Chapter 20-- Looking back at 2007

Now that the year is coming to an end, it is time to once again reflect and take stock of what we have and have not achieved in this particular year.





Studies


Year 2007 has been a rather fruitful year for me in term of academic results as year 2 sem 2 result was one of my best improved results in NUS up to date. The modules that I took in 2007 were also mostly interesting and enriching ones such as GEK2506-Drugs and Society, the 2 FST modules-FST2201- Introduction to human nutrition and FST3202-Nutrition and the prevention of diseases and of course not forgetting some of my own life science core modules such as LSM2103-Cell Biology, LSM3211-Fundamental Pharmacology, LSM3232-Microbiology and LSM3212-Human Physiology-Cardiopulmonary system. Personally, I feel that I have acquired quite a lot of useful knowledge and stuffs and would certainly like to continue this trend in year 2008 and beyond even after I have graduated. This year was also the year where I feel exceptionally motivated to study and it could be due to my ever increasing passion in the life sciences which allowed me to perform relatively well in most of the tests and exams. In a way, I feel sorry for my peers who seems to have a diminishing interest in study as times goes by. The 2 years spend in NS has however made me treasure school and study even more.

Year 2007 is also the year when I made quite an important(and hopefully correct) decision regarding my teritary studies and that is to do honours in year 2008 if my result permit me to do so. I have grapple with this decision for quite a long time ever since year 1 and it is really within this year that I finally made up my mind to commit to the honours year despite some negative comments that I have heard such as honours year being a waste of time and it doesn't really make a difference in the real outside world. Nevertheless, I feel that the honours year would be a really good challenge for me and I could also make use of the opportunity to gauge if I was suited for research work(which is a pivotal decision for most life science students) before regretting doing research related career which would be a even much worse scenario. Of course, at the same time, I am well aware of the risk that I may have to take such as doing badly in my honours project that renders all my previous effort frutile and graduating with a 3rd class honours( and hence contributing to being another statistic figure that honours year is indeed a waste of time and that not all people would perform well in their honours year).



Health



My health has been stable this year with minor hiccups and illness only occasionally and of course I am grateful for that and hope that it will continue this way. However, I am still not very satisfied with my health as there are so much things that could be improved on.

1.) Eat more greens and fruits

2.) Exercise more frequently

3.) Have a more regular sleep patterns

4.) Cut down on fried foods and potatoes chips

Although I know that the above mentioned are important to substain and improve my health, I still often fall prey to my own laziness and mental indiscipline and therefore I really hope that year 2008 could be the year when I finally shake off some of my laziness and achieve to a certain extent each of the above mentioned goals although I figure that point 1 and 4 would be a tremendous uphill task for me to accompolished.



Family and friends



Nothing major has happened to my family and friends in this year( thank god perhaps?) and once again, hopefully this trend will continue into 2008. My relationship with my paternal relatives still remains cold as I really could not find any common topic with them making me like a wooden block whenever we get together( and which explains why I hate chinese new year reunion dinner at my paternal grandparents house so much because I am kinda like a mute there and the whole atmosphere is just so damn fake) . I also hardly get in touch with my cousins this year as I would be preoccupied with tests and exams whenever there are functions for us to get together. However, I am shock and happy to realise lately that 1 of my younger maternal side cousin would be getting married next year at a young tender age of 21 making her only the 2nd person after my elder brother to get married in the entire family.

Having 2 treats in a row lately has given me relief that I have been a rather "up to task" friend for most of my friends and I certainly hope that I could do better than that in year 2008. IMO, I have always treat friends as something that is indispensable given my poor relationships with my most of my relatives and therefore it is always heartening to hear from my friends that I have been a really good friend to them. Hopefully, in 2008, I can establish a even more solid friendships with my current friends and at the same time acquire more new friends out there.


Yours Sincerely,
Yongster