Procrastination 101: How NOT to be the 'pro' in procrastination.

I...have the shortest attention span ever. Okay, maybe not the shortest. But yes, I have a really short attention span. And I get super, duper, easily distracted by everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything. But! Fret not, for I have come up with ways that have helped me focus on what I'm doing and be more efficient in producing work.

1) Don't do your work in a place where you know you'll be easily distracted (i.e at home).

2) If you're like me and can't do 5 minutes of work without being distracted when you're not in the presence of others, then girl (or boy, if you're a boy lol), you need to go to the library or something right now! That really, really helps me concentrate a lot more when I'm doing work.

3) You could put your cellphone 1 mile away from you if you want, cause like they all say, out of sight, out of mind. But yeah, that just doesn't really do it for me as I'd get anxious and all without my phone LOL. But, what I'd do is put my phone either on airplane or do not disturb mode so that I don't get notified when I receive a text etc.

4) Put on some music! Use earphones. I don't know about you, but this kind of helps me block out the world. And I'd feel ONE with my academic essays, you know? In perfect harmony. Or something.

5) But obviously, if you can't do work while listening to music, then don't do it. Lol...

6) Set targets as to when you think you want to finish each section of the assignment by. However, if your assignment is due the following day, I suggest you don't even waste time setting targets and just dive right in. (Personally, I don't do this even though I know I should. But I just don't.)

7) Have some snacks ready to munch on while doing work! Unless you're fasting or are on a diet. But again, you could opt to consume foods that won't lead you to gain much weight or clog up your arteries and ultimately lead to an infarction or in other words, a heart attack.

8) Like Nike says, JUST DO IT.

Now, all that is left for me to do is follow my own advice and get right on with my marketing campaign analysis assignment now...

FITTING IN: Transitioning to a new environment

I was reading through my recent posts, and realised that I haven't talked much about my life at all (For the love of carbs, I haven't blogged in forever...haha! But I really do miss blogging.) and sooo, I decided to write this blog post for those who are finding it hard to fit in, whether you're new at school, university or just anywhere in general, really.

Firstly, let me just start off by saying that, I was never really an outspoken person to begin with, and I hardly took the initiative to strike up a conversation with a random person...until I went to Thailand. I don't often tell you life stories, but I shall attempt to type my life out, right here right now lulz.

So at the end of 2010, I moved to Bangkok and attended ISB. It was a completely new environment for me, in terms of the country itself, the language, the culture, the people, the school, the american syllabus, just basically, everything was different. And the school was so massive that it was actually pretty difficult to make friends at first, considering how much of an 'introvert' I was at that point in time. I hardly talked or even laughed when I was at school. The first 3 months was tough, but I obviously made it through my sophomore year! And mind you, I need end up making good friends. :)

After grade 10, I moved to another school to do A levels. SHB. It was definitely a smaller community in SHB, so I think that was a big factor as to why it was easier for me to make friends. And I really did make some really good friends then.

After 2 years, I moved back to Malaysia where I enrolled for Monash's October Intake which was...a pretty small intake, actually. So, this was where my journey really started.

October 2013, I went for orientation--alone--not knowing who I'd be meeting there. I was already a pretty different person by then, I told myself that I was going to talk to people and make new friends, and that was just what I did. Whenever there was a chance to talk someone, I'd just grab that opportunity to have small talk and who knows, they might just end up being my BFF lol (or not). I bumped into many old friends whom I've not met for years, and it was great, but I didn't hang around them forever lol. On Day 3 of orientation, I already found myself hanging out with a group of girls who I hardly knew, but they were so fun to be with and I felt like I'd known them for weeks already. But the funniest thing I remember was, one of them, K, said that her first impression of me was that i was "damn scary and intimidating", because I spoke with an 'accent' and she also told me that she thought I was the "I'm so pretty I'm so smart ha ha ha *flips hair*" type of girl. That totally cracked me up HAHAHA I died. To cut the long story short, I'm super glad that I took the initiative to talk to so many people, or I would never have met such an amazing bunch of people. Really. I met the greatest of friends back in Monash.

And thennn, after about 9 months...I left for Melbourne in July 2014. I was really sad to leave this amazing bunch of people that I've grown love, but oh well, LIFE GOES ON ya feel me? Transitioning to Melbourne wasn't hard to be honest, I was already used to moving schools/countries etc., and I knew quite a number of people here already. However, I still found it difficult to find close friends that I could hang out with and stuff. There were times where I felt pretty lonely, but I think it's really important that you don't let the loneliness get to you, if you know what I mean. I love making new friends, so even though I didn't have a close group of friends that I could talk to whenever I wanted to, I still took the initiative to get to know people. I won't lie, there's bound to be times where I just don't feel like doing anything, but I think I'm doing myself a huge favour by taking the initiative to talk to people, even if you're "the new kid on the block" and you think they should be the one to come up and talk to you first. Just because I'm the new one, it doesn't mean that I have to wait for people to come and talk to me, because sometimes, things just don't go our way and we end up getting disappointed. So if you can help yourself, why not?

I have to be honest though. There are times where no matter how hard you try to get to know some people, you guys are just never gonna get along well or be able to click. But it doesn't matter, if you think you've tried, then so be it. Maybe you'll be better off with a different group of friends!

Right now, I'm still hoping and praying that God will send me good friends--friends that I can hang out with, talk to about anything, build me up as a person and just..I don't know, be a good friend. :) But I believe that I'm going to have an even greater semester next year, and that I'll make those friends. On a side note, I've met sooo many people here that have been such a blessing to me, and have made an impact on my life here; whether big or small, whether they know it or not. Especially those from OCF. I'm really thankful that I went for the OCF orientation alone before classes even started. Haha, these are the people that build me up spiritually while I'm here in Melbourne, and I'm grateful for them.

So to you guys out there who are finding it hard to fit in....don't give up! Gather up the courage to talk to people, and you might soon grow to love people! I assure you, you'll never regret it, and you'll meet sooo many great people. :)

More than blessed

I was sitting through my Contemporary Worlds lecture last week and we were talking about how these foreign workers are the people who take on the jobs which, in the eyes of Malaysians, are kind of...degrading? So I was just thinking about it the other day and a thought came to mind.

These people take on jobs such as janitors, rubbish collectors, etc and some people might be thinking, "Why would they take on such jobs?" 

And then there's us. Whether we are 'rich' or'average', most of us are still pretty much complacent with life. But these people, maybe they take on such jobs cause..well, they have nothing to lose in the first place. Earning something is better than not earning anything.

On the other hand, we already have everything we need; and for us, doing such things would just be too much to lose.

I guess all I'm trying to say is, be thankful for what you already have.