2008 in review.
written: 4:04 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008

1. Mystery Skin Condition

Ever since I got back to Singapore, I've been having these strange mosquito bit-like bumps on my arms, legs and tummy and itching like crazy. Maybe calling them mosquito bite-like is a bit misleading; I'm not entirely sure how they start, but usually when I'm scratching away like mad, the bumps appear and look like mosquito bites. Sometimes I notice a tiny red dot at the place where it itches which grows into a bump when I start scratching; other times, there's nothing visible at the itchy spot and the bump appears when I start scratching.

Whatever it is, I really don't need to be inflicted with yet another physical condition, so I hope it's just the indescribable, almost unsalvageable dirty state of my room. But then, I was also itching when I was out at Suntec yesterday. I DON'T KNOW.

Bottom line: I really really REALLY need to clean my room. I'll spend the New Year doing just that. How symbolic right? Yes. Whatever, I know I'm just lazy.

Er, I really hope it's not some flesh-eating bacteria...

2. Friends!

Sunday night: Met up with Baoyue, Simon and Justin. Justin's back from Australia! I haven't seen him in the longest time.

I kind of got irritated when, before Baoyue arrived, Justin got me started on the death penalty and stormed off to the toilet haha. Apart from having a really crappy morning, I really don't see the point in talking about it, debating it. Unless I can get a grade out of it, I'd rather not. Been there, done that, rolled my eyes through all the opposing and heartless utilitarian arguments, valiantly defended my bleeding heart liberal arguments, and reached the conclusion that neither side will ever change its mind. What's the point? Intellectual sparring? Er, maybe three years ago, but not now, not anymore. I think I'm just jaded, maybe. Oh well.

Still, after that little snafu, things got better. We ended up at Ice Cold Beer SMU where Justin and Simon returned their beer because it tasted funny and had two Hoegaarden on the house. The Hoegaarden, unfortunately, tasted even funnier. There was this strange and artificially, even vaguely ominously, sweet metallic aftertaste. In short, it did not taste like the Hoegaarden I knew, and liked, at all. AT ALL. Simon didn't touch his. Justin drank half. I wouldn't have touched it too!

It was happy hour all Sunday long so Baoyue and I shared some Japanese malt beer which I quite liked. But I got home and slept all bloated - which only further reinforced why I don't like beer - or alcohol, really - to begin with. I hate that bloated feeling, like there's something inflating my stomach. Not enough to make me puke (hello, one bottle of beer - and I didn't even finish it), but significant enough to make me feel uncomfortable. Why do people drink again?

Yesterday: Gelare with Mag! All the pictures are in her camera, some on Facebook. All I can say is, I love Mag with all my heart. :)

3. Make of this what you will

On Sunday at Manhattan Fish Market, some random guy from the table opposite ours kept looking at me after I randomly looked directly at him. At one point I almost burst out laughing at the cheesiness of the whole thing, but as he got up to leave and tipped his glass at me, I couldn't help but smile back.

Yesterday when I was waiting for my dad to pick me up from Bukit Batok MRT station, a couple of guys came up to me and attempted to sell me a credit card. One of them asked me the usual questions - how old I was, what I did, where I went to school. After it transpired that I did not have the financial means to own a credit card, the guy that did the asking gave me his card, saying, "Give me a call some time."

It was actually kind of nice to be noticed/hit on by guys who were shockingly rather cute. What a change from my usual fare of weird, cannot-speak-English, tragic-looking line of...males that were completely off-putting and a major blow to my ego. I know, I'm disgustingly superficial, but hey, it's a superficial world I live in, and I make no apologies for it. At least I'm honest about it.

Anyway, yeah, that's it. Make of it what you will, like I said.

Since this is my last post of the year, I might as well do this yearly survey now.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?

A. I went overseas without my parents, took a plane by myself, and ventured out of Asia. Oh my god!

Europe was amazing, even more so because I shared it with Mag. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

B. I did something unnatural to my hair - I permed it. Prior to this I'd never done anything unnatural to it - never coloured it, never rebonded it, never permed it. I had this weird fixation with keeping my hair in its natural state so I refused any chemical procedures that would interfere with it. But I wanted something different, was FUCK SICK of my stupid bangs, and so I permed it after my hairstylist suggested it.

I think it was probably the best decision I made, hair-wise. I honestly can't understand how I stuck with the bangs for two years because...yeah, it looked pretty bad, didn't it? I totally love my hair now. But I'm still paranoid about damaging my hair so I'm probably going to perm it again, like, half a year later.

C. I watched and played tennis! Playing tennis is the most humiliating thing I've ever tried, sports-wise, worse than all the rubbish PE in secondary school put me through. This is probably because I know how tennis should be played properly, but just can't freaking do it. Therefore, I prefer watching. My darling Roger is just poetry in motion.

D. The C for Infocoms that I gave up aside, I had a C-less year. Like, oh my god, amazing. (Year = Year 3 Sem 2 + Year 4 Sem 1. I'd love to have a C-less academic year, especially since it's my last.)

E. I attended my first rock concert, and it was fittingly Stereophonics. I LOVE STEREOPHONICS. I need to buy Decade in the Sun, like, yesterday.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I think I might this year actually.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Nope.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Nope.

5. What countries did you visit?

England, France, Greece, Taiwan which is a country fuck you China.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

GOOD HEALTH. I can't believe I have to say this. I really don't know what the fuck happened to me, health-wise, this year, but it was just plain awful. No more random afflictions that cause half my face to stop functioning please. No more random afflictions, period. I'm tired of spending senseless money on medical bills and taking pills and worrying that I'd never look the same again, or be healthy again, blah blah blah.

Apart from that, nothing, really. I had the good grades I wanted last year, and on the love life front, less complications would be nice, but compared to last year, this year has been quite a breeze. No complaints.

7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Probably July 1. Moratorium lifted, futures determined, interesting shit, and me, biggest shock ever. Okay, that's overstating it, but if you were to tell me this time last year that I'd be pupilling at The Firm, I'd say you're fucking crazy. Things have a funny way of working out sometimes.

And November 18, too. Seeing Roger Federer play tennis in person was just...no words. No. Words.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

For sure, my Year 4 Semester 1 results.

On second thought, can it be called an achievement if I didn't work towards it, or for it, at all?

On third thought, I think I'll just take it, thanks.

9. What was your biggest failure?

STILL getting C's despite everything. That's really gotta stop at some point. <--- Last year's answer. OMG, I DON'T HAVE TO REPEAT MYSELF!

Biggest failure: Failure to clean my room. Seriously. I'm not going into the gory details because this is a public domain and I don't want to be publicly embarrassed, so let's just say my room is in serious, dire need of cleaning.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

WHERE THE FUCK DO I EVEN START.

February to June: Bell's Palsy.

November to December: Random cyst in the right eye that randomly appeared.

December: Flu, then a fucking EAR INFECTION when I was ON HOLIDAY. To make matters worse, it HAD to happen at the START of my holiday.

Yeah, I'm quite ready to leave this year behind me.

As for injury, I can't remember, so probably not. Did I injure myself while playing tennis? My hand felt weird but it was inevitable.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

The boots I bought in Taipei immediately upon arrival...okay, as immediate as it could get, seeing as we had to sit through a one-hour drive from Taoyuan International Airport to Yonghe, Taipei. The airport isn't in Taipei - obviously. Then had to sit through dinner, after which I could finally walk around Ximending looking for a new pair of shoes to replace the one I wore there. What happened to it? The sole came off, that's what happened. It was a pair of Marie Claire boots I bought ten years ago but never wore because it was damn fugs. Boy, am I glad it fell apart. I threw it away after I bought my awesome boots from a random shoe shop in Ximending.

And of course: MY KL EXHIBITION MATCH TICKET.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

All my friends. Mag, Mel, Rui, Chloe - the four people I'm never afraid to tell anything to because they'd never judge me and they'd always listen. And the ones I don't always meet, but always miss. All my friends.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

No one!

14. Where did most of your money go?

Apart from the usual MangoZaraEspritForever21etc, people overseas selling bootleg tennis matches. Hahahaha. Towards feeding my Federer obsession, and at one point, to iTunes to support my husband, David Cook. HAHA. And travelling. And food in Europe, especially London, especially when I was there by myself. I don't believe in scrimping on food while overseas at all, so I pretty much ate whatever I felt like that was hopefully less than 10 pounds.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Definitely the Europe trip! I was also excited about Taiwan but the stupid ear infection fucked things up. Sadly, Alishan is forever tainted to me.

Also: The exhibition match, the Stereophonics concert, American Idol finale, Julian Barnes' new book.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?

Er I dunno.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?

Pretty much the same in terms of happiness, but in terms of inner peace, definitely more settled.

ii. thinner or fatter?

I seriously don't even want to know.

iii. richer or poorer?

I refuse to think about this.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Study, as usual. This answer crops up every single year. It's utterly tragic. <--- Last year's answer. I did not do more studying. Apparently, I needn't have to.

I wish I'd clubbed more. Or rather - I wish I'd clubbed AT ALL. The last time I clubbed was December 2007. How tragic.

I wish I'd spent more time with people too. This year has been more reclusive than most, mainly because of Bell's which had me stuck at home a lot. It kind of grew into a pattern for a while, such that even after I got better I was too lazy to go out. I wish I'd spent more time with my friends though.

And write, definitely.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Played with fire.

But then again, not really.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

This Christmas was probably the worst ever, even for someone to whom Christmas doesn't mean anything beyond logcakes and movies on TV.

22. Did you fall in love in 2007?

Roger Federer and David Cook!

23. How many one night stands?

Not my thing.

24. What was your favourite TV programme?

Chuck!

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

No.

26. What was the best book you read?

I just started on Nothing to be Frightened Of, and 9 pages later, I absolutely love it. But since I haven't finished it...first, the books that I read, in no particular order:

Money - Martin Amis
Amsterdam - Ian McEwan (I finished this in THREE DAYS)
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
Cross Channel - Julian Barnes
Roger Federer Story - Rene Stauffer
Chart Throb - Ben Elton
Lock and Key - Sarah Dessen
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut (didn't finish cos too boring and didn't care)
Seven Types of Ambiguity - Elliot Perlman (I think it was this year?)

I really can't remember what books I read which year, which is something I'm going to correct starting now. Anyway, assuming the above list is all the books I read in 2008, I'm sad to say nothing really blew me away. Cross Channel was obviously good but I didn't understand a lot of the context because I'm not too familiar with Anglo-Franco relations. I guess I'd say Atonement, if simply for the brilliant and incredibly detailed writing. But to do it justice, it's really an incredibly insightful and touching novel to which the stupid movie did no justice. I knew the story already but I nearly obsessively read on anyway, firstly because McEwan's writing makes you want to keep reading, and secondly because...well, because his writing makes you want to keep reading.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

I don't listen to music much anymore, sadly, but the obvious answer is: David Cook! Analog Heart >>>> David Cook (the album).

28. What did you want and get?

Good grades, get out of Asia, a new experience.

29. What did you want and not get?

I can't think of anything.

30. What was your favourite film of this year?

Hands down, The Dark Knight.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

22. Spent time with family and friends, just the way it's meant to be.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Not falling sick, like, every other month would have been nice.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

Whatever.

34. What kept you sane?

Family and friends, and words.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

David Cook and Roger Federer, for sure!

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

The usual Taiwan/China stuff, and for the later part of the year, the R2P/UN/World stuff.

37. Who did you miss?

Kenneth, after he left for exchange.

38. Who was the best new person you met?

Didn't really meet anyone this year.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.

Vaguely: It's Actually Not That Bad.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

Errr. Dunno.

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010