my application for another round of conference funding was just approved!

i'm the first student to apply for the fund three times :) broke the school's record now.. and without submitting any thesis paper for presentation.. woohoo! of course, i have to thank two very wonderful faculty for supporting me: without them, i wouldn't have been able to put forward a compelling case to apply for the grant for a third time..

honestly, i left singapore after my mum fell. i was worried about a ton of stuff.. for the first time i was absolutely worried about our finances.. but now i'm heaving a sigh of relief. as long as i'm not putting more financial burden to my mum. i'm starting to be more conscious of my travel costs, and determined to not run all over the globe now. yes, you heard me right. my resolution is to stay put in singapore for as long as i can hold out. no more eight-countries-globe-trekking-in-one-year for me anymore..

i can't bank too much on the family's kitty, and i totally snapped out of my dream after the horrible fall mum had. realized i never gave much thought to emergencies such as these. somehow being adventurous and the thirst to learn, to go in search of my personal discovery.. it was a selfish endeavour in part, and from this incident i saw how much i needed my family too. life is short, and you never know what happens next.

i'm extremely grateful to school for sponsoring, now i've kept my expenses for italy to a minimum. mum will be sooooo glad :) all future travelling "projects" must be self-sustainable. if i wanna travel, i shall work to pay off everything myself now. :)

just a while back the financial constraints looked rather gloomy.. but now everything's back on track, and mum's totally got a clean bill for her health by the doc, plus her work life is getting back on track - and even better!

maybe the not-so-perky times are over, the future looks wayyyyyyy brighter now! :D