my Year in Review

First off, this idea (and title?) was stolen from a friend of mine. I like to swipe things like that. Here's what I got up to the last 12 months.

Is there an equivalent to Wednesdays in university degrees? As of January, I was officially at the hump-day of my degree program: 5 terms down, 5 to go. I'm not sure whether I was relieved or even more stressed because of it.

February brought Olympic good times as I spent part of my reading break up in Whistler with some friends. Mittens were worn, events were watched, beers were consumes, and I was hassled over and over about where I managed to pick up my Team Canada hoodie.

Did anything happen in March? Anything at all? The only thing I can think of is that I ate copious amounts of phở, but I do that every month. Well, did that until the phở place became blacklisted. I'm not bitter. Not bitter at all.

This picture isn't exactly accurate, but in April the hard drive in my laptop decided to die (finally?) after four years of service. However, it chose to die in the middle of exams and term papers, and in Kel where my XP boot disks were not. Long story short, I'm now an Ubuntu convert with extreme loyalty to Western Digital.

Even though my school year had only just ended, in May I began looking at the opportunities that I would have this year. And what should catch my eye but an exchange program to NUS. I've been obsessing over it since.

The Canadian group Thunderheist broke up in June, and I had the privilege of attending their last show in Vancouver. Honestly, it was one of the best performances I have seen, and I am so sad that they won't be touring or even making music anymore. Oh, and I turned 21. Minor detail.

Although I go to school in the Okanagan, I had never been there in the summer, when it is at the peak of awesome. In July I flew out to Kel and went camping with a bunch of friends and was finally able to experience an Okanagan summer. Rad.

August brought many of my RA friends back together, after four extremely long months apart (besides the ones I saw in July, heh). More rad people, more rad camping, and rad memories to boot. Mad rad.

I got my first tattoo shortly after I turned 19, and a week later I decided that I hated it. After many years mulling designs, I settled on a Russian firebird to cover the terrible tattoo up. I started the tattoo in September, accomplishing 3.5 hours of work in a single sitting.

October, of course, brought Halloween. I had a posse. Initially, I was a dragon. Then I was a dinosaur. By the end of the weekend, I was the Ogopogo. There were no costume changes. I'm just that awesome. We're just that awesome.

The most terrible month in the history of terrible months was November 2010. I had a very brief post about it, sharing the musicians who helped me through it all. I'm still not quite over what happened that month, but hopefully this new year will bring some healing.

I was finished with exams quite early in the month, so December became the month of movies. In theatres I saw Burlesque, Tron:Legacy, and Black Swan. Many others were screened from the comfort of my living room, or as movie marathons at friends' places. I really needed the down time after this year.




Garfield (c) Jim Davis, Whistler photo by me, phở photo by m0nyet, Thunderheist photo by wagepeace, Okanagan photo by trainboysd40, laser tag photo by a friend, tattoo design by laludia, costume photo by a friend, Chris Corner portrait by lora8, Black Swan poster (c) Fox Searchlight Pictures