Next up

is 2009 but first a review of 2008.



February saw me starting Violin lessons with Violin Sensei and it has been an amazing one year although it certainly feels like it has at least been two. It remains one of the things that I do not regret doing.

Happy are the hours I spend on the violin though I think it is one of the most misunderstood instruments. Sounding nice is never easy but with the violin, I think it just takes the phrase to a whole new level.



Just a month later, NUSWS celebrated it's 40th anniversary with a 50 min symphony , Planet Earth. Words like awesome and fantastic just do not do justice to the entire experience.

I fear future concert experience will be tainted/enhanced by the lens of this one.



My very first experience as a member of the audience of the SYF Display Band Competition was at the National Stadium which they are forever saying they are planning to demolish. I wonder till this day if the tubas are able to hear themselves.

In the very same month, I found NUS's best kept secret , Naxos music library, available free to all undergraduates.



Before the exams started I attended the Lord of the Rings symphony which more than blew me away.My committee and I then planned NUSW's Dinner and Dance '08 straight after the exams. Suffice to say, I had a lot of fun with the event(20 lucky draw prizes!) and in tight succession I was whisked for a 3 month internship at Singapore Technologies where I slowly blinked out of existence.

In June I found Marutama Ramen with my friends. Enough said.


Walked the Southern Ridges with SgWalkers in August! It must be the singular most healthy thing I did this year which was not only free but also loads of fun. Also discovered that I loved free things. =)

A stroke of good luck found me in September with a free concert conducted Mr. Leonard Tan.



My grandpa went home to the lord in October. Not a day passes that I do not think of him. I hope you are well where you are , kongkong.



As a finishing touch, I ran my first Marathon with a good buddy of mine.

All in all, I've had an immensely eventful year. I have learnt alot and studies is definitely not one of them. As I look back upon the year, I see that I did try my best to do the things that I ought to do but it is the things that are left undone that most often leave the greatest impression.

This year has seen many changes and many of them, for better or for worse are permanent. Nothing anyone can do or say or think will change anything because often times, the imperative lies with me.

Hello 2009.