Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Being Single...and available...

Ok...so I had to submit an article to the editorial board for the Valentine's edition. I've to admit I was a bit hesistant at first, being so inexperienced about love. Nevertheless, this is what I came up with ( please don't laugh at me! :p)
Being single... and available.....
So Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Orders for fresh bouquets of flowers are being placed. Posh and fancy restaurants with candlelit settings are being booked well in advance for the day. Love messages are being exchanged via all sort of mediums- the SMS ( most popular), on air, or the humble snail mail for those who want to adhere to traditional ways. Yes, it’s that time of the year again- when everyone gets all lovey-dovey, and have this warm fuzzy feeling in their hearts. Those who are attached would be planning for that special day- where to take their loved one to, what to buy for their other half, what exactly to wear for the occasion, etc.
As for me, it’s just going to be yet another uneventful day in my life as an IMU student. Lectures in the morning, maybe a bit of studying at night. And maybe attending the talk organized by CF on ‘How to find the love of your life’.
Yeap, I’m still single just in case you’re wondering. I’ve managed to stay single for the 24 years of my life so far, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.
Why, you may ask? Maybe it’s due to the fact that I have observed since young how my mum has tough luck when it comes to men- thus carving in me the mentality that I can survive without them. I don’t know.
But lately I’ve been pondering on whether I’m missing out on something by being single. The realisation has just hit me that time is ticking , and maybe it’s time I starting looking for Mr.Right. Because before I know it, I would be celebrating my 30th birthday….still being single. And I’ll watch ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ and thinking to myself how much I can relate to her.
People around me are starting to fall in love. We’ve just finished one semester here in IMU and already I can notice some newly formed couples in my batch. Not to mention many other couples from senior batches. When I log onto Friendster, I see friends uploading photos of themselves with their girlfriends/boyfriends. One friend of mine wrote in her Friendster blog about how her guy actually planned a romantic night out for them recently, with the flowers and dinner and all that, knocking her off her feet in awe.
When I switch on the radio, love songs dominate the airwaves. Switch on the TV, I see dramas, soap operas, movies and romantic comedies- all involving people falling in love. Romance novels can be found in almost every bookstore. ( I, for one, am a fan of these).
Curious, I asked my housemate how is it like to be in a relationship and attached to someone. She admits that one thing she misses is her freedom. Her guy calls her up almost every night to ensure that she is back home early. He doesn’t like the idea of her going out late at night, not particularly with guy friends. (Talk about having an extra parent!)
What about if your relationship doesn’t work out in the end and you both breakup? Imagine having to go through all the pain, the heartache, the sleepness nights, the times you spend staring blankly at your plate of food and staring blankly at your lecture notes in front of you, thinking of him/her or mourning over the good old times you had together? And then crying over the next love song that comes on the air because the lyrics suddenly apply to you? How many people have committed suicide due to being heartbroken over love?
Don’t get me wrong, it’s totally alright to fall in love, if the right person comes to you.
When two people fall in love, the pure and true feelings for each other that comes with it is cannot be described. They cannot stop thinking about each other day and night. I’ve yet to experience the euphoric feeling that comes with being in love, maybe it’ll come to me in the future.
Until then, I’ll continue dreaming of the time when someone will finally fall in love with humble old me- present me with flowers and jewellery on my birthday and during Valentine’s Day, bring me to posh restaurants totally at his own expense, and most important of all accept me for who I am. I’ll keep on dreaming…..

p/s: This writer wants the readers to know that she’s still single and is perfectly happy being single. However, should any guy be interested in her, she is open to any possibilities……

Thursday, February 1, 2007

Happy New Year 2007!!

It's been a while since I've been blogging! Since lectures are resuming tomorrow and I'll be caught up in work again, I'd better squeeze a blog entry in tonight umm....I mean this morning.
The summative assessment which was held right before we had our Christmas/New Year break wasn't so bad after all. I think it was mainly because we were all so uber hyped up about it and all...... But still it WAS tough. Single choice questions certainly aren't as easy as they seem. You see, for example for question 1 - the question requires you to identify the false statement from the 5 choices given. You are very sure that A and C are correct statements, but you aren't so sure about the rest. So yeah, it is hard.
The Christmas/New Year break was a rather relaxing time for me, just sleeping in, going out for dinners, catching up with my favourite programme, and all that jazz.
And before I know it, the year 2006 has gone, and 2007 has arrived.
For me, the year 2006 gave me both bitter and sweet memories. What started out to be yet another normal year turned out to be the year in which a major change occured in my life. At the beginning of 2006, International Medical University certainly hadn't crossed my mind at all- never would I have predicted that I would be here now in the beginning of year 2007. That's life- with it's twist and turns and curveballs thrown at us which we never expect and which throw us off guard at times.
I remember being kept so busy with my final year dissertation in Neuroscience during the first few months. I had chosen to do a library based project, because I seriously suck at lab work. I actually quite enjoyed it, doing the research and writing out the drafts, even though I had to rush to make sure I had something to produce to my supervisor ( who is also my personal tutor) every week. I thought then that proceeding on to do a Masters and subsequently a PhD degree in Neuroscience would be my best bet, since I love doing research and writing ( and hate hate exams).
However, it was not meant to be.
As I said, life has it's way of throwing curve balls at us and catching us off guard. And yes, that was exactly what happened to me, when I wasn't allowed to graduate at the same time as my classmates because I failed 2 modules for my final year and didn't have sufficient credits. I'm still very thankful that I was permitted to resit them though, as final year students aren't usually allowed to resit any modules. I did squeeze through in the end, but that was the breaking point that finally made me decide that I've had enough of Neuroscience.
The month of August was undeniably the most hectic month of that year. Right after my resits, I had to return back to Malaysia immediately, as I was to register at International Medical University (IMU) just a few days after. I was still questioning my decision then. Orientation week was really hectic and tiring too. But I survived!
So here I am now in International Medical University (IMU), studying medicine and awaiting the beginning of Foundation 2......
and the beginning of the year 2007. I certainly am in no position to predict what awaits me in this year 2007, but I do hope that it will bring with it more joy, success and tranquility. I pray to God that he would give me the strength to face whatever challenges that I might face in this upcoming year, and may He grant me His peace and wisdom for me to overcome them and emerge triumphant in the end. I pray too that I'll grow stronger in my walk with Him this upcoming year.
I usually don't do New Year resolutions because I know that I'll end up not keeping to them, but I will do them this year anyways, just for fun.
My New Year Resolutions 2007:
1) To be persistent and consistent with my daily revision. ( Well, I've done quite a good job of this in 2006, so hopefully this continues)
2) To finally be able to score good results in university. I've been waiting soo long for this, this is loong overdue
3) To visit all, if not almost all the shopping malls in KL at least once by the end of the year ( so far I've visited Sungei Wang, MidValley, Carrefour and the latest addition Berjaya Times Square today ;)
4) To stop pestering my mum on the phone so much when I'm feeling stressed. Ok, I know I wouldn't be able to keep this one ;) She's my stress releasing outlet, you see
5) To be an even better housemate - I try my best to be nice to my housemates, and we get along great, but I think I might be a rather scary housemate when I am stressed. They're very used to me and my behaviour now though
6) I think this should be the most important one...........to be stronger in my faith and my walk with the Lord. I've to admit that I'm still learning to totally trust Him, especially since He has yet to show me His grace in my studies in the recent years. And because of that, I still put my studies first before Him. I still have a lot to learn, but I'll try.
So yeah.....I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year 2007!!!
God bless.