And yet another one of us is tying the knot… and moving out of the country too. *sighs* As happy as I am that one of my dear friends has finally found the right person for her to commit herself to a marriage, it’s also bittersweet that she will be leaving all the hustle and bustle behind, for a seaside town in Malaysia. This is “settling down” in the truest sense of the word, if you ask me. Gone are the worries of surviving in a fast-moving consumerist city. Now, she simply has to contend with diapers and wifely duties.

Part of me is envious that she’s able to so easily choose the simpler life. I know many people who yearn for that (myself included), but have never taken that bold step to abandon the globalised world and go back to basics. And as much as I’d love to be free from the stress of living up to societal norms, I really don’t know if I’m able to forsake the convenience and accessibility of life as I presently know it. For instance, just spending a day without my mobile phone can be somewhat disorienting. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not surgically attached to my phone. I simply can’t see myself choosing to go without it for an extended period of time. Especially not after I’ve experienced the type of ease it avails to me. Can you?

It really is quite hard to let go now that I’ve sunken my teeth into the technological fruits (Apple & BlackBerry). Perhaps when I’m older, and less in need of staying so “connected”, will I be able to retreat into my quaint little abode. But before that, please don’t judge me as I continue to be sucked in to everything that is the 21st century.

Was trying to see if my old sites/blogs were archived on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Well, what do you know? This was written 10 years ago, back when my site was known as “Hedonism”. *rolls eyes*:

18 April 1999

Oh boy… my mum’s 50th birthday is just three days away and I still do NOT know what to get her! My grandma got her this really nice wallet so I can’t get her a wallet! Grr… I can’t get her perfume, ‘cos I don’t have enough money to get her a decent one. Oh geez… what am I supposed to do?? What can I get her? Oh no, oh no, oh no… I have to get her something! I didn’t get her anything last year! Oh boy, this is killing me! I’m feeling so frustrated!

On a happier note, I’ve finally completed the new Hedonism today. Ahh.. I feel a great sense of achivement now… *L* Only last month, did I realise that I have not added a journal entry since *gasp* January! I’m pathetic! If this goes on, I’ll become a procrastinator in no time. Talking about procrastinating, I haven’t even updated my Hanson site since April 3rd! What am I thinking?? I have so much free time and I keep putting things off… I’d better start changing soon.

Anyway, church was good today. The speaker, Dr. Freddie Boey, delivered this really motivating speech, not to mention funny too. ) Oh, and my grandparents left today for their 4-day cruise. They went with 8 other ‘old’ people. My grandpa tells me he’s gonna spend some time with the jackpot machine. Hope he doesn’t overdo it. But I shouldn’t worry too much, grandma will control him. *L* With both my grandparents gone, I can finally watch TV in their room! *evil grin* No more fighting with my dad for the remote control. And I don’t have to go to the living room to watch TV anymore! Heheh… Although it’s just 4 days, it’s more than enough for me. ) What can I say? I’m easily contented! ) Well, gonna watch PO5 now… Later!

Believe it or not, I was cringing the whole time while reading through this post. I’m SO glad I’m older and wiser now. :p

Then the “Red Chook” phase came along… Did you know I wanted to be in advertising?

2 December 2001

anyhow, the school term begins again tomorrow and i’m really looking forward to it. i’ll be learning advertising and media management… i think? i’m not sure. i love advertising. it’s one of my career options actually. however, i don’t know if i’m up to it. i’m not exactly that creative. i guess i’ll just see how it goes. i’ll take one step at a time and try not to think too far ahead. sometimes, over-planning isn’t all that good. right?

Things got emotional when I left for Brisbane:

4 June 2002.

my grandma has been acting all weird ever since friday, when she found out i was definitely going to QUT. this morning, when she found out that my flight has been confirmed for july 1st, she got all quiet. i nearly cried but i forced myself to hold back the tears. i knew she’ll start crying if i started crying and i really can’t bear to see my grandma cry. i’ll get all choked up. and just 5 minutes ago, my grandma came into my room and started crying and telling me how much she’s gonna miss me when i go to brisbane. i couldn’t control it anymore and started crying too. i love my grandma to death and i get weak whenever she cries. damn. i really can’t bear to leave her, and my mum…

Here’s one of the funnier incidents that happened in Brissie, that I’m glad I noted down:

11 February 2003

now, here’s something andrew badly wants me to mention: so, we’ve arrived at the airport and there he was, waiting for us (*cough* mainly huaiky, as we all know) and a certain uncle of mine was there too, to pick us up, as well! (see how loved we are? ) now, steff and i were in this uncle’s car and the other 2 were, we all know where… so, when we got home, this uncle just takes our bag out of the boot and then he happily says goodbye! poor ol andrew was in a state of “shock” cos now he had to lug 3 of our very heavy luggages up the stairs, all alone! hee. oh well, i’m sure my uncle was just giving him a chance to display his strength and sense of gentlemanliness (is there such a word?).

After uni, I came back and worked for a year in the PR & Events industry. This post here occurred during the last leg of my time in the industry (and got myself into teaching):

17 October 2005

i’m now officially jobless.

i did end up working the extra two weeks but it wasn’t too bad cos there wasn’t a whole lot to do, and most of the time, i was just sitting around, doing bits here and there and um, chatting on msn. heheh. i’m definitely gonna miss my kick-ass colleagues, without whom, my dwindling sanity would have long been devoured by the she-predator.

See what I did? I called my ex-boss a “she-predator”! Heh.

As mentioned earlier, I got myself into teaching, and here I’m singing the same song over and over again. Even up till today:

18 April 2006

i still love teaching, in case you were wondering. it’s been awesome. exhaustingly awesome. i’ve devoted so much time to it that i hardly have much time to do anything else but indulge in tv. after such a long day at work battling my composure no thanks to annoyingly-adorable teens, i am simply too decapitated to fathom anything else. thank goodness i enjoy watching tv, huh?

But getting into teaching wasn’t easy. It took me about 3 tries, I believe, before I was confirmed as a teacher. Here was when I finally got my letter of acceptance:

29 November 2006

When I opened my mailbox earlier this evening and saw this big, brown envelope with the words “ON GOVERNMENT SERVICE” stamped in big, bold letters on the top, I knew this was it. This was the exact moment I’ve been waiting for for over a year, ever since I decided to teach. Funny how I always imagined this moment to be a lot more exciting. Not like I’m expecting fanfare or confetti or anything like that — although… how cool would that be? — but I certainly expected to have a much bigger reaction than “oh, finally!”, which was exactly what I said in my head when I saw the envelope.

Ah, good times, Internet. Good times.

Have you been introduced to Tumblr yet? It’s a great, great way to share links, photos, videos. In fact it’s so convenient, that I’m going to update that all the time, leaving this only for the lengthy posts.

So in case anyone was keeping count, I’ve got this blog, Twitter and a Tumblr. How in the world do I keep up with all of them?

Well, I don’t.