the bangkok trip was awesome! awfully tiring no doubt, it was a great learning experience! clara and i arrived at the hotel around noon, wasted no time and set off to begin our shopping spree! we managed to cover the three major shopping areas - siam square, mbk and platinum plaza - all in one afternoon but i hardly bought much :( i think the flood of bangkok apparels in local shopping malls and online sites is getting to me. my only regret had to be missing my wanton mee husband and suan lum!

the next three days were spent in the hotel as our schedule was fully packed with presentations, discussions, activities and interviews from morning to afternoon, not to forget the school projects we had to do after dinner. it was amazing meeting so many people from all over the world who shared a common passion for what they do and were so forthcoming with their experiences it really helped the two of us settle into the foreign environment quickly.

three main takeaways from the trip:
one. i have a better understanding of myself. the challenge, however, is to manage my personality as well as appreciating other people for their differences. it's a really difficult process, given my stubborn nature, but i'm working hard on it!

two. like vicky in vicky christina barcelona, i have absolutely no idea what i want in life. i've come to realize that life's an experiment; you can only try to find out what you like by eliminating what you don't like and that is, after giving everything a try. so i'm trying to be more open-minded and adventurous now!

three. i enjoy having my own personal space. after a good three days spent away from home, i was rather reluctant to come back to all the bustle and nagging at home. i used to think that i was a homely person but now i realize i'd only wanted to have my own space and home's not exactly the best place for that. living on my own certainly sounds really appealing!

anyway, here're some random photos from the trip.

before leaving on my first business trip :) did i mention that i overslept and almost missed the flight?

favourite tuktuk ride!

on the boat on chao phraya river across the hotel we stayed in. it's really luxurious, we were given a twin room each!

the BEST oyster omelette i've ever eaten, seriously!

camwhoring before dinner on the first night :)

aww isn't he just ADORABLE!

dinner cruise on the second night, taken with the friendly and talented music performer for the night, who's only sixteen btw.

with the secondees and coaches.

met up for lunch with weiren on thurs. the last time i remembered talking to him was more than a year ago, after the release of his olevel results. now he's already into his second year of poly! it's great to see him make it this far. to hear of his accomplishments and self-motivation, i actually feel quite proud even though i doubt i helped much.
anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY in advance!

when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. keep on striving!

my midterm break started last saturday after the bp midterm, which i hope i do decent. even though it's only tuesday, i feel like i don't much of a break left! caught vicky cristina barcelona on sat after dinner at outback. it wasn't my kind of movie, watching it late at night made it worse. worked on sunday and mahjonged after that, losing 29 bucks (ouch!) but i believe i'll recoup the losses another time. coloured and highlighted my hair at snip avenue yesterday. cheap hair services at average (or below, my sister would say) service quality. the red highlights i wanted turned out slightly pinkpurplish :S i can't decide if i like the change. today, i worked again and sales was surprisingly good :) so there goes 4 days of the break.
with the remaining week left, i need to complete a position paper, work on projects and go running. i'm excited to try out the new asics running shoes i got at a steal from peninsular plaza lol! i'm really thankful i'm done with midterms so i have excuses to waste the midterm break away yay :)

it's hard to notice how much your parents have aged when you see them every day. it's scary when the physical reality finally hits you in the face and i won't even go into details about that. what's frustrating is knowing that you can do nothing about it except to wait for the time for a switch of roles.
till then, the clock continues ticking away.