What's Up

I haven't had anything thought-provoking or profound(if I ever had before) to write about so I shall just update on how this one month has been, since completing A-Levels:

1. Meet-ups and Outings:

The two weeks after the last A2 paper and before Prom, I think I went out with 3 groups of people.( and 2 of these meet ups were in Sunway Pyramid). It's so good to be catching up with friends of old. One of the things A-Levels has robbed from me was all this precious bonding time(except with classmates).

From left: Le Yi, Su-Wern, Me, Shu Ling, Pei Jia and Xin Ying. This was our possy in the guides back then. Good that everyone made it. Ellie showed up later for lunch.

Later that week, I also met up with Yee Ling, CK and KX. Don't really have any pictures except of us bowling and of YL and CK <3 XD.  Basically, me and YL met up at Sunway first and did some window shopping, while the guys played pool at AC. Then, we caught up over lunch and went bowling.

On Wednesday of the next week, went on that KL trip with Xin Yan(or as my mum calls her, Backpacker Friend) as "discussed" on Twitter. We had a few stops. First, we met up at Pavillion and walked to Levain. Wasn't as far a journey as I thought, visited the Beryl's Shop halfway.

The view onlooking the back of Levain

Tried out the walkway from Pavillion to KLCC, took our time in Kinokuniya and hunted for my prom clutch.

Kinokuniya was featuring the works of Kazuo Ishiguro(pics above). There was also one of Sherlock Holmes.

Walked to Jalan Alor to find a hotel for XY to stay in. She intended to spend a few nights in KL(she's from Kajang by the way) before taking a bus down to Singapore.

Jalan Alor. Lots of food stalls here.

2. Prom:

Well, I didn't have very high hopes for this. One thing was because the number of people you meet in 1.5 years couldn't match those of 5 years. So less photo-taking and mingling. Also, the Student Council only had like, about 4 months of less to organise this so it couldn't have been as elaborate as my high school one. It was alright, in the end. Got to take photos with most of the friends I've met, saw everyone dressed up, enjoyed good(though it wasn't a lot!). Sadly, my classmate Nathalie didn't win Prom Queen, she was in the final 3! Ah yes, one peeve about this was that they handled the Prom Court selection so briefly. There was no catwalk, or any other embarrassing act the candidates had to endure. Before the agenda of the night started, the photos of the final 3 were up and we just had to vote.  That was no fun >:(.

The girls of PM4(sans Nathalie) and our mentor, Ms Tan 

All of the PM4 Prom Attendees(and mentor)

3. Class Trip:

This would be our last MAJOR class event. ( Just met up with some of them today so can't say it's ALL over). 6 were absent though of course, we would have wanted everyone to turn up. Compared to last year's Singapore trip, I guess we decide to tone down about by just heading somewhere domestic, so we chose Langkawi. The whole trip was good, fun in the sun, bonding and some chocolate shopping. Just that, we would probably have had more time if we didn't take the bus. 2 days were spent practically on the road. But all in all, was a good trip. Hope it's not the last time everyone gathers like this.

 Everyone at the beach next to our motel

At the iconic eagle statue

4. Runs

Attended the Standard Chartered KL Marathon last Sunday, the first of a few runs I will be joining for this period of time. I guess my time improved, but not a lot, and my best was still in my Form 5 days(maybe merentas desa got us all on the running bandwagon). The distance for this run was the furthest(10km), the upcoming ones will only be 7k and 5k. Though, I signed up for 16.8k for Adidas King of the Road in September.

The 10km finisher medals from my runs in the years 2010, 2011 and 2012.

So, that was most of the major events of my life for this past month since A-Levels ended. Besides that, have also been catching up on movies. Nothing too drastic yet. Let's hope I get more productive in the months ahead.

EDIT:

Forgot to mention another activity for the past month.

5.Cheer

I'm not the one doing the cheering though. My brother joined Cheer this year, thus as supportive family,we decided to attend the Cheer competitions. Two were held recently, one was Cheer 2012 on the 16th and 17th of June and the Charm Cheerleading Competition( C3) the week after. Despite my brother only joining our school's cheerleading squad this year, I was already a fan of cheerleading ever since covering Cheer 2009 as a BRAT. It really is a great sport, the passion, the sacrifices and the effort of all competitors can be seen so clearly through all their precise routines. A performance may only last for a few minutes but it would have taken months of training to perfect. Furthermore, you can feel so much energy not only through the competitors but through the audience. Some schools even send in busloads of parents and students to cheer their school teams on, schools have even formed supporter clubs where they spend their time perfecting chants and also to work on signs and banners. It is really quite inspiring.

At Cheer 2012

Never Truly Gone

I can't believe a year has passed already. Time felt like it has flowed both swiftly and slowly. I remember it was the week of holiday after the Semester 1 examinations. It wasn't a particularly good week, with today last year marking my grandmother's passing.

This year, the week was mostly going out, meeting people and preparing for Prom on Friday. It's fortunate that you've already seen me dressed up lavishly during my last prom. You may not be able to see my look tomorrow, but I'm sure you would have said I looked wonderful despite my own doubts.

Always in thought, and in memory.

Minute

I recall, during the last Raleigh meet, me and Kar Lye were talking about my probable Borneo expedition (fingers crossed!) and my gap year plans. Soon she said to me " It's good(that you'll be doing medicine)! We're always in need of medical staff. Our doctors are usually venturers who take time off their work to volunteer during expeditions."

I guess, it's these little things, that are of such significance to me. Comments that may seem so casually uttered bear more weight to me. How we'll be meeting after so long to see how everyone has fared, how my friends consulting me (best they don't get that chance) in the future. Mere words, or the simplest of actions, all forms of motivation, expectation. If you put it in a darker light, burden and pressure.

Nonetheless, this is all it takes to thrust me back on my path.