Review 2008, Receive 2009
2008 has been a fruitful and challenging year for me.
I changed a new blog skin in Jan’08, perhaps symbolising a new beginning for me. Having had a wonderful first semester in NUS, made me look forward to an even more exciting semester(s) in 2008.
Jan also marked a random trip to Hong Kong for Joey Yung’s concert. I rushed off to the airport after Prof Chang’s tourism lecture only to find my plane delayed. It was a refreshing trip as it was over a weekend and the feeling of getting away during school term was shiok, seriously.
And the sex-scandal came out soon after.
CNY was fun, fun, fun. The whole idea of the 4 cousins – me, wendy, mavis and Terrence dressing up was indeed a novel and interesting one. The 4 of us were ALL so AA (Attract Attention) that everywhere we went, people were talking an extra look on us. The theme for 09 hasn’t been set yet, but stay tuned.
Valentine’s Day was spent with a dear friend of mine – michelle. It was a nice dinner (except for some unhappy incidences with the staff). It was rather funny as a relative of mine thought she was my girlfriend and was insisting me to introduce her to her. Both of us were like: NO. NO. We are only good friends.
Feb’29, a once in 4 year day, was spent with wenjian at the YEP’s Leader’s Networking Dinner. It was also the start of our involvement with YEP as their alumni mentors, inspiring new leaders and sharing with them our experiences and activities as new leaders.
Stayed till late in school to prep for GC Prelims in Mar. It was exciting and challenging doing all the administrative work before the event as I never thought that hosting such a big event can be so tiring and exhausting. BUT it was a success.
Huang Cheng Ye Yun 2008 – Nostalgic.
14th Mar – Drama Festival! It was so so memorable for me – being a main cast in one of the 6 plays and also the emcee for all the plays. Thanks to Audrey and Aeron, my fellow co-emcee for putting this into a huge success. Also to the casts and director of my play. I really really love drama-fest. Looking forward to it this coming year.
March’21 – My 22nd Birthday.
Pit-Stop Outing with Geographers was a fun-filled one. Playing games that ranges from idiotic to intellectual – it proved, with the exception of Matthew and Prof Chang that most of us belonged to the idiotic-range.
STB visit in April was quite fun. Tourism was a module that I love a lot - both the subject and the lecturer. On a lower note, I entered a ‘whiney’ depression syndrome near to exams - especially towards psychology.
Entering the examinations era - *bleah*. Last paper was tourism and like 1101e, the mentos came along as I was rushing my last few sentences for Prof Chang. I especially enjoyed my first question, where it was ‘design a new hotel based on new tourism principles’ (rephrased) and I drew and coloured a hotel. It was one of the most creative essay I did and one which I enjoy doing.
I like being a tour guide too. Hosting the NTNU students with geographers was a fun task. Being a tour guide enthusias, I love travelling too – May was spent with the geographers at Msia! It was a nice few days of rest, relax and rejuvenation. It also bonded us to the MAX, and I mean it because we saw each other more than 7 days a week, with only breaks of less than 12 hours.
Sounders tried to step out of our comfort zone too by engaging in more physical activities. Apparently, after that, we resumed our fattening acts by going to dinners. Klunches, nothing physical at all – hmmm maybe ice-skating.
Re-service in JUNE. Not a lot to say about that.
GC – right after serving my nation! Unforgettable experience indeed. Thanks to all who have made it possible. Special mention – Png Peishan, my co-emcee for GC Finals
FIC was also another memorable one.
Summer School was a wrongright choice made by me. Wrong in terms of grades (lets not talk about that) Right because of the friendships made and the whole experience was so different. Taking lessons with our Denmark and YALE UNI friends was so different. It felt like a local-SEP and though the workload was immense, it was worth the effort. When it came to the Thailand-Cambodia fieldtrip, everyone was so excited that no one really cares about the report BUT to learn more about the culture and enjoy ourselves to the maximum. Thanks to Ben and Shaun especially for being my bed-room buddies. And cheers to the clique – Me, Ben, Claudine, Lee Min, Jasmine, Stella, Brandon and Shaun.
On an interesting note, sounders changed our route by going pubbing in August. Trying to be all-rounders. BUT we definitely are. Haha.
Stepping down as the Hon Gen Sec from the 42nd is a sad event. I will sorely miss the 42nd and sincerely hope that this bond and friendship between all of us can last for a long long time. From the bottom of my heart, I truly love the 42nd MC. And life after stepping down was boring (common thoughts by most of my comm.) and suddenly school work seems very heavy. Official handover was in Sept, but 42nd still tries to help out by offering our ‘expertise’ whenever we can.
Kudos to my primary school friends! A reunion after 10 years! And I am looking forward to next year’s outing. Nadia maybe coming with her 2 children!
Congratulations to myself for attaining CLASS 3 too.
I became a poster-boy for the Geog Dept in Oct on a poster promoting Geography at King’s College London. Happy. Also because I topped the class in the Natural Hazards Midterms and received a ‘Journal of Cave and Karst Studies’ as my reward, and this spurred me to study harder for GE3231.
I became a ‘crasher’ in Nov. I crashed Prof Chang’s 1101e’s last lecture and also Changing Landscapes. Oh my, what am I doing when the exams are near.
Attended Xinwei’s 21st Birthday even though it was in the midst of my exams – BACK TO SCHOOL PARTY! It felt wierd re-wearing the old Hwa Chong uniform but it was certainly a fabulous party. Not forgetting the hazardous outings after the exams – congrats to all of us for doing well for hazards – we are indeed hazardous.
Sounders, once again decided to go physical – Ice-Skating. FUN but I came home with injuries. My toe-nail bled internally and my hand was sprained quite badly I think as now I am typing with a bandage. Then we went back to our usual self of engaging in fattening activites.
Happy Marraige Yirong too!
Christmas was one of the most fun! Time was spent with Ms Wong (crazy shopping), OG Clique, Sounders, JC Clas, Prof Chang and fellow Geographers! It was so fun-filled and so FUN! All of them made this special day so special, so memorable! Nothing beats knowing you people.
And due to my boredom and Peishan’s procrastination of her own personal geographies of fear, we embarked on a special journey to save the world. Hopefully this comes with a surprise! We do have powers ok!
Sounders, once again decided to embark on a different route, only to find themselves without the correct feel for things. We should seriously have met up more after our exams and not accumulate to many outings in just 2 weeks. Haha. And we are going to have an adventure tomorrow 1st Jan 2009
In conclusion, 2008 has been a fulfilling year for me. I look forward to 2009!
Counting down to 1st Jan and Happy New Year to everyone!
Bedtime Stories
Are fairytales true? Or will they come true?
Will random stories come true too?
Met up with Sounders (-1), as dear zuee is enjoying herself in HK now, to watch Bedtime Stories!
Class Gathering at Kai's House
Saving the World - A tale of 1 hero and 1 heroine
The whole concept of 'Saving the World' began with 2 rather good friends, a male and a female (gender geography) who did not realised about their common interest. The male, after the exam of his life, embarked on his own route to boredom (personal geography), doing non-constructive yet exciting things to spent his time. Meanwhile, the female, was in nightmare. She was cooped in her own 'geography of fear', trapping herself in this dream that will materialise soon. Their lives once interlocked in the past year but since 'retirement' - ageing phenomenon?, the led rather independent lives, with their only interaction only via the (im)famous electronic messenger.
One fine day, these 2 opposite polarities met - and a common goal is targeted. Due to the male's boredom and the female's fear and procrastination, they are endowed with special powers to save the world. Never once did the globe faced with such major and natural phenomenon. These 2 special heros, granted with powers of the interlinked world (K Ohmae Borderless World) and the the power of the 'wor(l)dy' began their journey. Their mission is to come up with a plan to save the world. Fret not cos their powers are complementary. After days of formulating the plans, they decided to meet up today for a coffee session where they will discuss their grand ideas to combat the enemy. Localised term for the coffee session is termed 'Lim Kopi'(Geography of Particularisation) and true enough due to their intense discussion, their meal proved un-fulfilling.
Great Powers come with Great Responsibility - with such immense power, can they defeat the enemy?
Will they succeed?
Photos of Tea and Dinner on 28thDec
Us, with Prof Chang and Jordon
Us with the gifts - ASIA ON TOUR + CUPCAKE/MUFFIN
Random yet people-noticing shot
42nd ROCKS!
Christmas Fun!
A weekend full of adventures
Sat and Sun was filled with awesome adventures - xmas gathering and parties! :)
Met up with fellow JC-Classmates at kai's place for xmas dinner and gift exchange. It wsa quite wonderful meeting them once more as load of past memories and current events filled in during the session. Alan will be leaving for the states for his exchange and th girls are spending their last semester in schools, with the exception of Siqi who is already working.
(photos with the girls and lionel)
Sat afternoon was spent at Prof Chang's house. It was really kind and sweet of him to invite us over for tea. Thanks so much for the xmas gifts u have prepared for all of us!
(Photos with John)
The night was spent at Yuna's house - the 42nd MC gathering. We were once agian talking loads of serious matters e.g. SEP, Modules and of course rusbbishy matter which have amusing values! I love gathering with these geographers!
(Photos with Ziwei)
Me and the SPARKLING XMAS TREE!
Prof Chang's little gifts to us - A Cupcake/Muffin and His co-edited book
Merry Christmas
Christmas Eve was spent with the regular clique and it was indeed a fun filled christmas with gift-exchanges, singing sessions, nice dinner and photo-whoring activities at orchard. It was quite a 'warm' christmas spent with a very special group of friends, and i enjoyed myself a lot today.
As usual, a picture speaks a thousand words -
Singing Session
Zuee's little gifts for us
Gift Exchange
They say I look like an Elf
Tokyo Shot (Zuee, 2008)
Xmas Shot
Along the way
The House
The Self-Shot
The Jump Shot
Merry Christmas Everyone!
OG Outing
Merry Christmas. We have great fun today (erm yesterday)!
The Ultimate Reveal
I pressed the enter key after keying in my username and password (did not put in matric number this time round). Generally, my results were ALL UNEXPECTED. The one I expect to do well, did not as do as well while the one that I think will flopped miserably did well. Oh wells.
A Breakdown of results just like the previous 2 sems blog entries.
GE2228 Atmospheric Environments : A+
GE3231 Natural Hazards : A+
SE3214 Marketing Southeast Asia's Heritage : B+
SSA2204 Nation-Building in Singapore : A+
SSD2210 Managing Singapore's Built Environment : A+
CAP (overall) : 4.5
Im very happy over my results. It was a tiring semester. I did not expect myself to do so well, seriously. It was really very good. Disappointed over SE3214 as I expected myself to do better. I spent a lot of time studying this and is one of my favourite modules. GE2228 was the other exception as I did average for my CA which accounts to 60%. I was expecting a B/B+ for this module.
All the best for my friends who are getting results. Congrats to shaun, lee min, weiping and jasmine for scoring well too.
Waiting
5 more mins before exam results are released.
伤得好深
回到家，回到了房间。。。看了我不想看的东西，知道了我一直以来不想知道的事，
这一切是多么的伤心，那么的心痛。我知道往事毕竟是过去的，也已经不可能再次
找回，但那希望，那一点将不存在的希望却时不时的燃烧着。今天，我将把它毁灭
掉，永远埋藏在我的记忆中。我很开心我是你人生的第一个，也是你的第一次，我
很珍惜这份回忆， 也会再此诚心的祝福你，当你永远的守护天使，默默的看着你。
其实我不想去相信，但以成了事实。所以，我希望你放了我，让我以一个普通朋友
的身份来保护你。
永远爱惜你的我。
你和我
过去时， 我以放下。有时我会深思我是否可以不去想， 不去管， 因为你在我心坎
的地位是不可取代的。一起度过的那些完美时光， 有快乐， 有伤感，有欢笑，也
有泪水。我试着放下，但都失败了。过了那么久，当我终于成功放下我们的回忆，
我们一起度过的光阴，为什么你又要进入我的圈圈。虽然没可以忘记你， 但我已
经逼我自己放弃。每当接近成功，你便会突然闯入。我知道你不是故意，也不知会
让我难过，但你所要我做的事我都会尽力做好，为了就是不让你难过，失望。我想
说‘我不想’却说不出。不是我不要去做，而是再次与你接触会让我再次难以忘记
你。我想继续走我的路，也想让我们的美好回忆成为过去。让我们成为朋友，不要
继续你的‘现任行为’。我怕。 真的怕。
Christmas Season at Vivo
Went back for Geog Soc meeting this morning and guess who i saw? Peishan! Haha. Then we decided to do some 'interesting' stuff to kill off my boredom and to get her mind off her 'Geographies of Fear' for sometime. Haha.
Met up with MS WONG for some festive lunch and wonderful shopping then tea break then ICE-CREAM. We both believe that hot fudge and fries goes well together, and yes they do!
The dwarf between:
Something Geographical at Vivo:
Yirong's Wedding
Happy Marraige Yirong!
Developments in Public Policy Seminar (DPPS)
A 2-Day Course for all MOE TS(L), from 10 - 11 Dec.
Wells, I learnt certain lessons from it.
WELCOME HOME WENJIAN!
Ice-Skating Fun
Skating is FUN and tiring and injury prone.
I learnt it today. BUT thats after 4 times of falling, abrasians on my hands, butt pains and aching feet.
We rock man.
Leadership Mentoring Programme
I was at YEP-NYC LMP Session. Felt great today as I shared me and Boon Kian's experience on our FIRST STEP with all the new leaders (potential). It was really good to be able to share experiences with others and learn from more experienced mentors at the same time. Kudos to all.
Midst and Post-Exams - SEP- BACK TO SCHOOL party
I was studying Nat Haz with Val outside MPSH when we saw Prof Terry. Haha. He was asking us whether we had lunch and hopefully we dont feel sleepy after lunch when doing his paper. Haha. Nope, I dont feel tired. I was RUSHING the paper like nobody's business! I got a huge shock when i saw the questions, I can feel others feeling the same thing as me. Lol. The2 hours passed like a typhoon. Rushing 5 mini-essays and 1 FULL essay, drawing as much relevant diagrams as possible.
I remembered Prof Miksic waving his envelop of exam papers at me and jas. Haha. He is such a funny and nice lecturer!
Finally exams are over and I can rest.
I was so anxious when checking my SEP results today. YES! I got accepted by NUS to go to KINGS COLLEGE LONDON, together with Jas. Hopefully, we can go together! Please!!!!! And Yuna got UCL. Congrats to her and her.
Meeting with 42nd MC tomorrow after their cities paper. ALL THE WAY!
Nat Haz Group Outing!
Xinwei's 21st! - BACK TO SCHOOL.
Thanks and Encouragement to ALL
One last paper tomorrow - Natural Hazards, GE3231 - 1pm.
I would like to thank all my profs and friends for their encouragement and well-wishes for the examinations.
Your emails, encouragement notes and carebears of encouragement are my sources of inspirations.
Last dash, final paper.
Love ya all.
