Farewell 2013 ♥

Dear Readers,

2013 has been a pretty good year to me. I'll definitely remember the sweet memories that I've done within a year. Honestly, I don't have any resolutions - because I know myself far too well. Resolutions listed down are often not met by many of us, therefore, I think there is no need for it. I prefer things to be all unplanned and be fulfilled in a short period of time. Well, for me, at least. Anyways, I'm glad to achieve certain things that I never thought I could or would.

First flight: Hong Kong

Yes, my first flight in 23 years. To be honest, even though I didn't ride an air plane before, I suffered this trauma to be high up in the air; well, because of the Space Shot that I took while in Genting. Clouds hid the ground view & when they released us just like that.. I just experienced this trauma. It took me about more than a year to overcome it (I was still scared of taking glass elevators!), until my family decided to go on a vacation to Hong Kong. 2nd March 2013 was the day I managed to get rid of feeling traumatized. Sat by the window in the wee hours with my brother (my parents & sister took a different flight), all ready for the air plane to be off the ground. Though it was too dark to see how high I was up there, I could still feel it. But before long, the feeling fades away. I wasn't as scared anymore.. Because I was too tired & sleepy! Haha!

But even so, I had quite an experience in Hong Kong! I got to try the authentic Turkey dishes & thank god, that was when I fell in love with eating chapatti. I used to not like it, but somehow, hunger forced me to eat it & from then onwards, I started eating it. A weird experience, isn't it? And then, I got to visit the Disneyland! Never before have I visited any of the Disneylands, so this was my first! Felt like I was in the real palace with that big castle.. Yeah, I acted like a small kid there. I mean, why not? Not to forget, we went to Madame Tussauds within the Peak Tower. The wax works are all so awesome! I even got to "catch up" with the legendary King Of Pop: Michael Jackson, Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau, Robert Pattinson, Johnny Depp, Michelle Yeoh, President Obama, Mahatma Ghandhi.. And the list goes on! But I'm just disappointed that we couldn't find Yoshiki Hayashi's wax model. Sad, but it's okay. Oh well, next time then. Ah, and for the first time ever, I ate a piece of giant pizza! I can't remember the name but yeah, it was definitely delicious :)

Second flight: Bangkok

Yes, second flight within six to seven months. But this time, it was a school overseas trip (SOT) with fellow SEG students from Republic Poly. This was quite an unexpected vacation. I wanted to clear my 40 CCE points, hence the only way to earn more was to apply for SOT. My GPA isn't as good as the others despite being up to par with the criteria applied. But I thank Allah for giving me the opportunity to be among the 24 pupils who were chosen for this trip. I had a few classmates who went for the trip, but even so, I'm happy to make friends with some of them (those I hung out with); Randy, Solihin, Suhaimi, Musharaf, Bang Cheng, Lily.. Along with Weiting, Jelin & Firdaus. We had a few difficulties in terms of food because I do realize that it's very hard to find Halal food in Bangkok. I could see that Mr. Wee & Mr. Kim were trying their best to find Halal food, but there were times when we had to eat at the non-halal (but they served seafood). There was a time when we visited Bangkok University & I ordered chicken rice (if I'm not wrong). So while waiting to be served, Bang Cheng pointed to me that the meat right in front of us was pork. I was startled, so after I took the food, I didn't eat. Luckily Weiting was there to finish up the chicken (not the rice, HAHA!). It was my first time being so careless, but luckily a kind soul pointed out to me, so it kind of alerted me at the same time.

But wow, the authenticity of their Tom Yam was marvellous. It tasted nicer than the ones served in Singapore. Well, yeah, I mean Thailand is widely known for their Tom Yum.. Haha! Ok, I did learn a lot of things while in Bangkok. And, yes, I experienced A LOT of things a well. First night, we were brought to ASIATIQUE to have dinner. Yes, that night was the first night to almost everything. I had Tom Yam, and while having dinner, they performed a few of traditional dance. It was beautiful & surprisingly, I understand the meaning behind the performance. Wow. After dinner, we went to watch Calypso. Yes, a show performed by lady boys. Some are just normal cross dressers while most are true transgender. And all of them are men. YES. So I sat with a few of my friends (mixed) & I believe our table was the noisiest, really! While the show was going on, well, some of the parts just kind of disgusting (no offence), so we were like, "Ewwwwwww.." Hahaha! That was definitely a funny moment. Oh, and I got to experience the night market there! Definitely better than pasar malam in Singapore. The items sold are damn cheap. Wish I could buy more things, though! Haha!

Ah, not to forget, the floating market. Yes, yes. So, we rented a boat from somewhere to the floating market itself. While on our way there, I observed the situation. There are a lot of citizens live by the river; which implies that their wooden houses are literally located just above the river. Imagine that. Imagine how they have to get a boat to the market to buy things or meet up with families/friends. As I looked upon the environment, I could not help it but to feel grateful for my life, indeed. I would love to go on but it' getting long winded here! TSK!

FOP 2013

Ah, this. Last year, I mean 2012, I went for the Student Leader interview for FOP 2013. Expected, I got the role (YAY!) along with fellow SEG student leaders. We had to attend the camp & I barely knew any of them. That was when I made friends with Yufei. She is very friendly & as time goes by, she's really hyper! HAHA! Slowly, within the period of the camp, I made friends with a few. We trained hard (not at all, HONESTLY) because the seniors were trying hard to win the Principal's Cup for the third time. During the FOP itself, I really enjoyed my time. I remember vividly that we had few freshmen attended the FOP. So, initially, my team was... Freshmen-less. So I joined Yufei & Ah Hong's group, along with Nerine. I guess our group is the luckiest. We had 4 student leaders & Team 22 was fucking hyper! Boy, I'm glad to be in this team, really. Team 22 was literally on about almost everything! They are funny & participative, as well. Most of them are younger than me so I kind of treated them like my younger brothers & sisters. Never have I met a team that is like Team 22. NEVER, till now. During the game, I could see that they did their best while enjoying their time. You know, just that feeling that you won’t feel awkward & it's as if you've known them for 10 years already? I feel that way at times. My fellow Team 22's student leaders are great too. They tried their best to motivate the team, encouraging them to do well in the games, to attend the FOP, giving advices & guidelines for RP life.. You know what that means? They are like a parent to the freshmen, which I believe they did a great, great job. With the effort to work together as one with other SEG teams, we managed to win over the Principal's Cup. Yes, compared the efforts that we put in during camp & the actual FOP, we did 1000 times better on the actual day. I'm so proud of all of us.

Y2S1 & Y2S2

Y2S1 is definitely one of the best semesters... I was in the same class with a lot of gerek people. We didn't really hang out during breaks or after school, but during the class period itself, we were very engaging, till now! My most favourite day of Y2S1 was Friday. I had OP 1 every Friday & my faci was one of those that can interact well with students. Any suggestions given, he would take it into consideration. Who wouldn't enjoy that? One of the best facis I’ve ever had. Not only that, I had the best team mates ever. Team 1: Zimah, Denise, Myat & Syazrul. Funny people, they are! There are times when I go to break with Zimah & Denise (till now). They are loud & funny. Forever making me laughing sooooooo hard! Myat is very competitive and Syazrul.. Hmmmm. That boy is funny la. HAHA! Never fail to look forward to Fridays as we would play card games (Donkey, Old Maid, Happy Family, Monopoly Deal) & Monopoly! Like, every break, we would literally take a break, chilling our asses off. Yeah, lepak. And then Shafiel used to come over to my class to join us.. Alaaaaaaah.. Rindu la. Haha!

Y2S2 was quite rocky for me. It didn't go smoothly as expected. Like, usually I'm very talkative after week 3. But somewhere, somehow, till nearly week 6, I was really quiet till some current classmates who were previously in the same class asked me why I was too quiet. Sometimes I even ask myself that same question. I really don't know. I did try my best but it didn't get any better. Until I started making friends with some & slowly, I began to open up & being myself. Yep.

Ice skating

Just last week, I went ice skating with my new friends, Mediani & Jiaxi. After 999 years, I got to go for ice skating again. I had a hard time balancing myself & I kept feeling scared of falling down, because there were too many people (it was December, should have known). Just scared that either I fall & someone's gonna flip on me or someone gonna accidentally bang on me. My ultimate fears. Jiaxi is good in balancing without touching anything. She encouraged me & Mediani to skate (or rather, walk) within the centre of the rink, and we did! Still felt scary at first, but somehow, we did it! Really appreciate their patience when we spent a long time trying to find a good place to eat dessert. I love to play safe, by eating somewhere Halal. So, I truly appreciate their patience.

Family

Despite the ups & downs, we managed to gather up the hopes although we thought that even the littlest hope has died. I have faith in my own family. I’m thankful enough that everything is getting better & better. Some are lessons; some are an eye-opener to me. Whatever it is, we are human, and we make mistakes. But it’s never too late to ask for forgiveness, to amend what we have done wrong. I'm also glad that Kakak is happily engaged. May you two last long till jannah.

My Chinese neighbours are my family too. They've been very good to us ever since we moved here nearly 15 years ago. Sometimes, Aunty Alice would bring her grandchildren to our place to chit chat with Umi & she never fail to give vegetables to us - to get my mom to be in pink of health again. I'm grateful to have a neighbour her. She's very kind, so is her family..

Friends

I spent a great deal of time with my best friend. The good thing about being in the same school before Aida went for the internship was that we could meet up as & when we wanted. We went to watch movies after school, we went window shopping at Causeway Point.. And that was never enough. We even met up during the holidays. Museum trip, exploring new shopping centres, walked along the Gardens By The Bay, had brunch together.. As years passed, I feel that our friendship is getting stronger as we hang out together.. Her mom visited Umi, I visited her sister’s newborn baby, she accompanied me & I accompanied her. And it felt right when I let out my thoughts over certain things to her. And of course, great minds think alike! Recently, both of us attended two of our friends’ wedding.. She’s just one of a few friends I can depend upon..

Not to forget Jaz & Huiting. I‘ve met up with Jaz often especially in 2013. Like tremendously a lot of time. Now that is one of the achievements. HAHA! Our meet up is just simple. NEX, Starbucks. Simple, isn’t it?  We have an uncountable things to talk & share. I listen to her working experience & she’ll listen to my stories. It’s good to have an RP graduate to give me some advices when I needed one. Truly helps me a lot. As for Huiting, we didn’t meet up for almost a year, but still, glad we made it! The three of us made ourselves available on that particular Friday & we went to eat at Paddington House Of Pancakes, as suggested by Jaz. I’m not good at these things, but Jaz’s suggestion was a good one. The food was delicious and satisfying. Worth my 25 bucks. Haha! One thing I’m proud of, the three of us are of different races. And we’ve been friends for 12 years (same as my best friend!) already. Hopefully it gets stronger & stronger.

2013 was my year & Imma make 2014 my year as well.

Don't hope for 2014 to be good to you; instead, plan in making the best out of 2014. That’s all I have to say.

Happy new year & good night.

Regards,

Hazirah A. Rahim