31 December 2011

hindsight 2011


Format blatantly copied from Chronodex by Scription. Sorry it's not the cleanest looking thing, autoCAD (rather illustrator, but I suck at that) would be my preferred software for making that.

To be honest, I didn't remember a lot of the events listed on the chart. Original content consisted of Shad and Gritaly, which I already talked enough about. So I went through my 2011 archive and pulled up some more events.

January
My winter vacation to Dominican was the first time to a tropical destination in a loooong time. (Only other time was to 海南 when I was still in China. Needless to say it was quite fun, the beach side buffet had awesome tasting light beer (alcohol that I like and can take? gasp!). Trained myself at billiards too. Bobbing in the waves wasn't that great though, the ocean water leaves a salty aftertaste in your mouth for the reminder of the day.

Spa day at Lyndons was soooo jokes, let this be a reminder to the future me that life was good haha. Gonna miss my group of friends, let's keep the thread alive through uni!

Feburary
Braces OFF! Had those metal brackets for 5 years e_e Goodbye and hope to never see those again.

Equally miraculous (k, a lot more miraculous) is the first ever official snow day since I started school here. A close call was in grade 8 when we got half a day off. Let's hope this year's winter is no where near as bad (quite on track as the first legit snow storm was just a few days ago).

Quitting my first part-time job. Mixed feelings about this, on one hand it did eat up a lot of time which was starting to interfere with school work and I didn't particularly enjoy my job. On the other hand it was good income, I would be a lot less stingy right now haha. While I felt more tired than usual and didn't really have free time on the weekends, I did manage to get all my school work done. I was also a lot more reckless with money, bought a bunch of stuff I didn't end up using (but it did fund a lot of good experiences too, a la gritaly and ps3). Final rational was that once I'm in university and actually need money, I would not be able to quit a less-than-perfect job, so might as well use up the last chance to do it.

March
Gritaaaaaly. Loved the trip, right from the moment I started to brainstorm what to pack and through the terrible plane ride home (was really sick so slept the entire way back ;D). I would prefer to live in a city with a rich history (aka Europe or Asia. Middle East also has a fascinating culture, unfortunately I know very little about it), wouldn't it be amazing taking after dinner strolls to the Trevi Fountain or by Michelangelo's grave? *u* Will definitely revisit, multiple times, in the future (ideal situation = I have a summer home there).

April
Space Design was...quite an experience haha. First time procrastinating so much: we were given 3 month for the report, started researching 3 week prior to the deadline. Cramming the report on the very last day is well documented in the post above. To think we would have learned and started the presentation on time? Heck no, 12:30am on the day off ftw ;D It was so much fun hanging out with the team though, Jin for some reason brought an amp xD Also prepared me for cramming the Shad business plan.

May
Jason...hahahaa. Mel and April had amazing deduction skills.

Did not expect to place in City Mosaic haha. Fulfilled my dream of being in the Amazing Race :D It's a really fun way to explore Toronto, found several cool shops along the way. We still haven't gone to Sweet Lulu! Anyone up for it this year?

June
First time camping with friends alone, all good and fun with the exception of the extremely cold nights (well I was warned) and the fact that no one thought to bring dish detergent. 3 days worth of bacon grease was not fun to clean up e_e" Overall it was a good experience in trip planning.
(haha notice the commentary getting shorter? Been typing this for well over an hour)

The honor of first jrpg finished goes to Final Fantasy XII! Opinions in that post still stands, I would purchase a remastered edition (though the graphics was amazing for a ps2 game) in a heartbeat. Though totally not looking forward to the hours I spent restarting the game due to the treasure system based on chance.

Ah grade 11, seems so far in the past already XD Highfive fellow Ms. G English students! Though I reeeeally appreciate her teaching now, the material we covered and her book suggestions are extremely interesting, just not when you were gonna be tested on them. April, Mel and I slacked so much on her presentations, yet we still did well ;D Chem summative was a pain too, why a video, whhhhy! Sucks that we have to do it again this year. Glad I took co-op (thank you Janice for talking me into this and Gritaly), my co-workers were really nice and I learned a lot through our conversations. Grade 12 is 1/3 done, 加油!

July
Shad. Best month of 2011 hands down. Reunion is coming up, can't waaait :]

August
Most sleep deprived month haha, very thankful for the internship opportunity though! I probably learned more about engineering in this month alone than in the rest of my life. So much acronyms @__@"

September
Shepherd's pie obtained! Three years, three attempts, finally got it. Story goes that Grace and I had an amazing slice of shepherd's pie during zero day in grade 8 at downtown. We enjoyed it so much that every subsequent year we went downtown to eat it again. Unfortunately, the first year the shop was closed and the second year they sold out -o-" Nevertheless, we persevered and was finally successful in our third attempt.

October
I should name my phone, cannot bear to live without it now haha. Who knows how far consumer technology will progress, please work on the printer T_T

YOU Innovate was also a...learning experience. Another evidence for The Dip (or the shad valley of despair xD), quite the hard work sticking to a project.

November
Patty's birthday was fuuuun ;D I owe you for introducing me to Matsuda. To think we've only spend a month together yet I feel so close to you guys.

December
University applications...durrrrr. Pray for February, hope for March, expect for April and panic in May.

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