Friday, January 05, 2007
Hello 2007 Part 1
I've been away for a month now, and for good reason too. The YDC camp in Port Dickson of which preparations had kept me preoccupied for the most part of December has finally come to pass. It was an extremely tiring but satisfying affair, one which I'll delve into further detail once I get my hands on the photos taken during the trip.
(It was so tiring that I slept for 13 hours upon returning home. The following day (New Year's Eve) I slept another three more in the afternoon.)
Anyway, the year 2007 had just begun. Earlier yesterday I was wondering what I was doing at this time of the year in 2005. Soon, images of me in a stuffy clown costume frolicking around in Genting Highlands came rushing back.
And from that recollection began a mental trip down memory lane; it's this time of the year that most people have their reality checks, evaluating their lives, to determine if the 365 days that had just come and gone were wisely spent. Did I come out of 2006, to put it simply, a better person than I have entered it?
If you've yet to do such a reality check, readers, I beg of you to do so. We're not getting any younger, you know. What exactly is it that you want out of this life of yours? Go give it some thought.
Anyway...
2006 opened with me bumming around at home, watching a variety of TV shows, from Lost to House to every single episode of Friends, and playing DotA between episodes. Not the best way to spend your holidays, but I justified my slacking with the 1.5-year torture (I was only kidding myself) that was the Singapore A-Levels.
After much urging from my mother I found myself working at Synovate in the business research department, where the funner stuff involved making international phone calls to New Zealand and the UAE to annoy innocent victims. It paid quite well, too. Though I planned to leave after a month, I ended up staying for almost three, as I became increasingly desensitised to the complaints of said innocent victims.
And later, in May, I made a life-changing decision to remain in Malaysia for my tertiary level education. Consequently, whenever somebody discovers that I used to be an ASEAN scholar, their invariable response would be "Why didn't you go to NUS?!?!" as though I was violating some cardinal sin (in retrospect, I probably should've returned to Singapore, but that's another story for another time).
Following that decision, I realised that to justify my staying in Malaysia, I should put a concerted effort into making my time here worthwhile. Hence my foray into a choir (again), as well as assuming posts in the Monash Nature Society and Monash University Student Association. And I also began sporadic visits to the local Buddhist association (more for hanging out and helping out than for spiritual guidance, as it turned out...) and joining the occasional camp (where I met someone with which to share a very short-lived but rather fulfilling relationship). My love affair with camps continued to the extent that I even ended up as a Programs Coordinator for the aforementioned SJBA 15th Youth Dhamma Camp.
But, truth to be told, this could all be due to a subconscious need for some ego masturbation deep inside of me. Because at the end of the day, these endeavours only serve to make me feel important, like I'm worth a damn, and not some random, sheltered geek who stays at home everyday and sees the outside world through the pages of Wikipedia.
To that end, I guess I've succeeded in making my Malaysian 2006 (as opposed to a Singaporean one) worthwhile. Heck, even my results weren't too bad, so all in all the masturbated ego had an orgasmic time.
I must say that this is probably the first time I actually gave New Year's Resolutions a serious thought. I can't help but think; where do I go now? How do I work upon whatever I've done in the past year? I admit, I'm not exactly a success story what appears in youth magazines, or Heaven forbid, a national role model (hah!), but I admit that I'd like to achieve something to that effect, someday.
But as they say, Rome wasn't built in a day. It'll take a shitload of hard work which I'm probably not cut out for (I'm still lazy as fuck), and it'd be ages (or never) before I can look back at this period of my life and sincerely say that it was time well-spent. Until that time comes, a young man can, and will dream.
And this young man will continue dreaming for quite a long while because he's still a sheltered geek who stays at home almost everyday and surfs Wikipedia (don't tell anyone or I'll lose my credibility, heh) a lot.
So what do I have in mind for 2007? How do I plan to torture my frail little body to achieve that arbitrary excellence we're all striving for? Frankly, I've yet to decide. I only have several little resolutions that I intend to stick to for this year, stuff of little consequence to the bigger picture. But with these small steps, I hope I'll eventually begin leapfrogging and finally, soaring high with all the prodigal minds of our (my) age.
Speaking of prodigies, I already have a few in my list of acquaintances. I think I'll stalk in their shadows for a while.
Until next time, may you not get carried away with metaphorical crap. And stick to your resolutions if you can!
(It was so tiring that I slept for 13 hours upon returning home. The following day (New Year's Eve) I slept another three more in the afternoon.)
Anyway, the year 2007 had just begun. Earlier yesterday I was wondering what I was doing at this time of the year in 2005. Soon, images of me in a stuffy clown costume frolicking around in Genting Highlands came rushing back.
And from that recollection began a mental trip down memory lane; it's this time of the year that most people have their reality checks, evaluating their lives, to determine if the 365 days that had just come and gone were wisely spent. Did I come out of 2006, to put it simply, a better person than I have entered it?
If you've yet to do such a reality check, readers, I beg of you to do so. We're not getting any younger, you know. What exactly is it that you want out of this life of yours? Go give it some thought.
Anyway...
2006 opened with me bumming around at home, watching a variety of TV shows, from Lost to House to every single episode of Friends, and playing DotA between episodes. Not the best way to spend your holidays, but I justified my slacking with the 1.5-year torture (I was only kidding myself) that was the Singapore A-Levels.
After much urging from my mother I found myself working at Synovate in the business research department, where the funner stuff involved making international phone calls to New Zealand and the UAE to annoy innocent victims. It paid quite well, too. Though I planned to leave after a month, I ended up staying for almost three, as I became increasingly desensitised to the complaints of said innocent victims.
And later, in May, I made a life-changing decision to remain in Malaysia for my tertiary level education. Consequently, whenever somebody discovers that I used to be an ASEAN scholar, their invariable response would be "Why didn't you go to NUS?!?!" as though I was violating some cardinal sin (in retrospect, I probably should've returned to Singapore, but that's another story for another time).
Following that decision, I realised that to justify my staying in Malaysia, I should put a concerted effort into making my time here worthwhile. Hence my foray into a choir (again), as well as assuming posts in the Monash Nature Society and Monash University Student Association. And I also began sporadic visits to the local Buddhist association (more for hanging out and helping out than for spiritual guidance, as it turned out...) and joining the occasional camp (where I met someone with which to share a very short-lived but rather fulfilling relationship). My love affair with camps continued to the extent that I even ended up as a Programs Coordinator for the aforementioned SJBA 15th Youth Dhamma Camp.
But, truth to be told, this could all be due to a subconscious need for some ego masturbation deep inside of me. Because at the end of the day, these endeavours only serve to make me feel important, like I'm worth a damn, and not some random, sheltered geek who stays at home everyday and sees the outside world through the pages of Wikipedia.
To that end, I guess I've succeeded in making my Malaysian 2006 (as opposed to a Singaporean one) worthwhile. Heck, even my results weren't too bad, so all in all the masturbated ego had an orgasmic time.
I must say that this is probably the first time I actually gave New Year's Resolutions a serious thought. I can't help but think; where do I go now? How do I work upon whatever I've done in the past year? I admit, I'm not exactly a success story what appears in youth magazines, or Heaven forbid, a national role model (hah!), but I admit that I'd like to achieve something to that effect, someday.
But as they say, Rome wasn't built in a day. It'll take a shitload of hard work which I'm probably not cut out for (I'm still lazy as fuck), and it'd be ages (or never) before I can look back at this period of my life and sincerely say that it was time well-spent. Until that time comes, a young man can, and will dream.
And this young man will continue dreaming for quite a long while because he's still a sheltered geek who stays at home almost everyday and surfs Wikipedia (don't tell anyone or I'll lose my credibility, heh) a lot.
So what do I have in mind for 2007? How do I plan to torture my frail little body to achieve that arbitrary excellence we're all striving for? Frankly, I've yet to decide. I only have several little resolutions that I intend to stick to for this year, stuff of little consequence to the bigger picture. But with these small steps, I hope I'll eventually begin leapfrogging and finally, soaring high with all the prodigal minds of our (my) age.
Speaking of prodigies, I already have a few in my list of acquaintances. I think I'll stalk in their shadows for a while.
Until next time, may you not get carried away with metaphorical crap. And stick to your resolutions if you can!
