End of another phase..

Last night, I attended the last class for the Diploma course that I started last July. It was not until when I got home that I realise that I will no longer have to squeeze with the peak hour crowd at Jurong East to get on the train to Dhoby Ghaut. I will no longer have to walk that 10 minutes walk, passing by Cathay Cinema, Rrendezvous Hotel, inhaling exhaust from vehicles and second hand smoke from smokers before I get to the Bayview hotel for 2 hours and 30 minutes of lessons after a long day at work. I will not be complaining about the dry samosa and the tasteless bee hoon. I will also not have to be all wrapped up in my shawl because the air-con blowers were at full blast. Of course, I will also not have to live with the insensitive response from a classmate. There will be no more assignments after assignments, projects after projetcs, and exams after exams. (well, actually, there is one more to come, and of course, there is the graduation project)

I still cannot believe how time passes by so quickly. I cannot remember what it feels like the first time I stepped into the classroom, I cannot remember who was the first classmate I spoke to. I cannot remember what was the first thing they served us for dinner. I cannot remember how i figured out the route from the train station to the hotel, but it eventually became the route that I took for the next 11 months.

Will I miss all of these, some yes and some no. I will miss the interaction with some of my classmates. I will miss learning about some of the PR matters and new trends in the market. I will miss taking a break from the hustle and bustle of working life and being a student all over again.

But I will not miss the assignements that I have to rush through while juggling work, I will not miss a certain lecturer that did not teach us much but gave us crappy marks. I will not miss some of the horrible food they served and I will not miss getting home at almost 10pm and much later on other days. Most of all, I will not miss a classmate that has the worst mood swings ever.

I stopped and thought for a moment, why time passes by so quickly without me realising it. I had the same feeling I get the day after my wedding when I sat a the sofa in the bridal suite while CM nurses his hangover from the night before. Sidetrack, I think he was really happy that night to have been drinking so much! I wonder though if it was about the wedding or the company that night. Anyway, it is that feeling of disbelief how what you have been working on for a period of time (12 months of preparation for the wedding and 11 months for this Diploma) was over before you know it. And you kinda regret not slowing down and taking some time to appreciate the experience.

I shared with CM my feeling, it was pretty much a monologue aloud, me verbalising my thoughts and him listening. I told him how I feel that this is perhaps how things are like when life is made up of task after task, activity after activity. We just get so absorbed in completing tasks and checking off boxes, running this and that errand. By the time you tick off all the boxes, months and years would have passed. I know this is just the way life is, and it may jolly well continue to be like this and I am not sure how we can change things. I just wonder though, what else can I do to my life, on top of these boxes to check, to make it worth the while and to make this life count...anyone with a tip to share?