Chapter 47--Year 2008, a year to remember

Although many may regard 2008 as a year to forget due to the collapse of several companies as a result of economic turmoil, I personally regard 2008 as a year fill with small surprises and achievements.
Firstly, This year reunion dinner has got to be one of the better ones in recent years as the elders FINALLY realized that there should be at least some decent ingredients(translate: meat) when one want to have streamboat. I mean come on, none of us in the family are vegetarian so why are we having predominantly vegetables for the past reunion streamboat dinner? Cannot really fathom why they took such a long time to understand this bloody simple point. Hope that they would be able to maintain this practice for all subsequent reunion dinner streamboat( although I hope dearly that they would upgrade to include bbq streamboat such as those found in seoul garden). In addition, managed to offer some volunteering service albeit a small scale one which is for NUS biathlon in February. Manning the water point remind me of NS when I was still a lobo after my BMT. Also FINALLY managed to complete the 1 star canoeing course together with good pal Yong ann whereby we have so many fun and memorable moments at the Kallang river. Learning kayaking has always been one of my “Things to do before I die” list and I am glad that I eventually have the opportunity to realize it in 2008. Really hope to upgrade my kayaking skills in future and I hope that by then I would have more kakis to join me. So sad that so many of my friends are the non-sporting type…Hehe, hope to make more sporting and outdoor friends in future. In May, with the release of year 3 exam results, I finally decided to pursue honours at Biopolis hence beginning a year of hectic research life in lab with many tears and cheers so far and definitely even more to come in 2009. This is also the opportunity for me to experience what research is all about and although so far I cannot really say that I love it, it certainly wasn’t that bad after all either. Hopefully with the last few remaining months left in lab, I will gradually learn to appreciate the beauty of research even more. July was the month whereby I attended my second ICT and this time round with more close army buddies around, it certainly made the whole experience far more enjoyable than the first ICT. In addition, at least this ICT was more action packed compared to the fucking boring first ICT as this ICT at least had outfield and live firing exercise. Still cannot believe that we actually “attack” all the way from area D to area A. No wonder I almost fell asleep during the journey back to camp(and I am supposed to be the driver!) Therefore, cannot understand why some of the guys hate ICT and outfield so much because to me, ICT is one rare occasion whereby we can reunite with our army pals and relish the strong bond formed during our full time national service and outfield is just so much more exciting and interesting compared to staying in bunk and slacking. Guess I am one of the few guys who actually enjoy national service haha… Maybe its because I do not have too many nasty experiences during my active days? Really feel pity for those guys who have to endure hell during their full time national service but then again, I always believe that it is the attitude that one possess and display that contributes eventually to one experience. In August, managed to complete my 3rd Army Half Marathon while the Run for hope(aka Terry fox run) in October was my first attempt at it. Thoroughly enjoy the experience of these mass run and I hope that more friends would be able to join me as well in future(but then again seems quite hard to recruit friends for such events).

With the conclusion of a rather interesting 2008, I certainly hope that year 2009 would have more to offer. Aside from the constant desire to want to obtain good results for my exams(especially when it is supposedly the final semester of my stay in NUS) I certainly hope to learn more life and recreational skills as well. This includes the continual participation of army half marathon which has become almost like a yearly primilage to city hall now and definitely signing up for more mass run(who knows I may finally sign up for the December Singapore marathon in 2009?). In addition, also hopes to learn rock climbing and in line skating if I have the chance to do so. And of course, I hope to upgrade my PC skills as well. Also looking forward to my third ICT next year which will be range(yay! Finally get to shoot again!) as well as participating in more volunteering work if time permits. Last but not least, I certainly hope that I can exercise more(unlikely), eat more healthily( highly unlikely), be a much nicer person( super highly unlikely).

See you guys in 2009!

Regards,
Yongster

Live the life you want. Many more good years ahead!