Came and Went

24th March came and went. It was a day of fun, competitiveness, joy, nervousness, laughter and sun, sand, sea.

It was the day of my company's DnD. The event was held at Rasa Sentosa and there was a treasure hunt in the afternoon. Me and 3 other interns formed a group, went running round the island of Sentosa. Been to more of the attractions in 2 hours than I ever had in my entire life. 2nd prize eluded us as we got stumped by one of clues. Top prize went to the guy interns as they had a secret weapon on their side. Lucky them. Was fun, running round. In the end, it was a foot race to the finishing point for the 2nd prize. Alas, my stamina wasn't good enough. =P

Dinner was by the beach. Pretty romantic. Sunset was brilliant. Think my photography skills didn't do justice to the beautiful scenery. Food wasn't as good as expected and the compere was not very good either. Some of the games got too draggy and boring. But still, everyone was in good spirits and game for the activities that lined up. Our performance.. well, let's just say was a fun and casual item. Could of course have done it much better. Was nervous like a wreck inside, though i pretended to be calm on the outside. Think most ppl didn't see thru my act! Haa.. my acting skills sure not bad. Overall, though there were blunders here and there, it was a good item, and I believe most people enjoyed it.

Oh, I was lucky enough to won the smallest prize of the lucky draw! Haa.. Of course, ipod video or ipod nano would have been so much better. Well, at least it was better than nothing. (Oh, it's a $40 Olio voucher).

I'm glad that in the end I did perform for the DnD. It's not the exhilaration of being in front of tens of people - in fact the nervousness probably out did any sense of proudness! Haa. It was the whole process of rehearsing for it. Had loads of fun rehearsing with the others. My 2 colleagues who were the music accompanists dun seize to amaze me. They are so good on the piano/keyboard. Could just come up with the accompliment impromptu. Had such a great time the other day over lunch, where we went jamming away, doing Broadway songs and the all time classics. The spontaneity was so engaging and basically was super fun!! Hmm, wonder now that the DnD is over, will we still have the chance of such jamming sessions? Hope so.

Another thing that I'm glad of... guess had to thank those 2 again too. Because they "forced" me to play my dizi for one of the songs, I had to practice my flute techniques again after having neglected them for years. It's a skill that I should sustain, after all I have played them for so many years. D got me to thinking of picking it up seriously again... Maybe I should go look up my flute instructor.

2AM Dinner

I woke up about 40 mins ago and ate my dinner. Problem of this is that it's now 2.45am. Huh? Such an 'early' dinner? Yah.
Had one of my spells of migraine today. Realised the level of pain of my migraines have sought of lowered, along with the frequency. I guess, as I grew older, I understand my body better, and know how to prevent them more effectively.
Alas, yesterday I couldn't. Got home at about 8pm, showered and tried to have dinner before heading to my migraine cure - sleep + panadol actifast. Even with the tom yam paste, I couldn't get more than 2 spoonfuls down before I felt like throwing up. That's the horrid thing about migraines. It's not just a headache. It's a headache that is often so bad, that renders you incapable of work, and gives you that disgusting nauseas feeling. Anyway, I headed straight to bed, and hence woke up to find the rest of my dinner in the fridge waiting.
The cause of my migraine, however, was a satisfiying one for I've spent a day fulfilling my need. Went to help out with the packing of toys to be sent to Cambodia. Though the work is tiring, it's truly gratifying for I know I've done something meaningful. Like I mentioned in my last blog, I need such involvement to keep me alive. I'm really glad I helped out.
Anyone in need of a pair of extra hands, dun hesitate to let me know!

My Need

A friend 'complained' that I haven't been updating my blog. How true. It's been almost a month since my last entry. Frankly speaking, it's not that I don't want to write. In fact I did attempt to, there were 2 postings that I wrote half way before giving up. Partly due to lack of internet access at home. But more importantly, I find that I can't put my thoughts coherrently into words. Half way through writing, I would end up having nothing to say. Then I would look back at what I have written and think: why am I writing such stuff of nonimportance? Of course, no one dictates how you should write your blog. But for me, this blog is meant for me to reflect upon my life regularly, kind of force myself to take time off and look at things in perspective and not get caught up in the rush of life. Of course, it's also a means of communication to my dearest friends...

Anyhow, these few weeks been so busy that I have precisely been doing what I am not suppose to - live life in a whirl and forget to take a step back and look at my life from another angle. If I did, my mind was probably in such a messy state that I drew no conclusions and just repeated each day as it was. Inside my puny brain, there is a swarm of things floating around. My thoughts just jump from one thing to another, in no logical sense at all.

Why is this happening? I have no idea. Maybe I've been too caught up in work. Work has been busy but thankfully, it has been fun. I'm glad that till now, all the interns have been working together and made work so much more fun. I'm blessed to not dread work every morning, in fact I look forward to it. Eager to find out how's our experiments coming along. As much a headache as the experiments have been, I do enjoy working on them. The learning has been steep and I think because there's a lot of active and experiential learning, I have gained a lot.

Outside work, my life is pretty much a blank. I try to be physically active, go to the gym, start a regular badminton session and hopefully go kayaking soon. Think it's important to fill my life other stuff besides work. I don't want to fall into the typical working life cycle of just work and home.

Though life is busy enough as it is already, recently started having this nagging feeling that I still lack something. And I found the answer to it after meeting up with a friend, F. F came back from Pakistan recently, was there helping out the quake victims. Her comments and sharing dug out that passion for community service that I had buried away for a couple of years. On my shelf, facing my bed, are a couple of pictures. One - my favourite, was a picture of me standing in front of a paddy field in the countryside of Cambodia, another was me 'meditating' at the ruins of Wat Phu in Laos. Every night, before turning in, my heart tugs as I look upon those pictures. Those were the happiest days of my life. What I won't give to relive them again. But alas, life never goes the way one wishes. I think I need to get myself involved in some project again. I need the feeling and knowledge that I am doing something meaningful in life. I need that feeling and knowledge to drive me again, to fill my life with memories, to live my life passionately.