Through the Looking Glass

Being severely myopic, my spectacles have always been an integral part of me. I started wearing them at a tender age, some time during lower primary and I am stuck with it ever since. I just had a new pair of spectacles today! It is slim and squarish and also brown to suit my hair colour. How do you like me wearing it?

My myopia has yet to stabilise and is currently registering at 775 degrees on the right and 400 degrees on the left with slight astigmatism on the left eye as well. Sounds like a case of lazy eye or the retribution of watching tv while lying on my right. I thought of making some of those frameless spectacles but the optometrist said the thickness of my lenses will show. For a person like me with such a high degree of short-sightedness, contact lenses are a god-send.

I started wearing contact lenses only towards the end of last year. I had so much difficulty putting them on at first that I always end up wearing back my glasses, feeling sad and dejected. It was a period of poking and rinsing before I got the hang of it and voila! The world is no longer through a looking glass where your world is filtered. Everything becomes clearer. The beauty of people and also the ugliness of them.

Sometimes, it is pleasurable to put on those rose-coloured glasses again to see people in a positive light. Focusing more on the beautiful side of things makes life easier on the whole. I have always had this ability of seeing the redeeming sides of people no matter what huge jerks others are saying about them. You should try it too. A person might seem detestable at first sight and has a serious character flaw that turns you off big time but only if you are patient and open-minded enough to see again, you might discover some amazing qualities that you missed.

No one can be so bad to a point that he does not deserve a second look.

The Module Planner

After making professional research and analysis on the complex CORS system ingeniously devised by one of the top 20 universities in the world, I have successfully bid and won the modules of my choice. It was a rigourous competition against over a thousand freshmen before I finally beat them hands down.

It has been finalised. The five modules that I will be taking this semester are as follows:

PL1101E INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

SC1101E MAKING SENSE OF SOCIETY

SW1101E INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL WORK

JS1101E INTRODUCTION TO JAPANESE STUDIES

EN1101E AN INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDIES

All five modules are exposure modules from the myriad subjects in the faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Some being especially popular like the psychology and sociology modules. The choice of these modules has been meticulously planned for the greater benefit of myself. If I could get all my choice tutorials, I would have the perfect timetable. The benefits are as follows:

1) A 4 day week. Mon-Thu. Friday is reserved for personal pursuits in view of a holistic education.

2) 8-10am lessons are avoided to reduce the frequency of me waking up at the unholy time of 6am.

3) Exams are spaced out with at least two days between each one to prevent system crash.

4) No lessons go back to back so that I will never be late for a lesson because of a long-winded lecturer in the previous one or if I get lost in the campus.

5) Ample time is reserved between lectures and tutorials for preparation.

For more information on module planning, please drop a comment to book an appointment. Charges apply.

Taro, the module planner

Prelude

Well, things have to start somewhere and it is starting now. From this moment, I shall document my life in this public diary for people to judge and criticise. Perhaps without the pressure of face-to-face scenarios, I can express myself more truthfully and not be so reserved. I start this blog in hope of becoming less self-conscious, as it makes me rather secretive and introverted as most of my friends will find me.

I hope people will get to understand me better through this journal and know who I truly am, even though I am searching for it myself as well! I don't even know how many people will be interested enough to read up to this point (another of my inferiority complexes at work) but I wish this wandering around in wonderland will eventually lead me to somewhere. Anywhere but here.

The story so far:

The past is passe but I constantly hang on to those moments that I love and cannot bear to let go. 21 years is very long and I have to be ashamed of how little I have achieved up to this point in time. I started out as a child embracing imagination and invention. I love creating mysteries as some of my childhood friends will know. Some of you might even remember I was using the pseudonym Mr Peppermint as well?

I still fancy little surprises now and it has always been my dream for someone to create a mystery just for me to solve. I find it intimately romantic and incredibly sweet. People should watch 'Amelie' to understand this.

I remember I was rather talkative back then but god knows what happened along the way. I became a shivering, self-doubting student with suicidal tendencies. Apart from being an arts advocater passionate in singing, acting and dancing, I was no more than a nerdy porn addict suffering from a bout of alopecia.

And I went on to become a slave for the country and that is also an intense period of self-discovery. I took on many personas ever since: a self-proclaimed witch versed in tarot and astrology; a fanatic with three-minute passions of becoming a singer, writer, psychologist, journalist and special education teacher; a hazardous heavy vehicle driver; an infatuated repeater operator; a naive full-time mistress; a talent scout aka a professional flatterer; and a disappointed serial dater.

Today, I am a part-time tutor suffering from pre-uni phobia and under a weight gain and water detox plan. Any speculations on what I will become next?