Monday, December 29, 2008.

I guess it's the time (despite my previous post) to post the customary end-of-year post, despite it only being the 364th day of the year (I doubt I'll post much anyway, seeing I'm going out to codA 4 tomorrow and countdown-ing the day after.)

Yeah 2008.

On a more global level, I guess this passage by Miyazaki Hayao (director of gosh - Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea - I WANT TO WATCH! IT'S SO KAWAIIIII NEH!) sums up this year globally:

"2008年夏、日本だけでなく世界の人々が自信を失い、経済政策の行き詰まり、食糧や原油価格の高騰、地球の温暖化問題など、解決の糸口さえ見つけられず、不安を抱きながら漫然と生きている現代。"

erm for the non-japanese people you can roughly read the chinese words to get a general feeling.

true enough, 2008 hasn't been a good year globally, what with milk powder, nargis, 512, mugabe, south ossetia, kosovo, shoes, palin and subprime (how can anyone forget?!).

but it has been fun. that 1/2-month respite from all the crap we had in august (Olympics duh.) showed the limits (or lack of) of the human body, and many stuff (like Rudd's Lost Generations speech) showed that 2008 was an unforgettable year. and of course, barack hussein obama.

but of course, on a more personal level:
erm the following extract was taken from a post nearly 1 year ago, at the start of 2008:

cheers to us surviving a year full of crap, bullets and bombs.

now to the gruesome year: 2008.

to think that even b4 we start, i'm feeling stressed out.

test (on 红楼梦) like soon. more crap, double Os.

i look forward to this time next year, much more than looking forward to tomorrow. well, that's with preparing $10 this time next year.

Bolded line for emphasis.

Yeah it's truly amazing how I could even think about skipping 2008 (as i remembered), how i even dared to wish that 2008 would be totally gruesome.

it has been magnificent.

what with 4B'08, all my friends, RISE, chemRA/maffRA/4ABCH/J4.11 etc. and a whole string of stuff which happened to me, I would willingly repeat 2008 again, do the same 红楼梦 test again and over again, relax and let free in the company of my friends.

True, it has been gruelling, not least because of all my commitments (which are to be honest significantly less than some others), not least because of one terrible mistake, not least because of all the horrid weeks I spent, either with one or 2 friends in RI at 11pm pushing timpanis back to band room, or term3 week9-10 (which was downright the worst fortnight ever in my life).

But without 2008 I wouldn't be that close to a lot of classmates, a lot of CCA mates, a lot of other batchmates and people. And the experiences I have had with them are (as MasterCard puts it) priceless.

So thanks, and thanks so much, to everyone that I have known this past year. I don't wish to mention names lest I miss some deserving people, but I guess you know what you did to someone insignificant like me, and when you think I'm referring to you it's definitely you I'm referring to.

This whole year, without some people, would be a bore. Some people made friends, and very good ones now (I hope), with me, hanging out without fail with us, having fun gossiping and bi*ching, from a coffeeshop to a house. Some people helped me so much, being there for me whenever I needed slave labour, and willingly chatting with me whenever we went home together. Some people guided me many times, even in the bleakest of times, through all the demands placed on us, giving us advice, some nuggets of wisdom here and there. Some people, even if I didn't really know that well, chatted and gossiped with me, sometimes for hours on end (be it face-to-face or MSN), making my life more bearable especially during the boring times and the nasty times. Some people just brightened my day each time I talked to them, be it about buzzers or out-of-tune notes.

thanks. really.

2008 was wow.

here's hoping for a BETTER 2009!

(and my $10 too.)

Labels: Life