currently running late for psych survey. dang.

Well... After months of inconspicuous lurking, I am finally posting something again. And since I am physically incapable of writing blog entries that are short, factual, to-the-point and non-chatty (believe me, i have tried), I shall just give up and follow my base instincts.

Everyone has been posting erudite articles of interest so far. This post is going to stick out like a sore thumb amidst all that scholarly discourse. You shall just have to bear with my overly-personal writing. But anyway...

Credit for the existence of this post goes to Mr GCS. :) With him hinting none-too-broadly that perhaps it was high time I reasserted some semblance of existence on the class blog, I thought it fitting that I should attempt to come out of my shell at least this once, and update the class on the dhs4k01!overseas gathering.

I did have a most lovely Thanksgiving break (the incredibles on wed, lunch by people in my dorm and dinner with a local family on thu, chicago on fri and sat), and it was a great pleasure to meet up with him again, actually. Free food aside (thanks for the treat at pierce commons!), it was nice to just talk, catch up with a classmate, and see how studying overseas has (or hasn't ^_^) changed a person.

Given how sensitive certain subject matter is, and since guys do have an image to maintain in front of other guys after all, I shall keep any stunning revelations to myself (and my 姐妹 jess, of course) and refrain from embarrassing anyone in particular. Hoho.

Meanwhile, here's a nice big photo of us in Chinatown, courtesy of >ica*-chan.

Oh, and just in case anyone still isn't sure about it at the moment... >ica*-chan and I are living in the same dorm, studying at UW-Madison together, although we aren't roommates.

I don't think I've told Jess enough times just how much I appreciate her presence, actually. So I shall say it right here, for all to see. *wink* I mean, making new friends is one thing, and I can probably socialize along with the rest of them when I'm inclined to, but sometimes, it's just nice to be able to sit back in comfortable silence with someone you know well and not feel pressurized to keep filling the air with conversation, not feel the push to chit-chat about the weather, classes, professors, grade curves, and other small talk. I can speak my piece when I want to and not worry about offending, rant childishly when aggravated, and not have to mince my words or tiptoe around her.

It's really, really nice. Humans tend to put up facades when interacting with other people, or at least, stick to neutral topics that they know the other party will find interesting. Jess doesn't necessarily like everything that I like, but... lots of our interests still overlap, which is more than sufficient to make for relaxed conversation and keep me happy. It's like having a family member around, who's immune (or at least resigned) after long exposure to your idiosyncrasies and annoying habits.

Because, from what I can see at least, studying overseas really makes you interact very closely on all levels with one small group of friends. While it is possible to make friends with Americans, it is rare to make close American friends. Back in the past, there were secondary school friends, CCA friends, JC friends and friends of friends to go out with, so people were free to indulge in different facets of their personality with different groups, and be relaxed slobs at home. But studying overseas is really different. You see one group of people (usually the singaporeans from your batch) all the time, and do most of your activities with them. And you end up getting really closely-knit with them.

I have been quite fortunate, I think. Because I do feel at ease and comfortable with most of the Singaporeans from my batch. But that in turn led me to wonder why I never formed such strong bonds with the people from my JC class and secondary school classes. Perhaps I didn't try hard enough, perhaps I didn't make an effort to socialize enough... I don't know.

Because I don't know many of the 4K people as much as I would like to, and I'm pretty sure, with the low profile that I kept in class, most people don't know much about me either. Chin Siong mentioned the closeness of the 4K guys with great fondness, and I do agree with him on that. From my observation, most of the guys did bond exceptionally well with each other, and it's really nice to see the guys have such camaraderie with each other. (although i still find the idea of a '4Kguy-entity' rather amusing)

Anyway, I know I didn't talk much in class last time, and that was probably my own fault, but meanwhile, I'll be hanging around MSN as debbkoh @ yahoo.com. Add me! Talk to me! I'm sometimes rather preoccupied with other things, but if my status is 'Online' and not 'Busy', then I'm in a chatty mood. Two years together as a class, and I still don't know much about many people...

To end off my overly-long-and-personal post, here's a picture of four Madisonians and our kind Chicago hostess in Memorial Park (i think). It was a happy Thanksgiving break. ^_^