The life of a Uni student can probably be characterised by one very salient trait. We never have enough money.

And before any of you go on to say that no one can ever have "enough" money, I mean "enough money" to spend on necesssities (or near-necessities).

I'd like to buy a laptop to make getting work done easier.

I'd like to buy my SC3219 textbook and keep up with my reading before I really fall behind.

I'd like to buy about 3 new blouses and 2 new pairs of pants.

I'd like to buy just a couple of the volumes of Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman" (to start with), since I just saw them yesterday at Kinokuniya. (I can't believe I've only *just* noticed them!)

I'd like to buy that copy of Karl Marx's "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" that I saw at the NUS Co-Op. (It costs about $21.)

I'd like to buy Bertrand Russell's "In Praise of Idleness" (by the same publisher as the Marx book; Routledge), which I saw at the MPH at Citylink Mall yesterday as well.

I'd like to buy a nice pair of sneakers, so that I'll have a suitable pair of shoes for almost any possible occasion. (I've come to the conclusion that we only need about four pairs of footwear: a pair of flip-flops for really casual wear; a pair of sandals for comfortable everyday use; a pair of sneakers for when sandals are a tad too casual/ don't fit what you're wearing and covered footwear is better; a pair of heels/ evening shoes/ court shoes for formal occasions.)

I'd like to buy a new set of Narnia books. My old box set which I bought when I was about ten is now all yellowed and battered, thanks to my sister's manhandling and indiscriminate lending out to *her* friends (despite the fact that they're *MY* books) and said friends' inconsiderate treatment of said books. I saw one item on Amazon.com just before the Narnia movie was released: a hardcover edition with all seven books in one, bound in red leather and with gilded pages. 50 pounds. Although for the Christmas season, the price was slashed to 30 pounds! Huh. Still can't afford it. Sigh.

I'd like to buy a nice washable tote bag that I can use on days when I have little more on my agenda than training; then I can just shove in a change of clothes, towel, toiletries and waterbottle and be off, without having to really arrange everything to make space. (I've given it some careful thought and have also come to the conclusion that I only need three bags. I have a backpack that I can use for school; a smaller bag that I can use when I go out with friends or when I have a lighter workload on some schooldays; a tote bag for training days. And on second thought, maybe a fourth bag: a small handbag that I can use on formal occasions.)

But all this can't possibly be done with my modest little angpao collection of about 400 RM. (Yes, ringgit. Because all my relatives are in Malaysia.)

The life of an undergraduate. We're a species that likes to live life on the edge; always walking that fine line between being completely broke and barely surviving. And there are times when some of us will invariably fall off into the deep end and be forced to "chi mian bao" for quite some time before we gain back our feet.

So next CNY, all you married folk, give all the undergraduates that you know more money in their red packets. :P