saturday evening so the end of the year is here again. i was looking through my archives and realized i didn't do one last year. shit. in any case. i did half of this before i headed off for a short holiday with my dad, sis, a couple of her friends and some other people whom i'll be meeting in taipei. the rest, well, i’m sitting here in my hotel room writing this.
well. 2008 marked the start of a brand new chapter of my life - university. i've said it before many times over that i never saw myself in university for various reasons. everything i knew last time revolved around me and my dream of being a pilot. we all know what happened and even today, i still feel the strain on my knees sometimes.
the last few months of taiwan was pretty enjoyable, me being able to separate work from personal issues that much more better. i became that little bit more professional as a colleague and that more tolerant as a friend.
bringing joanna around taipei in february was one of the best times i've ever had. meeting up with many secondary school and poly friends in the course of my work and duties in taiwan was always interesting and memorable. work was hectic, juggling preparing my handover stuff and my daily work and of course, the other "extras" that i was tasked with. now that all's been said and done, it was a good learning experience. it made my national service that much more special, being able to have done half of it overseas.
not forgetting also, the friends made in taiwan. friends from all over, taipei, tainan, kaohsiung, from clubbing to army people from the other camps to even salesgirls who came to our official dinners at restaurants selling stuff, to friends made through other friends.. well, they all turned out to be great friends.
in any case, it has been a good year. after the fracas of my returning to singapore and the mess that the australians decided to create, my journey down under started with a road trip with a couple of friends. unfortunately, it also showed me and a couple of others that we didn't really know the true colors of some friends until we traveled together. was it a loss? perhaps. but i have no regrets. losing two supposed-friends who take things for granted, demand things to be done for them and even blame us for their own shortcomings, well, i can do with less "friends" like these.
the trip to australia was great, taking the a380 for the first time. it was a bit of a shocker because midway through the flight, there was a broadcast announcement asking for any medically-trained personnel, followed by a stewardess running down the aisle with a defilberator. when the flight landed in kingsford, out the window, there were a couple of ambulances waiting and everyone had to wait for a while to disembark.
the drive from sydney to melbourne put me in good stead when my newly-made friends in canberra decided to do something similar during our two weeks break. so yea, we made the drive there and back, exploring wineries, the great ocean road, meeting other friends in melbourne and sydney amongst other things.
school started not long after, the group of singaporeans that i met have been pretty amazing so far. the first couple of weeks were incredibly fun, snowboarding being the highlight, the many sleepovers at the hotel that a few of us were put up in. after finally moving into hostel, the famed burton and garran hall, long dinners became a norm, the studying frenzy kicked in and here we are, the end of one semester.
i won't go so far as to say that i regret going to anu. anu is fine. the curriculum is alright but unfortunately it's not the best place for information systems. on the other hand, i'm also thankful because of the need to do programming, or rather, the lack of it. ha! the people here have been great so far, less the few instances of barely disguised racism and abuse. i've seen people getting high on alcohol and drugs and then going crazy. i've seen my fair share of things in life and so far in australia, it has served only to prove me right thus far.
2008 was also a year where mistakes were made, mistakes that i have since learned from and well, hopefully not repeat them. 2008 was a wild ride. nothing would have been what it is had it not been for the people who helped me pull through a year in taiwan, half a year in australia so far and have been wonderful friends through and through.
so in this post, here's a big thank you to yingzhao, geraldine, shuren, shaun, ben, ivan, ade, michelle, giles, julian, yuting, gary and delin.
