2005: The Good, The Bad, The Fugly

*caveat: This is going to be a rather long post, so either leave now with your sanity intact or please proceed further…

Ah, 2005. The year where my birthday looked like this: 050505. I turned 21 on that day. All right, enough of the Lillian Too special. Looking back, 2005 was the most terrifying and satisfying roller coaster ride of my life.

It started where 2004 left me, in immensely excruciating back pain. I greeted 2005 on my bed, staring at the ceiling wondering if could go back to normal. To cut a painful story short, my back finally behaved but it also ended any chance of me doing any sports unless I want Mister Very Painful Pain to come a knocking on my spine again. No more wearing tight spandex was the only consolation.

I finally travelled! And now there’re 2 stamps in my passport. All from Singapore but hopefully soon it’ll be filled with other countries’ stamp. The best part of travelling to someone’s country is that you feel more of yourself, and you think that other people are odd because they obey the traffic rules. While Singapore shares quite a big number of similarities with us, it’s the “Hey we do that too back in Malaysia but you guys seem to do it differently” things that leaves a smile on my face. It makes proud to be a Malaysian even though I dislike most of the people.

So the beginning of my last year in college I was tossed unto a cold floor without a soft, pink pillow to cushion the impact. All the crap that kept being shoved into my face however made me stronger and realized that this is really do or die. Suffice to say, while I could have done a much better job if I’d only concentrated harder, I’m pretty proud of the fact that I managed to do most of the work by myself as opposed to some who ‘borrowed’ or even procured their entire system for a fee. 2005 was also where classes seemed to be at their best simply because of the great people who were a part of it and who’re now my dear friends. I’ve forged some new relationships and solidified further already existing ones. To all my friends, I thank you all, you know who you are.

2005 also brought the Most Crushes Ever outbreak. For the life of me, I really didn’t know why I fell for so many girls at first. Now I know that it was all merely me wanting to believe that these girls were right for me. In a strange and eerie way, they could’ve have been but it wouldn’t be fair to them since I don’t feel that I’m the right one for them. However, there was one ‘episode’ which produced some fairly interesting results. However I didn’t take any action even though there were some positive signs from her. Sigh, I’ll never know…

As the days came rolling by, I became more and more aware of myself really. I learned more about how to be Me. Maybe it’s me turning 21, which finally and officially means that I am an adult. It’s like when Peter Parker finds out that by Spider-Man, it means with great power, comes great responsibility. Being 21 doesn’t make you powerful, it just means that you’re no longer a child. I feel that I’m more cynical, grouchier yet more understanding and patient at the same time as a result of my ‘new’ way of thinking the things I think about.

Below are the things I’m hoping for in 2006:

Find me a woman (not really high on the Must-Do-Ya list but what the heck, I’ll keep my sensors on full search mode).
My woman would have to be able to withstand the gale like forces of my utterances, thoughts and of course, my acerbic sarcasm on life’s trivialities. She would have to calm me down whenever my face turns redder than red due to extreme stupidity of some jackasses. But most importantly she would have to completely understand that no matter what, I’m her man and not even a stalker with pantyhose on his head and a machete will stop me from loving her.

Drive more patiently.
On second thought, nah, don’t think this will happen. Ever.

Listen to other stuff besides metal and rock.
Nah.

Stop putting on weight just because I ate two helpings of mud cake.
I don’t want to buy any more new trousers la! Dockers are expensive la!

And finally,
My life to be predictably unpredictable. What’s life without FUN?

So there you have it folks, my recap of 2005. Some things were left out naturally due to forgetfulness though I can assure many of you that I didn’t leave out the juicy bits. I bid all of you adieu for now, I’ll be back next year with more tales for sure. So until then, Happy New Year and stay beautiful. Even if you’re not, just think you’re beautiful la. Okie dokey? :P

Chris signing off…

PS: Narnia >>>>>>>>>>> King Kong :)

Byebye Education World, Hello Fun Fun Fun World!

I think this is where I explain certain things. There's only 1 more week to go. 1 more week before what has been a ride of a lifetime will come to an end. It'll be like letting freedom ring with a shotgun blast. What took 3 and a half years all of a sudden feels like it was only yesterday I stepped into the room filled with eager-faced, genuinely-innocent-before-all-the-corruption-and-vice souls who were just as nervous and sweaty who are now my friends for life. And not forgetting the first time I ever saw a butt crack that did not belong to ANY of my relatives.

I remember thinking to myself that I would be the token loner of the class. I honestly didn't think I would make many friends. Oh boy was I seriously wrong. And Everybody Loves Raymond kinda dumb. The first year was spent getting to know the people and just growing up. Somehow, when you're 18 you think you're the biggest, the wisest mofo on the block but that quickly turned to embarrassment when I was put in my place. Suffice to say, that was only the beginning of a long road...

Second year was spent making mistakes and learning from them. Well, most of it anyway. It also gave me the opportunity to get to know more people and also be a part of something special. While my second year was plagued with many shitty incidents and downright sad moments, I wouldn't want to trade those experiences for anything because I believe it made me more of a man. It made me buck up, and say, "Hell yeah! This life of mine is meant to be something of a great plan and I ain't gonna ruin it by making funny faces!". Well, I of course still ended up doing funny faces (as evident in the many photos of me) but the fact of the matter remains the same; i'm living life the way I want to.

Third year was/is simply amazing. The best year ever. The final stepping stone in being a college student. Turning 21 made me think about what the heck I did the last 20 years. It gave me a sense of what being an adult is all about. It's about taking responsibility. It's about taking ownership of your life.

Basically, 2005 is an all-rounder; I had my fair share of hiccups, girl issues which resulted in me having the most crushes of my life though I'm pretty thankful it ALL ended quickly. Interestingly, some of my feelings were even reciprocated albeit not in a serious fashion. But it's still not bad eh? (I never took ANY action by the way. What seemed like a good idea at first just didn't feel right.)

As I type all of this down; I've yet to watch Narnia, I wished I hadn't said no to the G3 DVD, wished I had girls waiting in line for me, wishing I could drive a Bugatti Veyron and bla bla bla yadda. But there's only one thing I wish would stay the same, and that would be that my friends will stick with me until the very last day of the world if that were to come.

I salute and acknowledge all the guys and gals of TP3F0503 especially my CMT mates. I would also like to give my warmest thanks to all my buddies and buddettes for being a friend to a self-absorbed, headbanging twirp in Dockers, downright weird fella that is me. Here's to more years to come!

Chris signing off...

PS: Hope to see all of you beautiful people some time in the future, those I've met and yet to included. Cheers!