sixteenth birthday celebrations...and 2005 in review(that sounds so sixt minutes-y)

my mum decided to celebrate my 16th birthday properly today.very weird i know..but i guess she felt sorry that i didn't have a proper celebration when it happened way back on march 14. so today had the whole family drop my place for a birthday bash. honestly i think it was just an excuse to have the family round cos we hadn't done any entertaining in quite a while(cos my bros and i were all having major exams). it felt really akward but it getting presents a second time round was really nice. haha. presents have evolved from barbie dolls to handbags and perfumes and jewellery. nice. it was great to see all my ickle nieces and nephews and my aunts and uncles although i'd just seen the whole lot of them jsut a couple of weeks ago at the wedding. i swear i've put on 2 kilos already..sigh..

but nevermind. its the last day of the year and its time for a review of 2005 before i go off to a family friends house for a bbq and another birthday party. mathan asked me the other day how my 2005 was. and all i had to say was that it was a year with more ups than downs..and HELL was it action packed.

my fourth year in anderson proved to be very eye opening. i think i really settled in properly this year which is sad and i always end up doing that only in my last year of being in a school. i really learnt to appreciate select teachers and especially my CCAs.

as a post-holder in guides and one of the big people on the school editorial team, i think i grew up alot more this year. through guides i have met SO many people and i am most grateful for that. and all those camps i went for..i feel so much more holistically developed. there were instances were Guides was empowering too, since it is and always has been one of anderson's top and most respected CCAs (its a uniform group thing). girl power mostly. organising campfires, choreographing dances, looking after refreshments during major school events, promoting the cca and all that stuff we've had to do. i really felt proud to be in my full guides uniform accepting the COA from the principal during the national day celebrations.

and as for the sanguine torch aka News@AND, i think we did a pretty good job this year. we had a full print edition with a real graphic artist do the layout and it was on glossy paper and it was just brilliant; all 14 pages of it. it was like, my baby. all the editing and pushing deadlines was hellish..not forgetting the drama and politics. and i'm honoured to have had a a part in the school yearbook too. meeting miss heng, anderson's second principal was wonderful. i am so grateful that i got to interview a lady with such love and passion for Anderson, and the one who really kickstarted Anderson's rise to fame way back in the 60's. i think it was after that interview with her that i really just put behind all the negativity that i had towards anderson and finally felt proud to be an andersonian. although i don't show my like(not love) for anderson outright, we really have a lot to be proud of. and Mrs Tan was the best principal one could ask for. it really is a shame that she's moving on to be one of the top guns at the MOE now.

adam khoo's course was like khabi kushi kabhi gham and taught me to love my parents more than anything else it was supposed to teach. cherie and gary are so much more than just passers by in the journey of my life.

my first ever ICS night at VJ gave me all the more reason to want to go there. i felt so proud to be part of the indian teenage community that night..haha.that was one helluva kickass show.

my first ever trip to germany was really one of the best things that happened to me this year. meeting all the wonderful people there, being immersed in the culture and most of all getting to know G and Kel..now THAt was godsent. G and Kel are just AMAZING. and getting to know the rest of the shebang too: shal, oiman, christine, nimi, parvie. nanthini(from RGS) was so surprised that i was so much closer to my sec 3 friends than my sec 4 buddies. its true! there's mei ching, alfred, ankita, ann..my gosh. they're all such darlings.

and since the back gate beacame the main gate with all the stupid constructiuon work goign on, i really got to know melvin, bryan and hajja a lot better sicne we all took 159. mel is such a gentleman (second only to prashin). suren is what people call a shoulder to lean on. pavitra was oodles of fun. i love jac to bits but she doesn't know. found homies in farhana and wynee. khairul is just so special and i regret ever being mean to him. nora is like that chocolate in the box which has alcohol in it,which makes you like it all the more haha.nazrin is just such a warm and welcoming person. keeran deserves a great big hug. izzah i've admired always. Joy lights up a room with her presence..the list goes on.

and i met so many new and lovely people this year. i really connected with mathan(its almost like we were seperated at birth) most recently there was steph(whoi, brad and vivek. then earleir today there was ashley,prem and elise. in june i got myself acquainted with sophia, kirsten, laura, kathrin, carolin, kathrin(from heidelberg) and ruth and katharina(from augsburg).and somehow got in touch with shankar from primary school. barely knew the fella but he was texting me everyday..ok that's all i'm gonna say about that.really connected with my cousins,family friends and existing friends too. guess i've finally come to that age where i can flit from one group to another without feeling out of place.

i am so bloody elated that my chosen career path has had promising signs of encouragement this year. two letters of mine appeared in the papers; one in the Forum(which was WHAO for me) and one in the Life! mail bag. and my picture appeared too! haha. that was really really encouraging. and alan john told me to contact him during my break after the A's so he can hook me up for intern work at the straits times. its bloody fantastic.

and i finally got to do golf after FIVE years of waiting. was a fan of the game since first watching tiger woods at the masters. he was my first sporting hero and he still remains one of my top few fave sports personalities. now i don't have to try and imitate the japanese golf pro at seletar no more cos i've had proper lessons and i can give a quality swing thanks very much. i dont have to be jealous of ashwin anymore cos he started off golf before i did(with school) and it was ME who wanted to do it all along. and golf is something i can do for the rest of my life .and the investment in my own set of clubs yesterday was very affirming that my dad has finally accepted that i am SERIOUS about it.

whatever else happened i'm having trouble remembering at this point of time. but its gonna be 2006 soon so i better end off. goodbye, happy new year..and have a pleasant tomorow.

and to whatever shit that happened this year, i'm gonna take the gallagher's advice..."Don't look back in anger..i heard you say"