The unbearable likeness of being GEP

So, it's time to start settling and getting back into the groove. Exams commencing in a week's time (a discovery from attending class, which is increasingly becoming less of a fun activity), and just some random thoughts floating around my mind.

1. It's another 17 days or less before I leave Charlottesville. Everyone talks about how time flies when you're having fun but I can't think of any person who has ever commented that the exchange went by too slow and that they're dying to leave the country and go back to the Motherland. Much as I hate being back here after a week of travelling, leaving here is going to be something quite lamentable. Sigh.

2. Being in Philly and Middletown was a good opportunity to gain perspective, listening to people who have chosen rather dramatically different paths in life. Serious thoughts of having a 'normal' (9-to-5) job with time put aside for personal enhancement, enrichment and enlightenment (yeah, right) are surfacing. Oh, the fact that the job applications aren't going fantastically prolly makes a difference. But in all honesty, putting aside time to read, to learn a foreign language, to manage one's personal finances actively - all these are things I crave to do as well. Bugger.

3. Isn't it funny how when we were growing up, the epitome of achievement was getting a top scholarship with a government agency so that we would be able to go overseas and experience a foreign education while getting paid to do so? 5 years down the road, it's interesting to see how people are all shaping up. Interestingly, for a person who pretty much messed up his A levels and not having a secure career ahead of him, it appears that my happiness level is greater than that of my peers serving their belated NS now. Seeing friends go overseas to pursue astronomy in a liberal arts college and others refusing to be bonded to the government to major in psychology oddly affirms to me that sticking it to Boon Lay University and joining a new university without a physical campus was perhaps the best decision of my life to date.

4. Chicago has too many revolving doors.

5. The best friends that you can possibly have in the universe are those that you can not talk to for ages (ranging from months to maybe something like 5 years) and yet you can pick up the conversation like it was just yesterday. Better still are those that you never had that many sentences with but find so easy to relate to and are able to just continue chatting about random stuff, ranging from current affairs to weird topics, common themes of childhood and whatnots. This is the one thing that I'll be forever grateful to GEP for.

6. The weather here is 18 degrees celsius. Like, what the hell.

7. To make myself feel better and justify my US$300 expression of momentary madness, here's a picture of the suit that I talked about. Comments most welcome.