Update: Wai-Chung

hey fellas..

i know this was probably due waaaaaaaay long ago, but i thought i'd update everyone about the going-ons in land of Wai(kiki).. i just thought it'd be great to hear from everyone again, like what's happening blah blah.. maybe this'll kickstart a few more posts from some of us MIA-ers.. or maybe it won't. Or hey, if those of u in Sg who have been meeting up often wanna post an update of yerself, feel free.. even if it's blatently obvious and last year's news.. stuff that some of us foreign correspondents maybe don't hear about immediately... like jason getting married (?!)...

so, here goes.

ok, first off.. sorry for not being in touch that much these past 4 years.. yep, it's been that long. still remember the circumstances that i left singapore.. and i recall how blatently misguided my perspectives were then. not to say i'm all that wiser now (altho i've just joined the 1/4 century club), but that's another story for another time. point is, when i left for perth back then, i had this really infantile (read: stupid) idea of a life experiment to test assumptions about friendships and relationships i've made in my life. it was quite retarded, and 'damn egotistical' too (thanks Joshua for that verbal punch in the arm, i still have that email). in short, i realised how much of an ass i've been and now i'm going to put aside all attempts to be macho or whatever and say 'sorry'.

sorry.

i guess we all were young, idealistic and clueless at least once in our life. for some like me, more than once. i can't say i'm out of that stage, but i've had time to think. yep, reality is, life moves on and we can't expect things to remain in utopia forever. just gotta take life as it goes and adapt. so here i am.

right, basically, my life in uni these 4 years has been great.. met lots of people from all over the world.. studied stuff that i never imagined i'd sink my teeth into.. travelled to places and saw sights. i actually enjoyed studying back then.. i say 'back then' cos this last honours year for me has been hell.. i'm currently fighting to complete my thesis due end of August.. not that my topic isn't interesting or do-able.. it's just that things often happen in your life that distract you from what you're supposed to be doing and the trick is to be disciplined to keep focussed. stuff like, oh, managing people-to-people ties, relationships or near-relationships etc.. and so, i'm having a hard time now catching up on lost time and getting this last piece of academic writing outta my life.

and yeah, for those of you who didn't know, my mum was diagnosed with 3rd stage breast cancer in february last year. i thank God cos even after going through all the therapy, her health has been remarkably good considering the severity of the cancer. currently, she's still able to go to work and is still very much active in church. but obviously, this episode has changed my family's as well as my own perspective of life and how we treat each other. so i'm looking forward to heading home for good after i complete this final few weeks of studying.. i've been away from family and friends for too long.. so you can look at this as my 'homecoming' rant..

alright, that's all from me right now.. hear from any one of you soon.

Wai-Chung