19.11.2007

It’s down to the split of the crossroads again.

Even my mind and heart is split into so many different directions – one part of me simply wants to throw in the towel and take a break before saying hi again to the hustle and bustle of the business politics once again.

The other part is a non-stop flashing reminder that there’s not much time left for the job hunt so as to keep my finances in a steady flow.

It’s down to the point of the year, or rather, one of the many points of the year when I am drained mentally. This verge of mental breakdown is happening more and more frequently – the feeling of being entirely squeezed dry.

Before I started school, I was very sure I could handle it.

I am still surviving every semester, still managing a couple of distinctions (read: a COUPLE), but it seems like school’s never going to end. I started in August 2006 and most likely, it’ll stretch till end 2008 – approximately 2 years to get a degree isn’t too bad I guess, though I’d like and want it to end soon.

Not only will it put a stop to the financial woes, I’ll have more time to myself, more time for me to do other stuff.

I don’t have any regrets doing this degree, and I will definitely complete it no matter what it takes, or how long it takes. It’s a personal goal, it’s a commitment I set myself to, and I’m not going to let it pull me down.

Yet, it is affecting me. My memory is dwindling with my mind cramped with so much stuff. My sleep is occupied with thoughts of work, and I feel like I haven’t slept in years.

I’m fat – I attribute that to lack of sleep and the need for food to assist the overworking of the brain, it doesn’t help much that I belong to a carnivorous department that practically eats 5 meals a day, this also attributes to my sudden reduction in wallet size.

To go to class at least twice a week to get mindraped after work simply isn’t a pleasant sight. How many times have my classmates commented I look really tired and stressed? Countless. Having said that, there has also been too many times I’ve dropped the idea of going to class just cos I was either too mentally tired to go there and attempt to absorb any more of those theories and what’s not, or I was simply too physically exhausted traveling up and down half of Singapore.

I’ve been feeling like I can’t give my best to both work and school and it’s putting me in a dilemma – to continue in a full time job and part time studies, like what I’m doing now, a job that’s more fulfilling, or get a monotonous, literally 9 – 6, leave on the dot kind of job where I can put in less energy in work and put more into my school and myself.

Frankly, I don’t want to miss out on the practical job experience, especially in such an industry where experience counts for so much more. But in exchange for that, I’d have to sacrifice my school and sleep time.

I haven’t had the energy to sit down and watch a television program, or read a book in ages.

At the same time, give me a monotonous data entry job and 3 months down the line, I’ll probably bore myself to death.

I don’t like the feeling of not being able to perform to what I know I can do. I know I can do much more than what I am doing now, both at work and in school, I just don’t have the energy to do more.

I still want to hit the goal we set that was supposed to be reached when I hit 25, even if it seems really far off now.

I still want to do what I’ve set out to do.

No doubt, I am contented. For the chances I’ve got, thankful for everything so far. It’s just these nitty gritty stuff that accumulates into an avalanche that’s swallowing me whole right now.

I don’t think I ask for much, just a nice stable yet interesting job, with nice colleagues, a nice paycheck that gives me the ability to spend comfortably, a place I spend most of days where I wouldn’t dread going to everyday, a desk where I can happily decorate the way I want it, without having to stop and think if I’ll be there for long.

Perhaps, like how Ling says, “还没尝到甜味，就先苦死”

Nonetheless, it is an uphill battle, and it is MY battle. I may just die in the process, most likely not, but I may just drive myself insane.

Right now, at this very moment, while grumbling about all these in the office at 7 pm with 1.5 hours OT time, all I feel like doing is go to my baby, give him a big hug for the great work he’s done, snuggle up and watch some funny comedy, laugh my head off and fall asleep in his arms, without having to worry about me or him having to wake up for work on time tomorrow.

It’s been said it’ll be a good year for those born in the year of the Ox in 2008.

I wish.