Thunderstorms are nice. It's even nicer when you're in a place that's not at home, and you're looking outside just watching the rain pour down, water trickling down the windows. Watching on as people outside walk around calmly under shelter, the ones in the open, some under umbrellas, and some without, hurriedly running for cover. Vehicles going by, people around you going by, all through the storm. There's just something beautiful about it all =)

Solitude, another beautiful thing. Haven't had any time alone for a really long time, and just having one afternoon to myself is a wonderful break from the hectic school and social life. A quiet place, just me myself and the presence of the Good Lord...No rushing around trying to meet deadlines, or trying to get to any place on time, or anyone to mess with your head. I don't know where all the time went, but its was an experience I don't have very often, to sit there alone, watching the world go by and not worrying or giving much about it =)

Did the usual 3.6km run up and down all over the estate after that, and the runner's high at the end of it all always just takes the cake. Somehow that feeling just always attempts to spur you on to put the best into anything that you do, believing that something good would come out of it all. Sadly, after the high goes off, it all goes back to the uncaring, apathetic self.

Weekend's here. Wonderful. I survived another week of this crazy world.

pah. another week of school's coming to a close. weekends are always good. After passing my final CAAS paper, i finally have my saturdays free again. Around 5 more consolidation flights, and then the final handling test. God willing, I'll be able to pass it the first time round and...well. It would mark the end of a rather significant phase in my life, joining the ranks of aviators. It was around April last year, when I skipped the week of OEP to fly. I remember being planned 3 times, but the first 2 rained, and I had my first flight then. Quite a while has passed since then, and I thank God that I'm able to be at where I am today, 53.1 flight hours, of which 9.8 solo hours were as pilot in command. Well, God willing once more, the next step would be to add 'professional' in front of 'aviator'. Hmm. Haven't been on an airliner for a long time though. Hopefully this June.

School's still rather draining, causing me to be mentally and physically drained by the time i reach home, though i don't think i actually do much in school. I guess it's just the long school hours. Though this week there has been the year 5 council campaining, and it has added a rather carnival atmosphere to the school, which is much welcomed. And i managed to get a lot of food today, which is also very much welcomed. I've been trying to get more sleep on the days which I can, and less when I have work. Which has been working quite well actually, as I feel more awake nowadays. And I'm abstaining from caffeine. hah.

oh yes. and juggling. hahaha. thanks to haoyi bringing 3 tennis balls to class last week, i've been attempting to juggle. I daresay I'm getting quite okay at it, given that i just started less than a week ago, being able to keep the 3 balls up for around 10 seconds before dropping stuff. Surprisingly, its quite a good stress buster. You all should go try it.

Oh well. One more day of school. Can't wait for the weekend. I need the time to sit around and read stuff that's unrelated to school. It's quite a weird habit of mine, that thing. Just last night, I was (attempting to) do my lit presentation, I spent at least 80% of the time on the internet reading about the Tamil Tigers instead of King Lear. King Lear is so boring. Should do king kong instead.

ahahahha. and james BONG has shaved his head. rather amusing, considering the fact that he used to use a lot of wax for his hair. and his strange fringe that he loves to shake around. hehe

BYE.

.........

hello world.

haven't touched this little thing here for a long time.

much has happened since the last time I blogged, but one of the more memorable ones was when choo yang, ian lin and I took a taxi to east coast for our class party a few weeks back. We had this extremely entertaining taxi driver who accelerated and drove unusually fast for a taxi driver, and told us about his escapades, eg. 'racing' random toyota vios who cut him off or smth, cursing at other drivers because "if you're a taxi driver you have to do such things"(all said in chinese), pointing out which cars on the road are good, and also telling us that he could race in any car (gei wo zui lan de che, hyundai matrix, ye ke yi). He also told us about some ang moh tourists who wanted to get from changi airport to harbourfront in 10 mins, so he drove at 160km/h. The actual recounting of the story was way more hilarious, especially his attempts to imitate a western accent.

And at one point, when we were going round some curve near east coast, he made some hand gesture near the handbrake and shouted "DRIFT!", and started smiling and telling us more stuff after that. Extremely entertaining I must say. The life of a taxi driver is quite cool.

anyway. school's been quite draining these few weeks. The way I see it, the school hours are way too long and the time isn't being utilized well. Staying back all the way to 1540-1640 some days, with almost a third of the day spent in free periods are really killing my attention span. and maybe lifespan. Maybe it's something to do with the ADD.

I got my rear kicked by the latest chem test too. QQ.

Ah well. One more week before we get a much needed week off school. Hoping that I won't have to go back to batu pahat. That dump killed most of the rest I should have had during CNY.

After 45.8 hours of flight time, with 8.1 of those hours as a solo pilot-in-command of an aircraft, i'm finally feeling the end of my PPL course being in reach. I thank God for the opportunity that He gave me to fly at this age, and for all the other blessing He has showered upon me throughout the entire duration of the course. The journey has been long, but enjoyable and sweet, and hopefully the grant of my licence would mark the start of better things to come. Around 12-14 flights more till my final handling test, and hopefully the combined stress of preparing for that as well as common tests/mid-years doesn't explode me.

i'm done. will try to update this more often. out

He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart
- Psalm 91:4