where thoughts materialise.

So we're into the sixth version of my blog after the last version hung around for a year or so.

Now, a bit of info on this image. This photo was taken one lovely spring afternoon, featuring the iconic Old Well from the UNC Chapel Hill campus. I would like to think of this image as a tribute to my time in UNC Chapel Hill, the awesome friends I made and the memories I now hold dear.

A milestone in my life indeed.

I've dropped the tagboard cos its useless and taking eons to load. But thanks to Angela who helped me set it up, I still do like and will miss the pink interface.

So yeah, it's the sixth one you fellas!

Yours.

27 April 2008

you know you miss my older entries

October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008

Friday, May 30, 2008

Though I'm back, I feel I have not arrived.

Sure, home is where the heart is, but is home the place I truly want to be? Being back for almost a week, I feel at once glad and relieved, but also distant and picking on reasons of why I wanted to leave in the first place.

Perhaps it's just the groggy me still trying to get over the jet lag and figuring out my place in life right now.

Though I'm back, I feel I have not arrived. The problem is, arrived where? This I have to figure out, and fast. I do not want to slip back into life I once knew and pretend that that is all there is.

I am not unsatisfied, but the rush of life since I was back simply doesn't permit me to sit down and think - and I guess that is what today is for.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 8:53 AM

0 comments

Thursday, May 29, 2008

I can't believe how fast schedules and obligations caught up with me, almost the minute I arrived into Changi. It's nice being back, but it also entails all the meet ups, expectations - the urban lifestyle of rush and more rush.

Which really has been the reason why this blog is so bare for now.

I've been meeting up with the U NC summer schoolers, which gets me really excited cos firstly, I love showing and helping people around Singapore, and secondly, they are my beloved Tarheels! I can't think of a better combination.

Life is a rush but I am still glad to be back home.

Ok gotta go now, life beckons.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 9:46 AM

0 comments

Monday, May 26, 2008

I'm up now, at 4:30ish am, apparently a sign that jet lag has got the better of me. Fighting jet lag is tough and the super hot+humid weather isn't helping too much either.

But it sure feels good to be back home, where efficiency and cleanliness rule.

I've got the whole of summer ahead of me. I really hope I spend this time well enough, it is afterall, my last summer break ever. No more 3 months holidays after this year.

I'm hungry. And there's nothing to eat at home and I think its a little too late/early to call Ernest out for supper/breakfast. Timeout? Haha.

I think I'm gonna force myself back to sleep.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 4:49 AM

2 comments

Friday, May 23, 2008

Its finally 8pm, and I'll be boarding in about half hour's time.

18 hours later!

p/s: i'm so in love with jason m/raz's new album.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 11:01 AM

1 comments

I think Yosem/ite warrants an entry over the overdued NY ones cos it simply takes your breath away. And I think you can tell why.
(Btw, don't you think that the photo above looked like it came straight our of Jurassi/c Park?)

A pity we only had a day for Yosem/ite, I would have loved to do it for at least 2 or 3 days.

And thanks to a recommendation by this HK Clini/que lady at Mac/y's, we found a really good tze-char place in Chinat/own. Yummilicious.

* *

Its almost 5pm now, and the S/Q row still has no one in sight. Ok, I lied when I said I wanted to check in and look pissed just now. But I really hope to check in soon.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 7:52 AM

0 comments

I've just had a miserable lunch at L/AX and I have around 5 hours to spare before my plane departs for home. And that leaves me time to sit down and do things like that.

It's a little surreal, now that I'm back in L/AX and commencing my final leg of this amazing journey I started 5 months back. Amongst all that I've been through, I dare say that the friendships forged are the greatest gifts this exchange programme has given me.

Who would have thought really that I'll find such awesome friends so far away from home? It is often the most unexpected that leaves the deepest and most lasting impression.

* *

Anyway, on a lighter note.

May 23 of 2008 will always be the day that never existed in my life. These time zone things are tricky. I board the plane on May 22nd and the next time I step off will be May 24th.

Conversely, December 26th of 2007 will always be the day I lived twice. Got onto the plane at Narita in the evening and left at LA the same afternoon.

* *

Ok this is bad. I'm interior monologue-ing here and have only wasted half an hour. Its 4pm now and my flight is at 9:15pm. I think this is gonna be a long entry.

* *

OMG its only 4:06pm! Why doesn't time fly when you want it to?

* *

I'm sitting diagonally above the S/Q check in row and amazingly, everyone behind the S/Q counters are Asian, and mysteriously Singa/porean looking. This is all so puzzling. Why would they put Singa/poreans behind the counter all the way in L/AX?

Great. Now that I feel like I wanna do an early check in they all left... for afternoon tea. ALL!

* *

Ok I must end this horrible and otherwise very embarrassing entry. All this extra time is making me write like I shouldn't. I will go stand at the S/Q row and wait for them to come back from their stupid break and look pissed and hope to be upgraded.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 6:38 AM

0 comments

Thursday, May 22, 2008

I started out this journey with Tat and Grace and it is so apt that I end this journey with them. On my last day in the USA, we visited Yosem/ite National Park and were totally awed by what it had to offer.

So, life indeed goes full circle for me, and I'm more than ready to head home now. I can't even put to words what these six months mean to me and all that I've learnt/seen along the way. There are tonnes of photos from New York and San Fran long due for posting but I'm too tired now after a long day travelling.

In all, a milestone indeed, and in more ways than one, life changing as well.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 4:47 PM

0 comments

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

I'm too tired to put up all the nice photos cos I'm living in the Eastern time, which is 1:30am, when I'm physically in the West Coast, which is like 10:30pm.

Mini jet lag. Can't imagine hows life gonna be like when I arrive in Singapore.

Anyway. New York was great. Broadway. Dinner at Quartino with Erene. Top of the Rock(efeller) at midnight. Breakfast with your best friend with Jason M/raz in the background. Dinner at Nobu. All very nice.

So I'm in San Francisco now. And I need to sleep.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 1:33 PM

0 comments

Sunday, May 18, 2008

As requested by Vic, here's an important announcement for yall.

MYGLORIOUSHOMECOMING
AT WALA WALA : 24 may. sat. 8pm till late.

You know the usual procedure lah.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 11:36 PM

3 comments

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Summer is a season of transitions and change. People leave college, go on vacations (perhaps for good), become interns, take on a new lifestyle, have proper meals and adjust their sleeping patterns.

Why did Spring pass by so quickly?

Such is life really. Our existence as paths crossing and intertwining, then separating and crossing with others.

So summer is like that, a point where we inexorably must part with whatever the past has left us with.

And the only thing we have left to do is to move on, move on.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 12:01 PM

1 comments

I always look at this photo and think its quite funny and well taken but I can't seem to pinpoint the reason why.

But everyone's expression seem to tell an inidividual story and its quite interesting trying to put them together to make this picture out.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 5:04 AM

0 comments

Friday, May 16, 2008

Wooo. I'm back in New York, capital city of the world, and still trying to figure out why all the filth (take it whatever way you want) of this city doesn't seem to deter it from being the top global city of the world.

I realized I'm much more confident in New York now compared to the first time I was here. Getting around and dealing with people are things I can handle within my stride, and suddenly this big city isn't that daunting anymore. Still messy, but not daunting.

And its funny that I'm not taking any photos here in New York anymore, I think I've been here modestly enough to slip out of the tourist label.

Here are a fraction of the highlights in Chicago.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 11:55 PM

1 comments

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

A little entry before I head off to bed.

The days go by more slowly while I'm on vacation and I wonder why.

On a quiet suburban night like this, the stars shine down upon darkened fields. In my solitude, memories haunt me with reveries of days gone by.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 4:16 PM

2 comments

Monday, May 12, 2008

I'm in Chica/go right now, and I must say that this city has left quite a good first impression. It seems very much like a neater, cleaner and prettier city. I'm beginning to like it.

But I still think of Chapel Hill laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 12:54 AM

1 comments

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Farewell, Chapel Hill, farewell.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 6:23 PM

0 comments

Friday, May 09, 2008

I didn't think it would be this hard to leave Chapel Hill. Looking at my half empty room now, it is clear that as much as the pretty campus added to my sense of attachment to this place, it is very much the people too who matter.

I never experienced life like this and I know my perceptions of life has changed somehow, and changed forever.

Soon, everyone would have parted, back into lives we once knew. Tat said it right, farewells are not good byes, but the anticipation of the next hello.

I can't wait till we all see each other in Singapore again.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 10:09 AM

0 comments

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Looking at the photos taken these past 4 months, I can't help but feel a tinge of sadness that this whole exchange programme is over, and never shall be replicated again.

True, our friendship will last and I have no doubt about it. But it is the sense that our time in Chapel Hill came and gone, moments sealed in antiquity forever.

I will always miss our smiles, laughter, chats, time, experiences, love, assignments, late nights, sweet teas, meals, chill time, travels, and all that had came to be.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 12:36 PM

0 comments

It's surreal to know that Zhiqi and Alexius are somewhere over the US, that Shafy's flight just took off from RDU, and Tat Grace John and Erene are probably sleeping on a greyh/ound coach approaching DC.

And by this time tomorrow, 3 of them will be in Singapore already.

And I'm here, in my dorm, typing this. It's still the same old dorm, but a totally different feeling with Tat's belongings gone. Its like a familiar stranger I somehow always knew.

Summer is beginning to dawn upon us all.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 4:06 AM

2 comments

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

I remember arriving in Chapel Hill 6th January 2008, feeling apprehensive, a little lost and very very tired.

Fast forward to the present - it is 6th May 2008, exactly four months since I stepped foot in this quaint city. And within these four months, my life had took turns I'd never expect but will always treasure.

It's so hard to say good bye to this lovely campus, to the awesome friends and the tonnes of memories made in Chapel Hill.

And it suddenly hits you when you realise that this is probably the last time in a long long while that you get to see these people and sights.

It's just too hard to say good bye.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 2:48 PM

0 comments

So I'm down to my last couple of days in Chapel Hill, and I am filled with so many ambivalent emotions, but I know better that I must treasure each moment I have left before they become an eternal memory.

So we spent the last weekend here concluding our Bible study at the Connnor quad. Under the gleeful sun, we played frisbee and relived a bit of childhood days by playing Pepsi-cola 1 2 3. It was pretty much an idea tossed up after someone proposed that we played a "Singaporean game".

And it really got me thinking of how being away forces you to define who are, and I never thought of any game as being "Singaporean", until we were forced to think of one. It must have been eons since I last played pepsi-cola 123 cos my legs still ache today from all that jumping about.

Anyway, here are more photos of our very last weekend in UNC, taken with Carly's awesome camera.
Sing Sing 360

* *

Tomorrow is the last night for everyone together. It's been, in all, a wonderful journey.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 9:20 AM

0 comments