happy frickin’ new year, 2015! 2014’s been a rocky year with me learning a thing or two about myself as the weeks go by and I’m excited to see what 2015 will bring.

as I type this post, I’m listening to “Happy New Year” off the RENT soundtrack and I can’t believe that my new year resolutions are being shaped by the things I hear from a song, but it’s happening and here’s a few things on my list for 2015:

1. “I’m giving up my vices”
I spent a great portion of 2014 indulging in a great deal of hedonism (if hedonism was quantifiable it’d be a huge number), and this definitely has to change.spending money for the satisfaction of having money to spend (wtf is wrong with me), consuming copious amounts of alcohol, indulging in excessive sleep (and missing classes here and there)… 2015 (and semester 2) is a time for all of this to go.

2. “I’m going back — back to school”
well, technically I already went back to school, but semester 1 felt like a great wave of nothing: not paying attention, skipping classes, not bothering to give even 75% of my effort into my work and assignments, and living life as if there weren’t any consequences for my actions. NUS’ early Christmas gift to me was to show me that, indeed, there are consequences to the decisions I make. I am very thankful that the 2014/2015 intake gets a grade-free first semester, because without it my CAP (GPA, whatever you call it where you’re from) would be weighed down causing me to suffer in subsequent semesters. now that the new year (and new semester) is here, things definitely have to change.

3. “let’s always stay friends / though we may have our disputes / this family tree’s got deep roots / friendship is thicker than blood”
I’ve met a variety of people over 2014 and made many new friends on top of existing ones. as I spent the evening of 31st December 2014 with my pals from lower secondary I realised that I really wanted to have long-lasting friendships, the type that manifest in lengthy conversations over coffee decades from now (because things can only get interesting after many years). I’m so thankful for the friends that practically still exist in my life (TK 2G, choir, ACJC friends, choir, random smatterings of non-school friends here and there) and the new ones I made in 2014 (KR hall-mates, TS group-mates, NM friends, fellow NUSPS MC members) and I definitely want them in my 2015 🙂

this year I decided to set some realistic and achievable expectations for myself, to motivate myself in pursuing and achieving my goals (last year one of my top goals was to achieve CAP 4.5~5.0… totally put me off. what the hell was I smoking then?)
let’s hope it all comes into fruition 🙂

apart from the mandatory new year’s resolutions, another thing that seems to just stick in my mind is the major events I’m looking forward to this year.

planning for Montage 2015 (a photo festival organised by NUSPS) is well underway and I wish I could say that planning is a piece of cake, but that would be a complete lie. deadlines are demanding to be met and my extremely limited resources and tiny social network within the local photographic community proves to be a hindrance 😦 another obstacle faced is the constant delays I’m facing because my printing supplier always takes forever to reply to my correspondence. now I know why mixing business and friendship is always discouraged (printing supplier happens to be one of mum’s chums)

and since I failed one module in semester 1, I have to take a heavier workload (overload) either this semester or in future semesters, but with Montage planning and execution I don’t even think I can find the time to rest and enjoy my time (read: point 1 of my new year’s resolutions)

coupled with Montage planning and execution is a potential internship I may have lined up in May and June. I want to complete an internship with a theatre company but the only two months I can afford out of my summer break happens to be the peak period of Montage. everything overlaps and I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve shot myself in the foot by wanting to do so many things at the same time 😐

July will be saved for a trip to U.S.A. that I hope will become a reality 🙂 if only my wonderful friends in California will reply me so I can at the very least have people to hang out with and make me not look like a tourist 😀 this, I’m really excited for!

2015 is here and full of potential. 2015 is also the year I cease being a teenager and hit the great 2-O. I’m turning old, what the actual fuck. (then again Nic and I totally started being ‘old’ when we laugh at secondary school kids doing stupid things and pretending to be all that. dang I miss being young)

here’s to great, greater, and the greatest things we can achieve. in 2015.
HAPPY FUCKIN’ NEW YEAR!

p.s. looks like I was thinking along the same lines as Broadway World 😀 (then again the entire RENT fandom on tumblr exploded on Christmas Eve… ‘December 24th, 9pm EST’)

header image credits to The Clamshell Foundation
post image credits to SoCal Squeeze