So I have turned 25 just a while ago.

And so happen, how "appropriately" this article showed up on my facebook feed. 

 Honestly, this is a pretty good read.

Then just somehow, coincidentally (or not) people started sharing more and more similar thought post on being in your 20's or 25s...

 From top right to bottom left: (a) The 25 Scariest Things About Turning 25, (b) 25 Lessons I Learned By 25, and (c) 25 Things I Know Now That I'm 25

 I’m feeling a little weirded out by all of the birthday blog posts I’ve been seeing lately. All these got me thinking what's the big deal about turning 25? Or it is a big deal? I remember joking with my older friends or friends who were turning 25 like "what's the big deal, its only 25!" and continued to joke about "we have roam this earth for a quarter of a century now..." Many responded about the dread and uneasiness and warn me that you will experience the same thing. 

Honestly, now I have officially turned 25, I liked to say that the "wave of dread and uneasiness" did not quite hit me. Yes, I feel a tad older (DUH? after all one year has passed and biologically your body has taken another year of beating). I hadn't planned on writing a birthday-post really. But since a group of my friends (K&J) said to my on my birthday that "you only turn a big -25-once" so I thought it would be appropriate for me to document a few of my thoughts as a person who is officially now a quarter of a century old.

K & J on my birthday

At the age of 25, living in an Asian country embedded with many traditions and practices, one (especially a senior) will always asked. What are you doing now? (Simply put, what have you achieved?) Are you seeing someone now? (Getting married yet? Your cousins are already popping babies...) Oh this is one of my favourite - Heard you are still in school (In their eyes, you are still bumping and wasting your life away in school.) To many, twenty-five is the age of professional athletes or successful professionals. Twenty-five is the age of married couples and parents to many little ones. Twenty-five is the age of people who are out of their confusing early 20s and on-track with their careers and lives in general.

Honestly i can't quite say that i am in those one of the twenty-five group. I am neither a professional athlete now (like many of my ex team mates have become), nor am i a proud married woman with toddlers running around at home (still single and ever for available to mingle). I can't quite say that i am a successful professional either given that i am less than a year into my first job. Have I failed? To some perhaps, but in my eyes not really. Things like successful career, owning or en-route to having a prefect family etc. should not be the milestone determining our successes at the age of 25.

Today, at the age of 25, I'd liked to think that I am pretty successful (not in the usual terms). I'd like to think that regardless of the "tradition milestones" that many 25 should have achieved, I have achieved my own set of "unique milestones" that many  have yet to experience. At the age of 25, I am proud to say that I have had one too many exciting experiences. I've gotten the chance to experience unique profession not many people could. I learnt what it takes to "attempt" to become a professional athlete. Put in endless hours to training, teared ever so occasionally due to sheer toughness of the sports, punished the ever so tired body demanded by the brunt of this sport. As an added bonus, I get to travel around the world for professional competitions, travel to exotic places and made many amazing friends that you otherwise would not have met. At the age of 25, I am a proud holder of my Master degree. When people chose to go straight into a job right after graduation, I have decided to go back to school yet again. I am thankful to have made this decision and the enormous support from my family. Today I am clear of what I would like to achieve with my life and what kind of career I want to have. At the age of 25, I started my first job in a professional area (healthcare) which has bring me much joy and enthusiasm. Have I reached my "tradition milestones"? Not really. But I am closer to where I was yesterday. Have I failed. Not really. I have had setbacks, made terrible decisions (which some I have come to regret a little), and wasted time. But it is these experience that made me me.

At the age of 25, I have grown so much, coming out of my shell, gained great deal of confidence and acquire skills and knowledge which my 20 year old self wouldn't have.

 

 

I think part of growing up is realizing that the cookie cutter lifestyle is a myth. We are NOT suppose to be at certain checkpoints at certain age. We think we know what we're supposed to be doing with our lives at different age, but in reality these "checkpoints" are different for everyone. Perhaps if we stop fussing over where we should be at certain age, and start realizing what we want to be then turning 25 is really not too bad. To my fellow people out there who is 25, or turning 25 soon... REALLY IT'S NO BIG DEAL. Turning 25 or being 25 should be an exciting time of our lives. It should still be the time that we continue exploring and making mistakes because we still have time to correct the wrongs. And I say we live it to the fullest!

Cheers, I~ 

It's been a week... My thoughts...

It is exactly one week since the graduation. Just received the graduation photos from my lovely friend Nat last night (Will do a separate post regarding his AMAZING photography service). As i browsed through the photos, i thought it was befitting to actually do up a post on the graduation that has happened last Saturday. 

Well, the graduation itself is a small and quaint affair, nothing like or close to the grandeur of the graduation back in NUS last year. Despite so, the graduation was still as exciting and if not more heart warming and meaningful as to the one at NUS last year. Almost all the important people in my life were there. And even sweeter, for the first time ever, i TOPPED my class! Now, thinking about it still never fail to put a smile on my face. Graduation took place at Raffles City Convention Center. As mentioned, small affair, inside one of all the ballrooms.

It was an exciting and arduous one and the half year journey throughout this MSc course. After 8 modules, 1 big-o-dissertation, 9 individual projects, 4 presentations, 3 group projects and thousands of words churned out, we finally graduated. No doubt it is only a one years odd program, it is as intense as it could be. We started out the program as different individuals thrown into a class without a single clue who each other are. After numerous hours in class together, boring lectures after lectures, projects after projects, heartaches and DRAMA in class we left the program taking away so much. We have learnt to lean on one another, never once being selfish. Well, i am glad to have went through this with all these amazing people (Su, Manpreet, Nilar, Thurah, Nay and Charlotte). Thank you so very much. Thanks for making class a little more interesting with our frequent bitching and chats and keeping each other sane. Thanks for all the laughters we have had. And thank you all for always being so kind to me (helping me brainstorm my work, giving me suggestions, lending me notes, always being super confident about my work and many many more...) THANK YOU!

Taking today's achievement out of the class, there is another group of people whom i MUST mention for similarly without them the achievements today would not have been possible. This special group of people has been such solid support during this period. I entered this program thinking "Masters, no biggy~" I was so wrong. It was difficult. No, it was a torment. The course was tough, so much so i was so close to giving up when dissertation took a turn for the worst. I entered the program thinking that i can do this on my own. But i was wrong too. I could not have done this on my own. Honestly I thank God for all the help and encouragement many have rendered when I was in the rut and at the lowest of my life. Thanks to my family (Dad, Mum and bros) and friends for their unwavering support and encouragement and always believing that I  could achieve whatever I am doing even when I don’t. Big thanks also go out to my best friends Reina and Edward for keeping me sane and lend me a listening ear when I bitch about the **A girl from school, to be super proud of me when I have achieved my new degree. Thanks also go out to other friends and love ones from the closest circle, the HKSS boys or rather men by now, my favourite juniors (the adopted siblings, Nanfeng and Hinyang), my beloved JC gals (Janet, Kelly, Alison and Darrell *Thanks for not getting mad at me for hiding my BIG SECRET!!)  =p), my uni ladies (JingXiu and Audrey *Same to you, thanks for not getting mad at me for hiding my BIG SECRET!! ) and last but not least my dearest coach (Balaz). Thank you all of you for encouraging me to go for my dream, always believing in me! And more importantly thanks for loving me the way I am and always ever supportive for whatever decisions i made.

This quote pretty much sums it all for all the people in this group including my family. After the drama in 2011, and the decision that I have made to pursue another academic venture (under my own terms) these people are always here for me. Being super supportive about my decisions, never once questioning them.They never gets tired of listening to my my own dramas over, over and over again and are always there to give the much needed boost of encouragement when i needed them the most. To know that no matter what happens, even if the sky falls down, that they will always be there for me no matter what. 

Thank you you all! 

Till next time~

Cheers, 

I. 

{ Prologue }: The new beginning.

"{Prologue} = Greek πρόλογος prologos, from the word pro (before) and lógos, word) 

is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details."

Well, as the title of the post suggest, this is my prologue about the idea behind this blog as well as my first entry! After a fair amount of planning and thoughts put into this blog, the blog is finally up and running! 

This is the first maiden entry. For someone, like me who has never blogged before, i have to say the feeling of writing the first entry is pretty exciting and a tad nostalgic. As i sit here penning this entry, i took a momentary walk down memory lane with images of all the things that have happened the past one year.

Before i dive into "exciting" details about my life, here's a short paragraph to the inspiration behind this blog. So this blog is inspired by a couple of closest friend of mine. As many close ones know, i am very very VERY good at disappearance act and going off the radar to live in my little cave while no one knows what is going on with my life or if i am even alive! So the idea behind this blog is really to HOPEFULLY, be able to keep my friends and love ones updated about my life as well as a small little platform for me to practice a little of my writing skills. Hope my friends will appreciate it and many more readers will be able to enjoy this blog.

 

This blog is literally a new beginning for me. Yesterday the 17th November 2012 marked one of the 'Award Worthy' highlight of my life. Graduation. I have graduated again from university (A separate post will be up about the graduation itself). I am very very excited about the this next phase of my life and the many things to come. There are so many many things that i was told i have to update friends about. All i can say is stay tuned! 

Till next time ~

Cheers,

I.