow I feel like Jon Lee, haha. There's a guy who's careful about his money! Always generous with his friends though, so that's a pretty good combination I think. I also feel that with friends one shouldn't be stingy, though of course, if there is a good way to save money without compromising on quality, that's always good. Like how I saved $2 for everyone's tickets today by asking them, 'Oh don't you have a student discount on weekdays?', heh. But it was also because the counter guy was really nice, because only my younger bro has a valid student card (I suspect they are not supposed to accept NUS student cards) and plus Jasmine forgot her student card, but he just said okay, so we happy lor. Haha.

Argh... there has been no progress on the exercise arrangement for thursday/friday. I've a good mind to become the coordinator for the event, set up an excel file, the works. Aiyo. ZY's mom is worried about ghosts. I can't really say anything, if ZY can't convince her mom I think there's not much that an outsider can do.

Btw today I asked my mom about taking ballet lessons. She was against it because she said that my paternal aunt used to be a dancer but now has a lot of joint problems. I should ask my aunt about that and ask her if she would recommend that I learn dance. I told mom that the reason why I wanted to learn ballet was to learn something new, and she said that I could continue with my flute (she has a point...). So I think no go on that front for now. We'll see. I also asked her about supplements. It's like how you should have good skin if you eat right, but why do we still need so many facial products then? Aren't they all medicines too? And do they not all eventually enter our system as well? Blah. I'll try convincing her again tomorrow. Probably the fault was mine because I picked the wrong time to ask: when she was watching a show, haha.