A Page Of Me: Top 4 Events Of 2018

Top 4 Events Of 2018

It's really amazing how time truly flies when you're studying your ass off half the time. One moment I was out there celebrating the start of 2018 at the Helix Bridge and now I'm sitting on my sofa writing about the end of 2018. True enough...this year has been really special to me. Lots of things happened that I'm really thankful for, that I'm sad for and I'm happy for. So without further ado, here are my top 4 moments/events that happened in my life.

#4: I became a director of a hall production CCA
So this came by chance because as I was taking part in this CCA (also known as Amplitude - a combined Choir and Acapella concert) as a member, I was probably the only one who actually gave a shit(?) in this CCA and so I was chosen to be the succeeding director. And honestly, till this day, I didn't know it would be so hard to manage Amplitude.

Try to spot me. Heh! Anyways...

I was turned down for almost every request that I proposed to enhance Amplitude and had so many deadlines to meet. And while so many people think that Amplitude is such a simple CCA with nothing to do, they're so wrong because I've been tanking a lot of stuff on top of other deadlines to meet.

And granted, this is a super good experience for me. I'm sure I shouldn't complain because I know of others who are managing more than 1 CCA and they are still fine so who am I to complain right? I really look forward to put up a good show in Feb 2019. At least that would be something to remember before I leave KE7.

Credits to Amplitude Pubz Team for this awesome poster.

Amplitude also opened a lot of other opportunities in other areas as well. So during my second year, I really didn't know any of the freshies that came into my hall and I thought like I would be a true phantom this whole entire year. However, thanks to Amplitude I knew more people around my block, one of whom became my breakfast and dinner buddy hehe. And it's also because of Amplitude that I attended my hall's Formal Hall Dinner (FHD) with a certain someone. So I really think that joining my CCA was a true blessing in disguise.

#3: Getting full marks for mid-terms only to get a B for overall grade:
So this story is really funny and sad at the same time. And while it did hit me really badly at the start, I got over it and accepted the harsh reality of this whole situation. Nonetheless, it was one of my key highlights of the year and I thought that it was cool to share it with you guys.

Like I had everything in the bag for this one. I delivered a full 30% for mid-terms and a full 10% for attendance and tutorial participation. All I needed to do next was to do at least decently well for the 60% finals. Okay, I can assure you that I wasn't complacent before the finals. Reason being was that the 75th percentile for the mid-terms for 45/50. It was too high to leave me with any form of complacency. Maybe it was the stress of living up to expectation, or the stress that you could lose that A easily just like that, that made me receive the grade that I got.

As the saying goes, you've got nothing to fear if you got nothing to lose. I had everything to lose and everything to fear. And so before the paper, I couldn't relax and fall asleep. I think this was the very first time that I couldn't sleep before a Uni exam. What was worse than not sleeping was that my paper was at 9am the very next day. And if anyone knew me, you would know that I really cannot function with anything lesser than minimum 7 hours of sleep. As soon as 1am went by, I knew I was screwed already. Soon, it became 2am, 3am and 4am. And it's not like I didn't want to sleep. My head was feeling groggy but I just can't seem to sleep.

A part of me wanted to be like "Screw it!" Just don't sleep and go for the paper without any sleep and maybe, just maybe I could still do okay but I know I can't do that. Finally, it took me some encouragement from some friends who were somehow awake at that time to go and sleep at 4.30am in the morning. I woke up at 7.30am feeling super groggy, relying only on one banana, a granola bar and a can of milo to wake my brain up.

Front forward to after the paper, when my friends and I were discussing our answers, I realized that I really couldn't remember what I wrote in the answer booklet just two hours earlier. I was so dazed that I felt I wrote the wrong answer even after drawing the mechanism correctly. That was how bad the lack of sleep affected me. And in the end, I paid a huge price for it. For what was a high possibility to get an A in, I ended up with a B. Well...that's NUS for ya.

#2: I taught Primary School Kids
So this happened really late in 2018. This was honestly not my thing because I prefer to teach like older kids (Secondary/JC/Uni) simply because the older kids are way more mature in their thinking and being a Chemist, I prefer teaching much more advanced topics and skills and not simpler ones. So this was truly a one-off kind of programme which I signed up for during the holidays with my friends.

This programme aims to teach kids between the age of 7 - 12 some lab experiment skills, ultimately conveying the message of using less plastic to them through these experiments. I was initially reluctant to take up this programme but wanted to challenge myself and to see if I really could teach and enjoy teaching primary school kids. There were a total of 4 different sessions in a day, which meant 4 different groups of children per session.

At first, I thought like how hard could this be? Because they're gonna come here with a purpose and quietly learn some science, right? Well, you could say that I was half right. In the morning, when those kids were like half-dead from waking up early like me, they were silent and well-behaved little angels that cooperated and listened very attentively. Though most of them were like so smart (I mean who learn atoms at the age of 8????), they still paid close attention and kept quiet.

But by the time the afternoon crowd came, oh boy they were super-duper rowdy. Shouting and screaming and running and jumping... One of them even used his glove to point the middle finger to everyone around him. While it is still possible to teach them (I mean I have good experiences teaching them the experiments because they actually understood what I was teaching them), they are way too active for my liking. Thus confirming why I declined taking up a Primary School Teaching Scholarship offered to me 3 years back.

So all in all, I acknowledge that it is understandable for kids at that age to act in this way. And I also can confirm that I can teach primary school kids so a tuition job is still a possibility for me. But teaching on a large-scale is a no-no because I realise I'm just not the type of person who is able to really tolerate this kind of environment as a job. Nonetheless, it is a good experience for me. I still adore kids and really want them in the future... But yeah. It is what it is.

#1: I am single once again
Okay, so I guess this is really the main highlight of my 2018. Some of y'all would have already known about this, but most don't. And the only reason I didn't openly declare this to the entire world was due to a few reasons. One being that I really had no reason to declare it to anyone. This feels somewhat personal and I didn't feel like everyone should know about it, at least not at that point in time. The second reason was due to privacy; for both her and myself. The third reason was due to the healing process I needed to be in. And so that's why I kept silent and on the down-low.

During this period, I was really very, very down. Like I really cannot explain this feeling to anyone, no matter how detailed I may be because most would not understand how I was feeling unless you've been in a similar situation like me. And even though I went through a breakup once before, this felt really bad emotionally. The only good thing from this was that it happened right after my exams ended so my exams were not impacted. But that was it. It was something which I thought it would inevitably happen, but I didn't expect it to be so soon and at that point in time. And even though it was something that I thought would happen someday, I honestly thought I had everything in me to somehow and someway prevent it from happening but it wasn't gonna happen in the end. Thus, I closed the chapter of a 2-year relationship.

Through this process, despite having a lot of me just crumble down, I found strength in so many areas of my life. The first pillar of strength came from blogging. I started blogging prior to my break-up to keep my mind away from thinking about the pain and hurt from everything. Through writing my own stories, I began to realize that everything is a learning process, and that helped me strengthen my emotional well-being. Of course, blogging wasn't enough. My second pillar came from studying Chemistry. It's not that I eat, sleep and breathe Chemistry (okay, technically I do) but Chemistry keeps me grounded whenever I feel like really horrible because it helps me realize why I worked so hard to get to this stage in life and what this all means to me. Lastly, the pillar of friendship was just as important as anything else. While the pillar of support from family was absent (like seriously lmao), my friends became part of my family when they tried to lift me up from when I was down. My secondary school friends, JC friends and Uni friends (Y'all know who you are uh) are so, so important to me and without them, I really don't know what will happen to me.

Throughout these few months, I've taken the time to heal, experience new things that I didn't get a chance to do when I was still attached and most importantly, able to have a little bit more free time for myself, friends and family. I hate breakups, I really really do, but I've learned so much from the experiences throughout that 2 years and will continue to grow to be a better person.

And so now these questions remain; am I actively finding a new partner now or dating at the moment? Guess the answer to that is nope, I'm not. I'm investing loads of my time in managing my CCA and to make it a huge success, learn a new language next semester and of course, blogging! But of course, I'm keeping my options open because anything is possible. :)

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So that's that. I hope you enjoyed reading my year-end blog. If you haven't yet, please subscribe to my blog as I really promise that there will be fresh contents every month for you to enjoy reading. Just for you guys, I'll let you have a sneak peek on what's to come in the upcoming monthly blogs:

• January - Module reviews for CM2121/CM2111/CM2191/GES1028/GEH1049
• February - ???
• March - Most hated social media apps
• April - ???
• May - My journey (so far) in NUS

Love y'all ya!