Chapter 88 : Love, Love, Love

"Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up."

- James A. Baldwin

In light of Glee Season 5's first episode titled "Love, Love, Love", I decided to name this chapter after it. That's right, ChaptersOfMarcus talks about his love life and all things about love.

What do you really want to know about my love life? How do I describe my love life? It's definitely a wreck and hectic mess. How many times have I been rejected by a girl? Plenty of times. But it doesn't mean that I was never in a relationship. I used to date this girl and I wasn't that into her as I thought I was. Turns out I made a huge mistake and emotionally hurt an innocent. I also nearly got into a relationship with another girl who I thought I was totally into her but I guess I got a tad too carried away with the way I felt that it scared the crap out of her. (Basically my love life is at its worst.)

Love can make or break a person. It's something that everyone needs, whether if it's the love from your parents, siblings, external family or even that someone special we're all looking for. Unfortunately I have to say that it didn't work out for me in terms of that someone special. Just like Miley Cyrus would say "I came in like a wrecking ball".

So here's some tips/advice from me to you guys out there from what I've learnt if you wanna make things right for you and that 'someone special' in your life. (You might want to take notes.) I'm no love expert or whatever, but this is just what I've learnt and noticed so far.

ChaptersOfMarcus's 6 Tips for Relationships

1. Treat her like a Lady

She's not a poodle, so you don't have to tell her that she's cute 24/7. Use the word "Beautiful" instead and use it with conviction. (if you really mean it) She's not your bitch either, she's an independent human being too. There are so many other guys out there who can treat her like a lady, if you can't then don't whine, cry and tweet about how she left you because you couldn't treat her like a lady in the first place.

2. Be nice, stop being a jerk (It's fine every once in awhile but not all the time)

I see guys teasing their girl all the time, if you do it too much they get pissed too (They have feelings). gender equality plays a role here, just because you're a guy doesn't mean you get to be the one teasing her all the time, let her have a shot at it every once in awhile to make it even.

3. Be sure about the way you feel about her (cause you don't want to end up making the wrong choices one day)

If you can get yourself to say the three words to her face-to-face while looking her in the eyes, you pretty much know how you truly feel about her but if you can't or if you even have to take a minute to consider then I guess she isn't the one, you might want to look again. Just because you think about that person every single day, doesn't mean she's the one, it could be a crush or even an infatuation, it's very easy to mix that up with love, trust me.

4. Don't get too carried away, take it slow, (it's not a race or competition)

For those of you new couples or starting out in your relationship, guys, never be in a hurry to speed up your relationship cause there's no point how far you go if she feels uncomfortable. Understand that love is something that needs to grow even stronger with every step, it's like playing maple where you require "experience" to "level up", so with every small gesture, you gain a sum of "experience" and over time these "experiences" will help you to "level up" in your relationship. So never be in a hurry to try to get your relationship into one of those big hollywood chick flicks where the male and female lead just seem to fall in love instantly and they do all the crazy romantic stuff together cause in reality, it seldom happens unless you're looking for a one night stand.

5. Be Honest

It's one of the basic principles, what can I say? Honesty is the best Policy. You can never go wrong with Honesty. If you make a promise, keep to it, if you broke it, confess and ask for forgiveness. If you cheated, realise your mistake and confess. One of the hardest things about a relationship is trying to be honest with each other, because of the fact that we have so many flaws and principles we grew up with, it makes it hard to be honest because you don't know what will the other person be thinking about you. It's totally cool when you say that you don't care about what people think about you but you cannot deny that you feel something when it's someone you love. If you can't be honest with your girl from the start, it's probably not gonna work out in the long run buddy.

6. Life is never fair, neither is Love

If love was fair, then everyone would most probably have someone special with them right now. Just because you love someone, doesn't mean that person has to love you back equally, I'm sure we all have friends who put in too much effort in their relationship while the other one doesn't or where both parties blame each other for the break up although it was just one person's fault. Love just isn't fair and you need to realise that, you're gonna get hurt a dozen times in love. And you'll come to realise how silly you were before when you were in love.

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Sorry if you think I sound like a pessimist in love, I'm actually a huge fan of love but I guess I just needed to write this post to let everyone out there know that love isn't as simple as you think it is, it's more complicated, way way more complicated.

For those of you who are already in a steady relationship, good for you and I dedicate this lovely song to you happy lovebirds. The acoustic version of this song would be my wedding song, the lyrics is just so meaningful and lovely.

"Love suffers long and is kind, it is not proud, love bares all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Love never fails and now these three remain; Faith, Hope and Love, but the greatest of these is Love."

Till my next chapter.

Chapter 87 : Busy Bee

I may be busy but that isn't going to stop me from blogging! If you think that this blog was going to crash and fall, think again.

This blogpost would mainly talk about what I've been up to lately and why I haven't been blogging for quite sometime. First on the list would definitely be the fact that I've started a new business that's been occupying a hell lot of my time. If you don't already know, it's called Totes4U (Smart name right?) Basically, my business provides customisable tote bags made from scratch with any image or graphic to be imprinted on the bag. However, I will not go further into it cause I'll save it for my next chapter and you'll get a better idea of what it is about and hopefully I'll receive your orders if you like what you see! 

Secondly, 18th Chapter finally passed, spent quite a fair amount of time planning it with Hijanah to make it happen and I would like to thank everyone who came down to make 18th Chapter a success! I'm finally 18 and most of you should know how much I've waited for the day I turn 18 but I haven't really done a lot of things 18 year olds can do, so far I've only bought a lottery ticket and I didn't win... but I doubt I'll stop blogging even after I win at a lottery.

So what else is keeping this new 18 year old freshie so busy despite it being the holidays?

Well, I've also been preparing and setting goals for the new semester in Mass Comm, realising how tough it is to manage my time in the first semester, I've decided to plan my time wisely at the same time taking in orders, promoting and managing the website for the new business and last but not least trying to catch up with my friends every now and then.

That's all I have for you today, till my next chapter!

Chapter 86 : All This Time

I figured out there was no better time than this to work on this blogpost than now...

My time spent in NP's Mass Comm may have seem to have just started but it's been awhile since I settled down here and from the day I set foot here was the day my life changed tremendously. See that photo up there? That's my awesome class, T106. Everyone has just been so great that I can't even put it to words. Every single one of us are so different but when we come together as a class I finally understand what it means to feel like a part of something. I love these people, I genuinely do.

At some point I may have felt a little disconnected and thought that I had made the wrong decision to come here but after thinking about it, everything happens for a reason, and I guess it's true. I've learnt so much about the media than I previously did, I'm able to maximise my opportunities here, I have met so many people who have inspiring stories and different backgrounds that really opens up my mind about what I thought life was really about.

"I'm feeling better ever since you know me I was a lonely soul but that's the old me."

Most importantly my time here has taught me to live in the now, which was something I had been struggling before, I was always looking back at the past thinking that things would never change and I wasn't even gonna give it a try to let things change. It was only now I realised that I had wasted so much time clinging onto the past and accept change if I wanted to be a happier person.

I have so much to look forward to in the upcoming months and I can't be more excited for what's in store! Till my next post.

Chapter 85 : Over The Years

"It's the bitterness that lasts."

I would like to dedicate this post to my recently deceased pet dog that was with me for almost 12 years. That's right, 12 long years just went by like that from the day I had him till his very last days.

Along with trying to dedicate this post to him, I would also like to use this opportunity to blog about the way things turned out the past 12 years for me ever since Spikey came into my life.

Flashback to 12 years ago: 30 September 2001. I was just an innocent primary 1 kiddo facing the world and having mainstream needs like games and toys, but as an only child it gets lonely even if you have like a box full of toys, you always feel lonely somehow and that was when I asked my mom for a dog. She agreed and this little fellow was like a complete and fearful stranger to me because I had never really interacted with a dog before. I was afraid at first but after awhile I got over that fear and we eventually clicked somehow. A few years later (Age 11), I decided that I was old enough to stay home by myself with the dog

Fast forward 7 years later, where I graduated from primary school and moving onto secondary school and I looked a little like this.

                                      

That whole primary to secondary school shift was kinda a huge blow to me because of my results and everything but it was fine because I had my dog with me so I didn't feel that lonely and he was like a real person to me because he would just sit with me and just be himself, I really found it hard to be angry at him, apart from the fact when he pees or poos in the wrong parts of the house. What I would never forget would be the walks that I used to bring him out and when I used to pamper him with like premium dog food and showering him. I admit there were times that I was just too busy with my own activities, school and CCAs that I neglected him by spending my time outside and having like super little or almost no time with him by the time I get back but he would always never fail to wait by the door for me to return home and get all excited to see me.

Sadly his journey ends here, it was sad to see him go just like that, wished I could have spent more time with him though, but life's too short for regrets and full of gives and take. Wonder what's gonna happen next.

Chapter 84 : Emotionless

I don't know what to feel anymore, after hearing the news about Cory Monteith's death. It's just way too sudden. I always felt that he was compatible with Lea Michele, it was watching them on Glee that would always make my day after a long hectic week of school and now it's just over just like that. It just proves one point, life is short. No matter how much of it you live, life is still short. He had his entire life ahead of him, his marriage to Lea, starting a family, his acting career. It just sucks to know that things can be taken away from you so easily. I'm just gonna watch Glee all over again. It's gonna be Glee memorial week for me.

Chapter 83 : Singapore Blog Awards

Over the weekend, Omy.sg hosted the annual Singapore Blog Awards and I got the chance to attend the event and watch the nominees get their respective awards for the different categories. This is the first time I have ever attended the Singapore Blog Awards and I was just astounded by how huge the blogger’s community was, there were just so many bloggers from all walks of life blogging about different content and I wasn’t expecting the blogger’s community to be that huge but I guess this means one thing, blogging is still alive and kicking.

It was a really hyped-up event, with the 60s retro themed dress code and a swanky venue at Shanghai Dolly, it really built up the retro atmosphere and I ended up wearing my retro day outfit for NP50 cause I didn't really have any other retro clothing. Even local director, Jack Neo was there to grace the event and maybe even hunt for talents to star in his upcoming new movie. The event ended off with a bang with a best dressed competition to the retro 60s theme and lucky draw.

Chapter 82 : Deep Thoughts

I won't apologize for my absence from blogging, I've just been really piled up with all my assignments and group project that I realise I haven't been blogging lately and decided to use this free time that I have when I'm actually doing absolutely nothing now.

A lot of things have changed since the last time I've blogged, it's kinda funny that so much can change in such a short period of time. I guess the whole polytechnic environment really changed the way I view life, it kinda tilted my angle that instead of being conservative all the time, why not let loose a little and just live life cause you only have one life to live, I remember I used to just say #YOLO but not actually do anything about it, but I guess it was when I started polytechnic where I really lived up to it. There was a point where I completely lost myself and the way I used to be and I just had a moment where I really sat down and had a deep thought about the life decisions that I'm making. I had completely forgotten the reason why I was in school the first place, to get good grades and move on with life, but a lot of distractions came along the way and it really diverted my attention and focus elsewhere but I guess it was only after term break that I realised how much I had really drifted from the way I was and I knew that I had to focus on my priorities.

Life's what you make it, so make it right.

Chapter 81 : The Big Spell

Last Saturday I attended the National Spelling Championship Finals for the Primary School students also known as The Big Spell. There were a total of 10 rounds before the winner of the Big Spell was announced!

I can't really tell you how intense the competition was, you really had to be there to understand! I honestly wished that there was such a competition when I was in primary school, it'd definitely motivate me to improve on my English and spelling. Some of the words that were given to the contestants even I have never heard of, which is just incredible that primary school students were able to spell them, kudos to them.

Some of the pictures I took during the event.

The Final Three, who will emerge as champion?

They also had a segment for the digital challenge where three contestants were required to compete against each other in a spelling game on a tablet.

Looks like we have a winner!

The 31 Finalists! Congrats to all of them and the top 3 winners!

Chapter 80 : Levi's 501 Interpretation

At exactly 1pm on Saturday, I arrived to the venue of my first blogger's event for the year 2013, I nearly thought I was late due to the jam but it was all good! To celebrate Levi's 140th anniversary this year, Levi's decided to have this event for the bloggers and public to showcase one of their latest pair of jeans, the 501s.

My Levi's goodie bag that comes with vouchers, a drink and a snack, so thoughtful of them!

The fans getting themselves prepared before the event starts!

Oh, and did I mention, I made a new friend from this event who was also from the same school and course as me? Which is really neat, how often do you meet someone you go to the same school with at such an event?

The event's about to begin, you can see the crowd forming.

 The celebrities!

To kickstart the event, the audience were invited on stage to play a game, which is to label the different parts of the Jeans that I didn't know existed till today and how you can identify a pair of Levi's Jeans without even looking at the tag, it's really interesting.

The celebrities and the audience getting busy with their task.

& the winner is none other than, Felicia Chin's team!

Explaining the different labels and the purpose.

During the event, there was also a segment where they invited four 8 Days' Shirtless Models and styled them with Levi's tops while wearing Levi's 501s to see how matching Levi's 501s can be with all sorts of tops.

The celebrities with their respective 8 Days Shirtless Models all dressed up in Levi's apparels, the audience were then given the opportunity to vote for their favourite look by pasting stickers on the model and the model with the most number of sticker wins! And on top of that, there'll be a lucky winner picked out from each of the models to win the top that they're wearing.

The winner is none other than..... 

Ya Hui's model!

The lucky winners who got to bring home a piece of Levi's apparel.

They always say, save the best for last right, so here it is, my photo with the celebs and don't judge me because of my leopard print shirt, it looks pretty nice, don't you think?

If you wanna know more about the Levi's 501, do feel free to go to the Levi's website -  www.levis501.com.sg

Chapter 79 : The River's Calling

Alright, I have to apologise for not updating for quite some time. This post is really outdated, it was meant to be released during the first week of April but I was really occupied with a lot of things going on, getting prepared for poly, school orientation, first week of school, all those and more are coming up in my next few posts.

So, here it goes, my trip to the new tourist attraction, The River Safari which is just beside the Singapore Zoo, so for those of you, who like me, haven't visited the Zoo in a really long time, you might just want to get the bundle package of the Singapore Zoo and River Safari to make your day complete.

Since it's a tourist attraction, you would expect to see lots of tourists an foreigners, but no fret, there are still locals around so you won't feel like you're in another country.

It's a very theme-like atmosphere, so you get to see animals from all around the world based on the different themes.

For example, this would be one of the theme would be the Mississippi River.

Everyone's so engrossed that the crocodile did a standing pose. (Including me)

I forgot the name of the crocodile, but it's seriously very long in terms of its length.

This is just so cute, an outdoor aquarium.

It's really humid, so remember to dress appropriately, and bring a bottle of water and maybe those battery powered portable fans or an umbrella if you're afraid of the heat.

I'll encourage everyone to go to the squirrel monkey forest within river safari, cause the squirrel monkeys are just loitering around the area so they are basically free to roam and you get to take close up pictures of them. (They won't bite)

Upon purchasing your tickets at the counter, you would also be required to select a timing of your choice to see the two main attraction of the River Safari, Kai Kai and Jia Jia, and you get a 15 minute walk around their super huge forest specially designed for them and it's fully air-conditioned. Can I say that these pandas are just super lucky, they live in a fully air-conditioned, specially designed forest.

The Red Panda.

This is Kai Kai, apparently Jia Jia was shy so she hid in the back. I didn't know Pandas could be shy, that's something I learnt.

However, there's more to the River Safari, this was only just the soft opening, there's another attraction within the River Safari that will be opening soon later in the year I guess, so do look out for that, in the mean time, the River Safari tickets are at a discounted price due to the fact that a few of the attractions within the Safari are not available to the public yet, so if you think you need to visit the place with all your friends, it's best you do it now!