MY YEAR IN A MEME
1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Among others, go on holiday/travel outside my home base (currently London) with friends. It took me a few months to convince my parents that I would be all right travelling by myself, and in the end they relented.
2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t think I made any New Year’s resolutions while watching the fireworks at the London Eye last year. I can’t seem to keep them, and instead of feeling crap about that, I’d rather just try to do well by myself and by other people this year.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope, I don’t think so.
4. What countries did you visit?
Italy and Spain in May/June 2008, and Norway and Sweden in December. Our “little” summer travel plan proved to be far too long (!) and I was so exhausted after spending 18 days on the road. We also spent a little too long in Oslo just a couple of weeks ago, but Stockholm was awesome!
5. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
The ability to be more organised and finish all my essays on time, as well as better time management skills? Hmm, sounds like a tall order!
6. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
24th June: Jiang Yue’s brilliant plan to watch King Lear on the afternoon that my first year exam results were released completely backfired when I spent the entire intermission panicking and trying to check my results on my mobile phone!
10th November: (:
7. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
My exam results which belied the amount of effort I put into exam preparation, and somehow being voted President of the Indonesian-Bruneian student society at LSE. The latter was really unexpected, and led to some of the best things ever during Michaelmas term this year. (:
8. What was your biggest failure?
Being silly enough to not listen to the advice of friends, and not learning by example.
9. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Apart from a few cases of the flu and a couple of rolled ankles, it’s been a pretty good year — no lost toenails, for one! After a few weeks of rest, my right foot (with its permanent arch/heel problem) seems to have subsided, YAY.
10. What was the best thing you bought?
I love my new knee-high (well, almost) brown Clarks boots, with just the right amount of heel, and a finish which means that even if they get dirty, it looks like the manufacturer intended them to be. Coming in a close second would be my Hilfiger super skinny jeans, and my new puffie.
11. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Uh. This is an odd question.
12. Where did most of your money go?
Oh nooo, don’t ask me this question. I think I spent quite a bit of money on food, and the (somewhat crazy) prices of few items I did buy while shopping this year kind of added up after some time as well.
13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
I think was excited about the end of my exams last year, just because I had a really crap exam timetable (in fact, all Law students did) which involved four papers in four straight days. I didn’t sleep more than nine hours in those four days, so the closer our last paper loomed, the more excited I became! I also started playing heaps more netball this year, and I looked forward to just about every match I got to play for LSE and as a member of the Crazy Pandas!
14. What song will always remind you of 2008?
“Shawty had dem apple bottom jeans – boots wit da fur…” I recall post-exams being spent with Jiang Yue and the guys from Carr-Saunders in Daniel’s room, listening to this song on repeat and being completely silly!
15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier, definitely!
ii. thinner or fatter? FATTER, for sure! People constantly tell me that I’ve lost weight whenever I go back to Brunei, but when I do side-by-side photo comparisons, I always seem a tad … fleshier? ARGH.
iii. richer or poorer? Poooooooooooorer. One downside of staying in a personally-rented space instead of in a catered hall is you tend to spend heaps more money on food than you initially used to do. I can’t pay 2.35 pounds for a complete meal at Bankside now — that money won’t even buy me a sandwich from Pret a Manger!
16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Work for classes! Ahem.
17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Eating Haagen-Dazs straight out of the tub from my permanent Bankside stash (the wonders of having my own fridge!) with Sharon. We did this so often I think we must’ve consumed about ten pints each in total throughout the year. So fat!
18. How will you be spending New Year’s?
New Year’s last night was spent at Parliament Square with Jiang Yue, Kooyeon, his sister and Joyce (with Matt leaving us halfway through and joining us again after about half an hour, haha!), watching the fireworks — or what we could see of them, being obscured by a huge-as building for the second year in a row — and revelling in the general merriment. There was a group of guys waving a Bangladesh flag who managed to climb up the statue of Churchill in the Square, and it was fun trying to watch the police force them down and slap heavy penalties on them!
19. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I wouldn’t call it “love” because it’s early days still, but we have a lot of good things going for us. (: I’m happy.
20. What was your favorite TV program?
I didn’t watch that much TV last year, which was quite a change from my couch potato days back in Brunei. I really loved Gossip Girl though — best new show of the year in my eyes.
21. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Nahh, I don’t think so.
22. What was the best book you read?
I would have to say — and because I didn’t actually read that much last year — Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. It’s an autobiography in a comic strip form, and it was passionate, funny and thought-provoking at the same time. I brought it to Scandinavia with me, and both Amanda and Jiang Yue read it and loved it. It was a good book.
23. What was your greatest musical (re)discovery?
ALPHABEAT! After myAcer died, I couldn’t be bothered putting heaps of music on this new laptop so I lived without music for the better part of the year. I know, so sad!
24. What did you want and get?
My darling new puffie! And my iPod, affectionately named iPoop. My dad won it in a lucky draw last year and I claimed ownership after I returned to Brunei for summer.
25. What did you want and not get?
Hmm, to be honest, I can’t think of anything at the moment. There must have been a few things at the very least, but just not off the top of my head.
26. What was your favorite film of this year?
There have been so many! I loved Changeling with Angelina Jolie, and I saw Wall-E, Mamma Mia! and The Dark Knight twice apiece in the cinema. Everyone knows that when I see a movie in the cinema more than once in the same week, I really like it.
27. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I celebrated my 21st birthday three times this year! Jiang Yue, Leonard, Suan and I had dinner at a really awesome tapas bar in Soho, followed by a birthday cocktail at Dirty Martini in Covent Garden. I also had a “surprise” birthday celebration at home with my housemates, where the cake was a yummy tiramisu which ended up in my hair (thanks, Leonard!). My final celebration was a dinner with a group of close friends at Belgo, which Suan also came down from York t0 spend with me. It was a really intense, great week of celebrations! Amanda also took me out for tea the week after, YAY!
28. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Less stress! … but I cause this problem for myself, haha!
29. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
One word: boring! I’ve found what looks good on me, and unfortunately that doesn’t include anything but block colours in monotones. I’m still a huge fan of skinny jeans, but I’ve grown partial towards boots which end just below the knee, and I’ve discovered that henleys look better than babydolls. I’m trying to introduce more colour into my waldrobe, but it’s not going very well…
30. What kept you sane?
NETBALL! It was nice finally having a sporty outlet to channel all my excess energy into.
31. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
There was a small resurgence of admiration for Sergio Garcia following the Ryder Cup, even though he played terribly!
32. Who did you miss?
I miss a certain someone right now in Jakarta..
33. Who was the best new person you met?
Tim was the President of the Indo-Brunei Society last year, but apart from a few unplanned Brunch Bowl lunch sessions after Indonite 2008, I didn’t really know him very well. It all changed this year after we started working closely together following the Society handover. In a sense, he is the best new person I met last year, although he technically isn’t “new” to my life. Hello sayy. (:
34. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
Don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s really true!
