deepavali

aiyak, thought of blogging bout my Terry Fox Run but forgot Dear havent sent me those pics. soon ok...soon!!!


one week has flew past again. dammit....one week gone and still my 202 research project is left hanging and uncertain. at least we got to survey me ex-school, SMK Seri Bintang Utara...add on to the measly sample from SMK Bukit Bandaraya...but if we dont get permission from Mont Kiara International School, we cant compare government school and international school. bcos of Convent Bukit Nanas we had to change our topic once. i dun think my poor poor heart can take another rejection and another sudden drastic change in project title. by now we should be analysing data and writing report, not left undecided of the entire project topic. how ridiculous is that? how frustrating and stressful is that?


im one person who cannot stand being uncertain about my work. i need to be organized, i need to be able to plan ahead, i want to be able to be in control of crucial work, so im especially bad when dealing with sudden rejection and change. oh well, take this as practice bah...surely plenty of these sudden unwanted changes in work life!


yesterday was deepavali...and since praba went to india deepavali had never been the same. last year didnt celebrate at all. but this year wasnt too bad! dad asked me to teman him to his ex-schoolmate/client's open house. i totally have no idea who's the host, who will be there, where's the house, or what to expect, but i felt so proud and honored that my dad trusted my capability to carry myself and socialize with unknown people.


it was really quite an experience. the house was a bungalow in bangsar. we were among the 1st to arrive. with the hosts' hospitality i felt like i was put into a very high class social function, needing very sophisticated social etiquettes. lol. the men chatted and smoked outside in the garden, while the ladies chatted in the living hall. the hosts kept serving drink and cookies in a tray, which i am more comfortable if they just leave it on a coffee table. when it was time for dinner, the ladies ate first, later only the men.


so the whole night i was alone with the other ladies. in the beginning i was setaed with 2 other ladies. they were talking bout their work and their children (who were my age) so of cos i felt out of place. but after the usual initial awkwardness i participated in their conversation too. very nice and friendly ladies. over dinner it was just us three, so we ended up talking about culture. it was an indian lady, a malay lady, and a young chinese girl. lol. so ended up discussing the differences in our celebrations.

then later on more guests arrived, so the ladies' chat group included the hosts' mother, sister, as well as the wife and daughter of another ex-schoolmate. it was more interesting later, probably cos im more relaxed after a glass of wine, or bcos im more comfortable chatting, or bcos this lady , Cindy, was really interested in me and psychology. she started her own company which develops learning tools for children and adults, so it was really relevant to child psychology and learning and development. keke by the end of the night i scored myself an internship position in her company next yr! ^o^

overall it was a good experience. shows that i am capable of interacting with people of different age and background, and that i can carry myself in different social setting all by myself. next year prabz will be back!!! i miss staying over to help praba bake cookies, arrange house deco, dress up in indian traditional costumes, and makan with a whole bunch of girlfriends!

hunnie just got back from day trip to JB. my poor engineer-cum-businessman gotta be all worn out. definitely aint easy doing own biz i can see...gotta drive more than 3hrs to attend a meeting which lasts only few hrs, and drive all the way home again. then Dear is going Vietnam end of this month to expand business over there. i learn so much about business just listening to his description of work. how is it possibile to call and arrange meeting with ppl u never met before, from a totally different country and culture, and speaking totally foreign language? its just "wow"...and Dear did it all like a snap of the finger...wow~

i discussed with dad bout my plans after graduation. so far, plan is to work few yrs to gain experience, then further studies for masters. dad said to focus on studies now to get scholarship next time. and he's expecting me to aim for top UK universities, i.e. Yale, Oxford, etc. last time i would have felt that he was being unreasonable for putting such impossible expectations on me. now, i just feel secretly happy that he sees so much potential in me, places so much hope on me, and am so proud of me. he also adviced me to start networking with psych graduates who are heading towards clinical psych field too. i gotta start finding out if i need to study til PhD level to practice clinical psych, or is Masters sufficient. i also gotta find out about housemanships, government funds, scholarships, potential universities, cost of tuition, etc.

hmmmm....lots of planning which i should start researching on now. so i better be well rested and get working tmr! tata y'all!!!