It’s almost impossible to write about everything that’s been going on since my last entry and I'm pretty sure you don't want to know everything. So what say we just skim the surface here?

From where we left off then, college.

Well.., college has been good to me so far. Though already it has thrown in my face a number of rather crappy things, I've been receiving the good bits too. Fair enough, I suppose.

Towards the end of this semester, I think I’ve made some progress with adapting, fitting in, generally just getting used to the place. Intec’s a pretty interesting place to be really.

That said however, I'm not exactly rushing to go back, if you know what I mean. Sem break's finally here, and well, it's time to kick back and relax for a change.

Seriously, you wouldn't believe how much studying can be done when you're living in a hostel. Too much, honestly. It actually hits a rather depressing stage sometimes. Don't get me wrong though. It's not like that's all we do. We have our share of fun. Guess just not as much as we used to back in school. I dunno, somehow, there's so much pressure riding on, well, everything really.

It's the scholarship thing, I suppose. We're so afraid that if we make a slight slip, the scholarship's going to be yanked from right underneath us. Which is, of course, a tad bit of an exaggeration. You would have to be screwing up real bad for your sponsor to want to kick you off the program.

Still... I personally am finding it hard not to worry. Here's where my dad would say "What don't you worry about?"

Okay okay, 'nuff bout that. Anymore and I might end up leaving this and curling up in bed.

Next one then.

I was a little concern about how our Raya celebrations would be this time around. The past couple years, it hasn't been feeling too great. After we lost my mum's dad, the family kinda lost a reason to go back to Penang too.

It was like breaking a tradition we had going on since.. well, for as long as I can remember.

This year, things changed once again. The morning of our 50th Independence Day, my grandfather passed away. With that, we broke another tradition. No more would we gather at my uncle’s place, where my grandparents used to live, instead my dad and his siblings would now take turns hosting first Raya.

For the record, all went well. My dad took the first shift. It was a change everyone welcomed and it was nice to be able to share our first Raya with both friends and family.

I guess you could say, Raya turned out so much better than any of us had expected.

We went back to Penang too this year. It felt really really good. We stayed at this gorgeous hotel with my aunt and uncle (and their two adorable kids), visited relatives we hadn't seen in years and all in all, just had a really great time.

When you think about it, so many things have changed in such a small span of time.

It's hard to believe a whole semester has gone by and god, 2007 is almost over. I wish I could say I have no regrets but then there's just so many things I wish I could have done, so much I should have said. But, it’s as they say, you live and learn.

Live and learn.