New Years Resolutions - 2015

Some resolutions for the new year ahead, something I haven't done (that is, actually thought of and resolved to do) for the past few years, we'll see if the ones I made now pan out:
Resolution 1 - Lose weight to 54kg
Reason: Have been middling about 55kg for the past few years, until now when I seem to have hit 56-57kg. Not cool.

Resolution 2 - Visit Mexico, see Aztec ruins
Reason: Meant to book a trip to do it this Winter break, but procrastinated so much/got distracted by other things, and hence never booked anything. UGH.

Resolution 3 - Get a summer internship
Reason: Is very very very important to helping me determine what I want/need to do in my career.

Resolution 4 - Watch an opera
Reason: Again, meant to watch one a few months ago, but kept putting it off, until the Met opera took a break for the winter season. Must watch Carmen within the new few months, if I am ever to experience an opera performance at all!

Resolution 5 - Get a driving licence
Reason: I would like to get this crucial life skill over and done with, thanks.

A List of Lists Of 2014

Places I visited:

1) Ipoh, Malaysia

2) Boracay, Philippines

3) Romania

4) Frankfurt, Germany

5) Philadelphia, USA

Places I have uprooted to from Singapore:

- Skillman, New Jersey, USA

- Teacher's College, New York City, New York, USA

Things I have consumed since waking up today:

- Remaining sliver of bread loaf, with slice of swiss cheese and (awesome) sweet Lebanon bologna 

- One banana

- Leftover brussel sprouts with turkey bacon

- Leftover cauliflower cheese

- Leftover creamed spinach

- Not-nice goldfish crackers

- One hibiscus flower (that tastes like hawthorn flakes)

Music I purchased in 2014:

1) Sia's Chandelier

2) L'amour est un oiseau rebelle, from Carmen

3) Handsome Family's Far from Any Road

4) Etta James' Swing Low

5) One Republic's Counting Stars

6) Lighthouse Family's High

7) Clean Bandit's Rather be

8) Echosmith's Cool kids 

9) Lorde's Royals

Things I have learnt in my first semester of Masters:

W4170x, History of the First Crusade - humans behaviour doesn't really change, but excuses do. Also gained a new appreciation for the many different accounts of events.

A&HH 4070, History of American Education - education can be, and is, a scarily powerful and political tool. Who on earth would've thought to create a whole type of special school devoted to eliminating the Native American culture? Americans did! ALSO: American education system is super fucked up.

ITSF 4613, Peace and Human Rights Education - how education, and even the way how things are taught can eventually effect great changes in society. Also gained much, much, much greater insight into the (lack of) rights of women in greater society due to existing structures).

ITSF 4090, Issues and Institutions in Educational Development - ideas about the function of education and school, awareness of core vs. periphery/north vs. south, ideas and problems about the existing field of top-down, UN large-scale type development

Types of clothes I wore for the first time in 2014:

- Black leggings

- Sweaters

- Jean leggings from Uniqlo

- Semi-sporty North Face winter jacket (because it's so cold and I can't be bothered to use my less-warm Winter coat)

- Fleece pyjama bottoms

- Ankle boots (that my Mum bought for me as a parting gift in Germany, that I absolutely love)

- Sperry topsiders (influenced by Lauren, my cousin)

- Reverted back to wearing plain, fitted t-shirts

Other miscellaneous milestones:

- Receiving no rejections from the 3 universities I applied to (TC, accepted; UPenn, accepted; Stanford, waitlisted)

- Learning how to drive a car, but failing the road test (50/50 for the Final Theory Test though!)

- Learning how to live with cats

- Parasailing with Dad in Boracay

- Cliff diving in Boracay

- Filling in many gaps of knowledge of the Middle Ages

- Finishing puzzles with my Aunt and Uncle over the Christmas break

- Figuring out the damn NYC subway system

- Learning how to use liquid eyeliner, although it still smudges

- Wearing glasses again, because one eye has slightly fuzzy vision

- Participating in qin ming with my grandparents

- Seeing the Thanksgiving float inflation

- (SORT OF) watching the Rockefeller Christmas Tree light up ceremony

- Finishing two different cross-stitch patterns (gifts for my Mum and Aunt Cat)

- Removing all my wisdom teeth

- Learning how to floss, finally

- Quitting my first job

- Tutoring/helping out/experiencing adult education (for GEDs)

Things I want to achieve in 2015:

- Get a driving license

- Visit Mexico, see the ruins!

- See the cherry blossoms bloom in Washington DC

- Finish a third cross-stitch

- Get an internship, preferably in some peace education place

New Favourite Music Video

Clean Bandit's Rather Be, simply because it's so cute. First saw it just under a week ago when I hung out with Shirin and Jerrine in K-Town to celebrate the end of the term (and the successful submission of all my work!)

Captions

Shit, this is the funniest subtitle I've seen in ages. I laughed, out loud. 

My Room

Stupid shit aside, I really do love my room. It's where all the things I like are: my computer, my books, my candles, my red panda stuffed toy, my food, and so on so forth. It's where I feel the most comfortable in the USA. It helps that today is an exceptionally sunny day, and my room get lots of mid-day sun.

On Thursday I submitted and presented the case study that I did with my group members for my core class, ITSF 4090, for which I am extremely glad, because it allows me to spend the rest of the remaining days of the term (4 days, plus today!) working on 3 different papers. Their progress report is roughly follows:

ITSF 4613 - Peace and Human Rights Ed. 70%
A&HH 4070 - History of American Ed. 70%
W4170x - History of the First Crusade 80%

So, just a few more days till I can finally relax and feel free!

First Finals Week

Typing really quickly, I just typed "Fucker of Chartres" when I really meant to type "Fulcher of Chartres", and am now immensely amused by my typo. Finals week indeed.

My Sad Rejection Song

My sad rejection song (which I must have listened to at least 10 times yesterday), is Kasey Chamber's Not Pretty Enough. True story. Then again I'm also rather nutty.