One of my biggest fear has come true... It's really heart-wrenching :'(

 Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them - William Shakespeare

Why is it that we always compare who is 'greater'? Who is better, who is smarter, who is more successful... For a few days, there had been something at the back of my mind - why do I seem incompetent in certain aspects of life? Of course I'd kept it to myself. But this afternoon, James said something that struck me. We were discussing about computers and computer science. I had told him that I was a complete idiot with computers who sometimes had difficulties installing softwares. He responded with a semi-nonchalant "well, I guess everyone has their own niche areas so you shouldn't be too concerned about it."

It was a simple reply but somehow it struck me, and I felt a lot better about myself.

That was possibly one of the most intelligent things I've heard a Brit say so far.

I lost my voice and I'm really serious. It's not just some normal sore throat and I'm not just making a mountain out of a molehill. It's bad, real bad. I can't even speak and my volume is like that of whispering. SERIOUS. My friends had such a shock when they heard my non-existent voice. In fact, it is so bad that I can't even be bothered to speak cos it just strains my voice box and makes my throat feel more sore. Sigh. I feel so helpless, it's really as though I'm mute. I can't express myself, I can't sing along to nice songs, and I can't even laugh. Yes, through this, I realised that we actually need voice to laugh. Geez. Sad Halloween weekend for me - I don't think I'll even bother to attend the party tonight. It'll probably make my condition worse.

And yday, I came to conclusion that the British health care system is utter rubbish. I've always heard about it - but I've finally experienced it myself. It is purely crap and undeniably thrives on inefficiency and low productivity. I walked into the Students Health Service for the first time yday at abt 11.45am, hoping to see a doctor to get some prescriptions for my lost voice. I was told that I had to wait till Tuesday to see a doctor, or if I wanted to see a nurse, the earliest appointment would be 2.15pm. That meant more than 2hours of waiting! Nevertheless, I agreed to see a nurse, thinking she could give me some medication. When the time came, our 'consultation' lasted a mere 3 minutes - she took my temperature, checked my tonsils, announced that it was severely inflamed and I was on the borderline of a fever. She went on to mention that she does not do prescriptions and thus, she wrote down the name of some lozenges and directed me to the nearest Boots pharmacy to purchase them over the counter. I was stunned and speechless. I had waited for more than 2 freaking hours just to be told these crap?! It was utterly ridiculous and I have been seriously put off by this screwed up health care system.

Thankfully I have some of my own medication that I had brought over from Sg and my parents are going to mail me more!

Sucks to be me :(

I've been away for way too long. I've barely posted any entry during my summer break which stretched over 3 months. Busy, no inspiration and the other usual excuses. But hey, over summer, I took up two very valuable and enriching internship stints which really fine-tuned my views of a career in law. No doubt the "challenging" and "well-renumerated" parts still remain, but I figured there is a lot more than just earning big bucks and making an impressive name for yourself. What else matters? Pausing to think about what is really right and whether you should be fighting for a certain client - does it tie in with your moral values and is there even a need for legal recourse?

Being back in Bristol has given me time to be more self-indulgent. I've reflected on how I've spent my summer.

It was amazing no doubt. The many opportunities I've had, the new people I've met, and simply the vast experiences that were laid down before me... They were truly blessings. Amidst these though, there remains a tinge of regret within me. I realised that I had spent less time than usual with my family. Although my brother and I did stick to our ritual of taking my grandparents out for a decent meal at a particular heartland area, we failed to take them to any of the new IRs. The fact is that I have not been to any of the IRs myself. But I do know that we could have brought my grandparents to somewhere much finer. Admittedly my allowance as an intern would not suffice for a big meal at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, recently named one of the world's most expensive hotels. Yet, there remains that bit of bitterness. Perhaps we'd bring them to one of the IRs in December when we're back in Sg. And although throughout summer, I tried my best at spending weekend dinners with my family, there were times when I rushed off to meet my friends to club or supper or mahjong after the family dinner. Now clubbing over summer is a separate story and I'll leave that for another time. But yes, I missed some opportunities of simply hanging out with my family over a late night movie - whether it was in the theatres or on DVD. Undeniably though, I did spend reasonable amounts of quality time with my family over dinner and TV nights on weekdays after work, and I did watch a few movies with my family!

On hindsight, I guess I could cut myself some slack. My summer was good and relatively well-spent from a wholesome perspective.

geez it's been soooo long. i wonder if anyone still reads this space. apart from my lj friends, i don't think anyone else still does? in any case, i've been rather busy. new experiences, new thoughts, new aspirations, new perspectives that's for sure. undeniably, i've been having good times with my friends, just chilling, hanging out and the occasional clubbing. nothing really fancy in particular, honestly.

it's late, time to crash into my pillows! good night world. will definitely post a more detailed entry soon! stay tuned.

 hello friends! i'm back in Singapore! well, i was back since 15th June actually (: before my return to Sg, my bro and i toured Spain -- namely Madrid and Barcelona. it was lovely and thoroughly enjoyable! there're loads of photos to upload though. i shall do them another dayyyy.

SPAIN MUST NOT LET ME DOWN AGAIN TONIGHT! 

 wow, i haven't posted an entry in a long while! well, after my last paper on 24th May, i've been having a good time! travelling around, eating good food and living the good life. but of course, i'd been pretty busy as well, planning all that travelling and packing for storage as well as my luggage to return home. so far, it's been road trip to Birmingham & Alton Towers ( i drove a manual Vauxhall Astra sports version for the 3 days, covered about 500 miles in total ) , and Bath and Cardiff. will post photos up when i'm free! hahaha. stay tuned! 

okay my bro's coming down and i've gotta pick him up from the train station! (:

i'm halfway there - 2 papers down, 2 more to go. i'm glad that i've been able to survive through the papers, though i'm certainly not confident of getting a first class for any so far. in any case, they've been better than expected, esp for consti rights! i survived with just 2 hours of sleep last night bcos i was busy cramming at the last minute. we had back to back papers so it really wasn't fun at all. i'm glad that FoI and HRA and JR came out in this morning's paper though! yay.

contract and criminal left. they will be conquered as well (: