My 2014 So Far..Pt 1

While I'm getting my blogging mojo back, I thought I'd blog about my year so far.

Since I completed my A-Levels at the end of 2013, I've been bumming out in Kuching. In between bumming out, I've mostly been private tutoring, keeping fit, catching up with friends, driving wherever my mom needs me to. Yes, I do mean since January! And I don't even feel guilty about it! (Fine, a bit la) See, I figure that once I start university, it's full steam ahead. I'm gonna be slaving away for 5 years in dental school, and then serving my bond which will last basically foreverrrr.

So why not chill kao kao right now?! 

To be honest, when I was studying for my A2, I couldn't wait for 2013 to end and go home, because it was a pretty shitty year. January launched a slew of relationship problems and we broke up by the middle of the year. Naturally, this took its toll on my studies for a while. When I got a colourful ABCD for my A2 trials and a lousy forecast result, I told myself to get my shit together. And well, yeah, with a great support system made of amazing friends, I was able to focus 100% on A2 and, thankfully, everything worked out :)

What kept me going was thinking 'This is all gonna be over soon and 2014 is gonna be an amazing year' 

And so far, 2014 has not failed me! Sure there were a couple of bumps, but they smoothed out in the end (will blog about this next time)

The best part of 2014 was reuniting with friends you grew up with. First, there's my best-est friend, Jocelyn, who left us after Form 3 to Singapore. I mean, yeah, we always made it a point to keep in touch and meet whenever we were both in town but THIS time, oh this time, I've been seeing her like almost everyday for 6 months. Bestnyeeeee! In the beginning of the year, there were the guys back from Australia and New Zealand. My lovely Chik, Edbert and Mike were back from Perth, and my bro for the longest time, J.Loh, from NZ(we were classmates and friends since Primary 1 til Form 3 when he left).We had 3 Jonathans in our class at one time, so the nickname stuck haha.

Because God knows the next time I'll be able to meet the boys again, here goes!

Chubs x3

'Dawn, I'm gonna buy you the most feminine drink they have''

For most of January and February this year, I spent evenings with the guys. We'd go over to JLoh's house and figure out what we were gonna do that night. This mostly ended up with dinner, bubble milk tea runs and watching TV. Every Wednesday was my and Mike's night to hog the TV, forcing JLoh and Edbert to watch Asia's Next Top Model too. It was fair play; while JLoh forced us to watch My Wife is a Gangster 2, I (mightily supported by Bert and Mike, I might add) forced him to watch Frozen. Heck, at 12.15am, I wanted to go home and finish Frozen the next day, but JLoh wouldn't let us leave, 'NOOOOOO, we are NOT stopping this goddamn movie. We are gonna get this over with TODAY' so we all stayed til 1am -___- 

Arguably the only guy who didn't like Frozen. And the only 20 year old guy that still plays Chopsticks. Like seriously, Jon? Then again, I always lost. Pshh, Chopsticks is a stupid game anyway.

Chik was busier though, mostly with church/youth. But that didn't stop us from meeting up. I'd ask him over to my house and we'd just sit on the couch all afternoon watching TV. Reruns of ANTM, especially. I would bring out all the food and whatever I'd baked recently, and he'd complain that in one bite, there were no choc chips, and the next was ALL choc chips. Oh, and he'd verbally bully me in front of my siblings too. Ahh, best friends...

Nehh, this one lah.

Went to Singapore for CNY. Spent it with some family over there. Because of CNY, we couldn't go anywhere for a couple of days. Instead, we went to the Singapore Botanic Gardens for a stroll, hiked up a hill to cross a canopy bridge, chilled by the pool and walked down the east coast pier at night. It kinda sucked that I wasn't able to spend CNY back home with friends, but turns out, a chill one away from home was just what the doctor ordered. 

OMG, love love love the red bean Taiyaki at Takashimaya's food court

So I spent my birthday in Singapore too! By visiting the SEA Aquarium! 

Pointless photo, the fish swam away.

The place was breathtakingly beautiful, goshh. My favourite part was this huge room which was basically a viewing theatre. Instead of a movie screen, the whole length of the theatre was glass, behind which was a whole array of fish and manta rays and sharks. From the floor to the ceiling! I swear, it was the most magical thing ever. And I don't even like fish.

Besides that, I guess you could say my January and February were really happening lo, because I had dental school interviews to handle too. I managed to scrape 2 out of 4 interviews with schools I applied to in the UK. Boy, did I have to do some research and prep, since I didn't have any idea what to expect. In January, I had a phone interview with Cardiff University. Also had to complete a situational questionnaire that they emailed to me, and that was it! In February, I flew to UK for an interview with the University of Manchester. 
But I'll save that for my next post. Til then!