Busy busy September...

The title of my blog simply explains it all.
Upon being elected as the Event Director on the 4th of September, my life has been busy and busier.. Don't get me wrong, it's not only NTU Buddhist Society (NTUBS) that kept me so busy.

Investiture for BS falls on the 17th and Mid Autumn Festival (MAF) for MSA (Malaysian Society which I volunteered for.. hais..) is on the 20th. With such limited time to prepare 2 events, you can only imagine how hectic was it. And to top it off, I was fully in charge of the Investiture.

Investiture

1st meeting with subcomms, preparation ranging from ideas to slides to preparing hats/crowns for the handover session has been a roller coaster ride. I didn't even have the time to know my subcomms and we have to get right down to work. Prior to that, I was busy running here and there approaching previous director and my coordinator to ensure I'm doing things the right way. It wasn't easy coz I was entirely new to BS, I don't know a single thing. Have to start from scratch. Neilson, the previous director was a very helpful and approachable person, making me comfortable to approach him for advice. Min Ruey, my coordinator on the other hand was scary to me in the beginning. But I find him very nice now that I know him better.

But to him, work means work, so don't mess with him!
He asks every little bit of details from objectives to reasons of why I'm doing each and everything. In the beginning, it was really hard and scary but I understand his intentions.
This is because BS organise every single event with objectives to benefit members and not just for the sake of organising. He guided me and helped me through the way and I'm very grateful for that. Communicating with my subcomms was not smooth sailing for each and everyone of us has different personalities, but we managed to overcome all odds and time constraint to make the Investiture a success! We were showered with praises and more motivation, especially the hats/crowns we made. Ya, we were very creative. Ehehehe.. I'm so proud of myself and my subcomms and will continue to work hard to not disappoint those who elected us for they had faith in us! Gambateh!

Nice anot the hats my team did? Hehe, nice leh..

Fell sick..

Oh ya, I fell ill on the 6th till 10th. Quite jia lat actually. Fever reached 38.1 celcius. Freaked me out and I walked to the clinic in NTU, paid SGD7 for all sorts of medicine for I had everything, from sorethroat to flu to slight cough. Even got 2 days MC from the doc but I didn't use it. Coz I will suffer if I skip my lectures. So, just beared with it and maybe that's why it took me quite long to recover. Imagine falling sick at such a bad time, I managed to sleep for one day but had to get back to the Investiture and MAF preparation immediately. Studies? Really no time for that.. But I had a quiz on 11th Sep (Fri) for stupid MAS111. Mati betul. Somehow had to cramp in some time to study coz it accounts for 30 marks! (Actually at that time, I thought it was 15%) So, ya no joke coz I wasn't clear about certain proofs so I had no choice but to memerise and drill the rest into my tired brain. End up, the quiz was by far easier than what all of us expected. Ceh.. Haha.. Thank god.. Oh ya, I just found out today I got 29/30 ;)

MAF

So, fast forward abit, right after Investiture, have to concentrate back to MAF. Waliao, tired man.. Immediately after the event itself, had to rush to help do the dedications (we did cd dedications). The guys all can't help coz of their clumsiness and not careful enough, so girls power! Went back at 2am.. Actually, in this month, I always reach my hostel at 2-3am. Very tiring, I've never been so busy ever ever ever..

We had many things other than dedications and not to mention the amount of work to get the dedications done. Spray the cd's, draw, stick moon (mooncake festival bah..) and write the dedication msgs. Oh ya, we even had to fold the "cd cover" which is very nice actually. So creative of Lynn and Sin Ying.. Then, have to distribute and collect money.. zzZzzz....
And we have a whole lot of programs. Chee Wah la, our chief, so "on" want to do this and that. Have games, sketch, dance. So lotsa lotsa practices the 2 week before MAF, which coincides with my preparations for Investiture. Hard to balance...

Fast forward again.. The sketch was actually very funny. Haha.. Here's the link..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVSXx2_lUco
Hehe, I was the narator. Poor me have to change voices.. Lol.. Nevertheless, it was fun...

2 Midterms and 1 Quiz!

Immediately after these 2 events ended, after all the huge amount of stress and constantly deprived of sleep and time.. there was a Dharma Talk in BS on the 21st (Mon) and after that, had to continue collecting money and distributing the MAF Dedications. My work never ends! And guess what? I have 2 midterms on Wed and a quiz on Fri! And I have yet to start studying.. Really dead meat..

On Mon itself, I managed to do some studying in the afternoon before the Dharma Talk. I skipped a free lunch by MSA as a reward for our hard effort in the MAF. I skipped the FREE steamboat to STUDY!! Seriously very sakit hati.. But I had no choice and fortunately for me, my determination was strong enough to fight of my desire.. But still!! Haisssssssss.......
Then, I studied in the study room from 10.30pm to 1am. Quite scary when I turned around, ahh, so few people left in the room only! But it's Singapore, no prob, SAFE~
The previous night (20th, right after MAF), I forced myself to study too coz I was afraid I don't have enough time to cover all. So, I returned to hostel at almost 1am and studied till 3plus.. *Panda...

Anyway, Tues I thought I had more time to study but I forgot I had MathLab! Stup Week7, I have MathLab! I could only study at night. That night, I felt so stressed. Coz I was only studying for MAS801 (a Math module which has ALOT to remember and have to practise, not just study) and I haven't started on the other Midterm for HS814 (a humanities module which I actually need to read only, no need to practise like math..). Talked abit to my roomie and felt better after expressing and releasing the stress..

Studied till 4.30am, woke up to attend 2 tutorials at 10.30-12.30am, then midterm at 1.30-7.30pm.. =_+

I personally felt MAS801 was okay although I know I would get wrong for quite a few questions. At least I could do, and wasn't idleing there. But HS814 was pure silly! Hais, duwana mention it.. Sadness..

After that, had to study for MacroEcons. Quiz on Fri! My coursemates all have begun their revison the previous week. So, you see, I was really at a disadvantage. Wed night mugged till 4.30am again. I couldn't wake up that Thurs morning for lectures at 8.30am. It was raining!! So, I slept back but woke up at 9.05am. Decided I must not skip lecture, so rushed for the remaining 1 hour. Haha, left my bag outside and walked in with notes only, trying to avoid being spotted the late commer.. Luckily I went, it was a new lecturer, a Chinese national! Argh! But surprisingly, find her good. And the lecture was very important. I would certainly don't understand if I totally skipped the whole lecture..
And to top it off, I had to prepare for a meeting with BS subcomms on Thurs evening. Have lots to prepare for the meeting. So again have to squeeze into my hectic schedule. Reached hostel at almost 10pm on Thurs night, mugged (it means study in Sg, no idea why..) till 4plus again.

The quiz was okay la.. I know I have 2 wrong out of 10 already.. Abit sad coz one was due to my carelessness and I think 2 of my tutorial mates got full marks! But actually I'm quite satisfied also. ;)

Woohoo~

Yeah, midterms and quiz are over! Though I copied Programming blindly in the lecture, I was looking forward to the night! Went for Chinese Cultural Society+Amcisa's MAF (much grander coz much bigger scale), made own mooncake and ate it! Then, got a "Har har chim" (extremely bad prophecy), argh, threw it away, totally stupid wan.. Haha.. Then, went supper with OG and drank soup for the 1st time! Yummy~

Pretended to go back to hostel but actually we planned a birthday celebration for Alvin! Haha.. We pretended to say bye bye to him but came out again to surprise him! Wanted to blindfold him but haha, not very practical. Went to ADM (the beautiful building with a grass rooftop~), we set his bday cake and mini mooncakes with candles, sat in a circle, had 2 guitarist, 1 singer to create an even greater atmosphere..

It was an awesome night! So touching and romantic atmosphere though no romance la. Haha.. We sang songs and Jun Lum was so high that night. Something very rare but very happy to see that. He and Choon Siong kept singing so hyperly on their feet. We had 2 very awesome amazing musicians! Zhong Zheng and Justin. Fuyoh, just name the song, they can play for us.. So syiok... And of coz Bae Huey, our great singer with an awesome voice!

Later on, we even composed our own songs. Haha, so fun and funny! It was very very nice! Hera is super duper awesome!
Then, we waited for sunrise (thou we couldnt see it from that angle, haha). We lay there trying to get some sleep. I went back at 4.30am to bathe and pack my things for my Management Retreat for BS Main Committee which is on Sat, the very next day! Omg, I really cari susah wan.. Returned to ADM at 5.30am and prepared my meeting stuff there. Brought water, biscuits for my fellow OG coz they were hungry and I'm sure thirsty. Surely enough, they were!

BS Management Retreat

It was a great night which has to come to an end. 6.30am returned to hostel, immediately fall flat and slept till 8am. Then, meeting meeting till 2.30pm. Gosh, I almost died there. Slept only 1 hour plus, I really fell asleep a few times in the meeting. I hope noone noticed. Then, went to Little Bodhi Centre, the venue for our retreat.

It was an intense retreat whereby we practised Noble Silence during meals (no talking prohibited while eating) and many challenging activities which brings stress too. But I'm kinda used to it already. Slept at 11.30pm that night, again sacrifising my supper for I was desperate for SLEEP!! Woke up slightly late, scary! Returned to NTU on the 27th Sep night (Sun), slept at 12am till 9am. Mon morn 9am meeting againg till 5.30pm, then went for dinner.

I benefited alot from the retreat, be it dharma knowledge, leadership skills or even getting to know the other Main Comm better. ;)