The Fifth Day

So, today's the fifth day of the March holidays. 

The fifth out of the seven, very short days we've been given. Thinking about it, it's always been like this - all my life I've been a student - but somehow, this year, the lack of time seems a lot more... pronounced? 

The first set of Common Tests is taking place the moment we return for the first day of Term 2. 

The first set out of two, followed by Prelims, and well, then A Levels. The first day of Term 2, the second term out of the four - we only have three more terms left of junior college. 

Indeed, everything seems like a countdown of sorts. 

So many lists, so little time. 

As I try to cover as many topics as I can with every single passing day, I proceed to strike these topics off my daily to-do list, mostly messy scribbles on a yellow post it note, one by one. An enormous sense of gratification overwhelms me every time I strike something off, though sometimes it's coupled a tinge of guilt knowing that I have only briefly covered that particular topic for the purposes of the upcoming CTs. 

There's always the struggle between going in-depth for the sake of preparation for A Levels or trying to cover as much just to cover the scope that's tested for the examinations this round. 

I must admit though, that this week, while tiring, has actually exceeded my expectations, and I feel very happy and grateful. I have managed to capture some of the little moments that meant a lot to me in pictorial form throughout the course of these five days and would like to share some of the shots here, together with a short caption. (Of course, I didn't lug my DSLR camera around, so let's make do with low quality photographs but with high quality -okay, maybe not - meanings behind each one!)

I spent the Sunday before this week grocery shopping for ingredients to make my own lunch for when I studied in school and I made myself a wrap for the first two days of studying in school. I even attempted to eat slightly more healthily by incorporating a bit of greens into my diet (look! there's blueberries too :-)) Honestly quite proud of myself and I must say, it looks very appetizing - it tasted very good too and it made me happy. 

Nearing the end of the first day studying in school in the library, I looked up to see my Economics tutor walking towards me and she stuffed a bar of Toblerone into my pencil case and said, "Don't let the librarians see this, and don't eat this in the library." I was stunned, and could barely muster a "thank you so much" before she walked off with a plastic bagful of chocolate bars, looking out for more of her students studying in the library. Teachers like that who go out of their way (apart from chocolates, she really puts in an insane amount of effort on imparting Economics knowledge to her students too) inspire and motivate me a lot, though it makes me feel kind of bad that I do so badly for her subject. 

From the second day onwards, I decided not to study in the library anymore as I found the environment rather stifling and headed for a nice secluded part of the school instead and as I walk up the stairs every morning, a very beautiful sight of the sun rays peeking through the little gaps in the grille greets me. I'm so glad my phone managed to capture a portion of the beauty (look at that light leak yo).  

This was lunch for the third day - I woke up early just to cook this for myself and it made my tummy very happy. In fact, while I told myself I should only dig in at 12noon, I kept sneaking bites before that as I was studying and I was very satisfied by the end of it. 

Jamie also got me chocolates!!! And I am so grateful for these little acts of kindness - it's honestly not about the chocolates (of course, they are a plus point) but I think the knowledge that someone else cares about your well being is really precious and quite hard to come by. She came around when I least expected it and said "I got you Hershey's kisses!", placing the packet on my table. Thank you for stopping by occasionally to chat - things like these keep my sanity in times of stress :-)

An undressed one, because why not ;-) Also reminds me a bit of BW12 because "lil shits", which leads me to my final point. 

This was a selfie I took and sent to my OGLings Whatsapp group in the midst of studying though that's not the main focus though it's the only photo I have of myself over the course of this week -   what I'm really grateful for is the support (but mostly the companionship) of my OGLings and also fellow OGL Minxin during this five days of treating school like home. It's always nice knowing there's someone you know around and that you can always head to the canteen for some good fun/ talk/ motivation when you need it and that sort of familiarity and comfort isn't something that comes by very often or easily. Though I have no idea what my OGLings are even studying for... I was definitely partying at this time a year ago. 

Reflecting and looking at these photographs, maybe these five days hadn't been all that bad. 

Today's been really good as well. And with that, let's go back to studying, shall we?