Great, as in not all fun and games. There have been soaring highs and plunging lows. Hope and despair, sometimes very close to each other, time-wise. But great, as in the highs have been quite spectacular.
I learnt one thing this year: life never stops being unpredictable. Never ever. I think the same time last year, I was saying that I'd found a modicum of certainty and stability in life, and that I was quite settled. I hate being made to eat my own words, but I think I'll have to this time.
It has been crazy. So much has gone on I don't know where to begin. So many new friends made, a few bust-ups here and there, so many seemingly mundane moments that make my life so much better. Massive moments this year as well, happy and sad.
This year has seemed so long. Semester 1 seems like a separate year altogether. It just feels like another age, and I feel like such a different person.
The knee injury, which is still niggling at me, kind of symbolises this gap.
Semester 1 was basically me from last year, carrying over to this year. Social misfit, had not really found my place in life, an alright person, had not really fallen in love or been infatuated, just generally cruising.
Then, after the break, and the Ambassador Camp, I grew up a bit.
I became infatuated. It was cruel though, the way she led me on, and I thought I had a chance. Maybe she doesn't see it that way. Just know that I'm so over that now, so much so that I feel something close to loathing every time I see her. She has come to symbolise how manipulative, deceptive, and yet alluring some girls can be. I've moved onto pastures new, and hopefully this time I won't be sliced and diced. I think that was a fairly low point of the year. Recovering very strongly from this by the end of the year was awesome. My friends and family also make this year great. Props to y'all.
I believe I have gotten better as a person since the middle of the year. At least, I hope so. I believe that I have developed higher EQ (emotional quotient, knowing how you emotions affect others, and learning to control them. Thanks Management. Just about the only useful thing I learnt from that subject), and how to read people a bit more, find out what makes them tick. I've also become more understanding I think. When someone does something that peeves or hurts me, I try to work out, to the best of my ability, a plausible reason for their actions. It makes me less angry/sad. I have no idea what all of the above has to do with the camp, but I'm sure it's somehow related.
I also formed a sort of core group of friends. Met some new ones that I've instantly grown fond of, and hopefully they of me, and reaffirmed some old friendships. Looking through my list of speed-dial numbers is generally a good indicator of whether you're in this circle or not. But you won't get to, because you'll never get anywhere near my phone, and chances are you probably won't be able to operate the speed dial anyway. Not that I mind you looking. You just might be disappointed, that's all. It's for your own good, really, that I don't go flashing it around. I love you all, friends. For someone with as big a family life as me, I place a lot of importance in friends.
I've also come to terms with the fact that people are very diverse. Life experience. Nothing surprises me anymore. You get all sorts of people, that do all sorts of things, and they have no issue with it at all. As part of my newly-honed EQ, I've made a massively increased effort to come to terms with what seems, at least to me, the idiosyncrasies of individuals. Put less eloquently, I've become more jerk-tolerant.
Results, as always, have been a massively mixed bag. But I've really topped myself this year. I've seriously gotten all the grades that one can possibly get, all in one year. I don't that's really something to be proud of.
Music this year has been fairly meh, and has been for quite a few years now. I tuned in to Take 40 the other week, just to see what everyone was listening to nowadays, and heard a very obvious, but astute comment, followed up by a very 'I'm reading a script' statement, something along the lines of:
Pop music seems to be moving in the direction of more electropop. Which I think is a great thing.
Maybe, maybe not. Not a very big fan of electropop. Not at all, bar Lady Gaga sort of. I don't really discriminate based on genre. I like good music. But most of electropop just doesn't really fall under that category.
Very symbolic of this stagnation of good music is the death of the two greatest music acts that ever existed, the like of which the world will never see again.
Michael Jackson. His music resounds and resonates through the ages. Timeless. Catchy. Beautiful. Creative. Innovative. And what a performer. None of this lip synching stuff. Live singing, live dancing, amazing choreography, amazing moves. I've always been in awe of musicians that write good music, and he falls into that category with ease.
Oasis. Unabashed optimism. Having fun for the sake of it. The melodies, the lyrics, the voice of Liam, the guitar. Yeah, people will say "They only had Wonderwall," but they obviously haven't heard the rest of their songs. Everybody that I've spoken to that have listened to their other songs know that they're something special. Noel Gallagher, is, I think, one of the best songwriters. It's just astonishing how he can create such beautiful melodies with such evocative guitar and lyrics, and mesh them into one cohesive whole.
Before listening to Oasis, I used to be all into 50 Cent and Ja Rule and the like. Sigh. So immature. I think even then that I was searching for something different to the mainstream Top 40, because those songs mostly annoy me. Listening to Oasis made me appreciate good music, instead of music that's just 'different'. And good music, scarily enough, is mostly old. Elton John, Coldplay, 2Pac, Michael Jackson, Maroon 5, Lily Allen, Jay-Z, Usher. These all came about because I was searching for something that was as good as, or almost at the level of, Oasis.
Very rarely do I wish I was born in a different era. When I listen to these two, I wish I were born about five or six years earlier at least, just to be able to experience the euphoria of these musicians releasing their albums.
As if to prove that this year was a bad one for music, Usher delayed the planned December release of his latest album to March next year.
Movie of the year, in the absence of any real gems, was definitely Avatar for sheer scope, imagination and plot...ness. I love movies where they create completely new worlds. And that is why Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes a close second this year. I actually found it a very enjoyable movie for once. There was a vast improvement in acting and general cinematography.
My love for films, and books that create a completely new world, awesome characters, a plausible plotline and awesome cinematography (for films anyway) sees The Lord of the Rings trilogy crowned movie of the decade, especially the third one. Such an inspirational standard-setter that inspired so many films. Troy, Avatar, and my mind fails me right now, but there are so, so many epic films that are almost directly copied from The Lord of the Rings.
News item of the year: Michael Jackson's death. Without a doubt. Swine flu, move over. Michael Jackson killed that hype at its peak. Dominated the news for a month. Shows you the power of music, and its best exponents.
This little nugget from Chris Martin aka Coldplay man pretty much sums up the whole year for me:
It's weird that whatever else is on your mind, whether it's the downfall of global economics or terrible environmental troubles, the thing that always gets you most is when you fancy someone
The decade. To tell you the truth, I don't remember much of it. And I don't really believe it has been all that defining in the grand scheme of things. No big developments really. Yeah, we got the iPhone. Before that, we had mobile phones already. Yeah, we got iPods. We had Walkmans way before that. GFC? Not as bad as first thought. Fairly sure the Great Depression of last century was much more intense. No real ground-breaking, major developments, just off the top of my head. Most of these 'new developments' are really just extensions and improvements of old ideas. Technologically, I believe that Facebook has massively changed the Internet. Narcissism has grown as a result, but social interaction has also grown at an unprecedented way. We now interact with people in ways that we never would have imagined ten years ago.
In terms of world events, September 11 (and the events stemming from this) and the 2004 tsunami really shook me. Also, the Black Saturday fires of last year were really sad. I really feel for the people affected by all the disasters of this decade, and beyond.
Since nobody ever keeps New Year's Resolutions anyway, I'm going to make an awesomely over-the-top one: I'm going to become the Ultimate Man. I'm going to become a tank. An academic ace. Earn lots of money. Let the people that I love know that I love them. Be a family man. Take care of them. Take care of others that I care about. Become a better person in general. Become more agreeable. And all that jazz. You get the general idea. Harder, better, faster, stronger.
It's been a great year, and a great most-of-the-decade (I don't really remember most of it). See you in 2010, and the next decade.
Word of the Day: 2009
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