as 2005 draws to a close, i shall take a look back at the past 365 days and list stuff that i think will stay in my memory for the rest of my life (or maybe not, but at least for the next 10 years).

1) liverpool winning the uefa champions league when they had really no right to. up against a formidable milan comprising of such household names as kaka, shevchenko and maldini, noone really gave liverpool much of a chance. and at half-time, liverpool really had NO RIGHT to win it. milan were clinically efficient as they raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening 45 minutes with goals from crespo and maldini. even the staunchest of liverpool fans would not have hoped for much after witnessing liverpool being completely outplayed, out-thought, and out-classed by the milanese. so as the two sides came out of the dressing rooms for the second half, the cup seemed headed to the san siro. so when riise played a perfect cross for steven gerrard to expertly head into the top corner past dida, most thought "ok, so 3-1, thats not gonna change anything". but a few minutes later when vladimir smicer rolled back the years to launch a superb drive (though deflected) past the despairing dive of dida, for the first time many believed that this liverpool team would not go down without a fight, and maybe, just maybe, they wouldnt go down at all! and so it was, when gerrard's lung-bursting run into the box was crudely halted by milan's hardman gennaro gattuso, pool were awarded a penalty which xabi alonso stepped up to take. the initial penalty was saved superbly by dida, but the rebound was smashed high into the net by alonso for the equaliser. even when i watch replays of the match, i still feel goosebumps at that very moment when alonso smashed in the rebound. so 3-3, but liverpool seemed drained towards the end of the match, and deep in injury time, shevchenko forced an unbelievable double save from jerzy dudek, the polish stopper who has received so much flak throughout his playing career. and when it got to penalties, dudek repeated his heroics again, saving from andrea pirlo and shevchenko again to complete the most remarkable comeback in european football EVER. and im not a liverpool fan, but i feel that when you've got that much fighting spirit to rally even when the chips are down, u deserve to win. so this memory surely will stay with me for quite a long time.

2) the us trip (boston, washington dc, new york)
the collective memories will stay with me forever. mad photo-taking (which i normally hate because i can't smile for nuts), acting gay with huanna and abel (hahaha), acting all couple-ish with shib (the stench!!), teasing yam about bottle caps (or rather, the lack of it :D), teasing shib about her harvard hoodie (matching hoodie matching hoodie..), sharing a huge box of dunkin donuts with navjote, my fellow donut mass-murderer (they were dam nice lar!!), late-night instant noodle parties (thanx navjote for his endless supplies), the night i ate 3 tubs of ben & jerry's ice-cream in cheryl/zan/alps' room (which thus led to alps calling me a "freak". bahh), jumping up and down with huanna on liberty island, hearing yam yelp in bed, arguing with jovian over whether alan smith's good enough to play for man u, being absolutely delighted shopping at the $7.98 shop at the outlet mall with charles, laughing myself silly watching "the producers" on broadway, and of course, the snowball fight with charis, jovian, charles, huanna and wantian which was fantastic fun. and the snowman we made!! hahaha..too many many memories. and im sure many of them will stay with me for a very very VERY long time.

3) the pain i experienced when the doctors/nurses dressed my wound on my thigh.
ok im sure this story has done its rounds but i shall repeat it for the benefit of those who still don't know. a pimple appeared on my thigh, i burst it and washed it with dettol, it somehow still got infected, pus accumulated in there, it got so bad that i was hospitalised and an operation had to be carried out to cut out a portion of flesh to drain out the pus and clear dead cells. a hole was left in my left thigh and i had to go for dressing thrice a week, which was a nightmare every time i went. i remember it was so painful i gripped my right thigh so hard that my hand left marks on the thigh. and my face looked terribly contorted. and the three weeks on crutches makes the pain even more unforgettable.

4) the memories in aj.
the first three months this year were spent in that little campus by yio chu kang mrt and i really enjoyed my time there. the recre soccer trainings, rehearsals after rehearsals for dramanite which culminated in the winning of the best costume and best actor award, the aj speak-ez sessions, hiding in the library ponning lessons, times spent with that certain somebody, playing soccer with the class guys after school, hanging out with edmond and gary who have been with me since sec 1, sneaking over to rj to meet up wif old friends, the fun-fair, getting the ball confiscated after being caught playing on the corridor, classmates teasing me about my huge pimple on the nose, and many many more.

5) 1a01e.
the first time i met my new class in march, i was still feeling sad and felt they could never match up to my previous class in aj. i was sooo wrong. 1e turned out to be fantastic and loads of fun to be with. i remember the "lame club" that they had set up in the first 3 months and how so-and-so was the founding father, founding grandmother etc etc. and how i came in and smashed the hierarchy by establishing myself as the founding great great great great really great grandfather. i also rmb floorball during pe and our games against 1a and 1d. very very memorable as 1e's teamwork always tore our opponents to shreds..haha just that we couldn't finish the moves most of the time due to someone's lack of finishing ability. i will also fondly rmb the many times we sat in the canteen and had plenty of fun just joking around and toking nonsense, playing chinese chess with roland and jovian, and also taboo after the exams. i enjoyed myself thoroughly this year and next year, even as we are 1a01e no longer, as we become j2s, and thus 2a01e, but the faces don't change and i'm looking forward to another great year ahead!

6) tt durai.
i will never forgive that man for what he did. the insanely high pay, the encashment of annual leave for obscene sums of money, the gold tap with gold toilet-bowl cover (think he who? goldmember ar?), the insane bonuses he hands out to his assistants and worst of all, all using public funds which the public sincerely believed would be used to help all those suffering patients whose plights are shown on tv every year during those charity shows.

7) buckle-buckley!!
my beloved house!! i took part in inter-house floorball, hockey, soccer, touch rugby, track and field and unfortunately we didnt win anything. maybe im a jinx hahaha. i scored once in floorball, once in touch rugby and i put in a good performance against morrison-richardson for hockey as goalkeeper. soccer was a disaster for buckle-buckley as we lost all our matches i think. hahaha. but we all put in our very best for all the matches and so cheers all buckleyans!! [the terrible buckley anthem playing in the background] someone please come up with a new anthem..PLEASE PLEASE..i mean everyone laffs while singing it!

8) actually liking a few non-pop non-cheesy songs.
this time last year i wud NEVER EVER touch green day and good charlotte, as i wud have branded them as "noisy", "heavy on the ears", and then open winamp and listen to my favourites like the backstreet boys, *nsync, a1, westlife, britney spears, luther vandross, delta goodrem etc etc. the turning point finally came this year when i saw "helena" by my chemical romance on mtv. i hated it at first, but like mould on bread, it grew very quickly on me and i decided to give other genres of music a chance and thus my music taste has changed quite a lot this year. no don't get me wrong, i still absolutely LOVE the above-mentioned bands/singers, its just that i now like a little bit from the other genres.

9) eastern europe trip in june.
very very memorable as the scenery was breathtaking. no, really. charles bridge in prague was fantastic, as was the city of dresden, as was vienna. shopping was very fun too. this trip is all the more memorable as i was teased by EVERYONE about miss poh COINCIDENTALLY being on the same trip. i repeat. COINCIDENTALLY..C-O-I-N-C-I-D-E-N-T-A-L-L-Y. and i will never forget being called up to stage to dance with that hungarian girl. if u cud call it "dancing", i think i made a absolute fool of myself, but it was fun all the same, so what the hell.

10) toking to girls.
this might sound VERY VERY loser-ish, and it is. but 2005 is like the first time i spoke to girls for more than 3min? since primary 3 at least. but p1-p3 i hated girls so that's different. but really, i was so shy that i could NOT speak to girls at all for so many years. this year in aj, i forced myself to speak to them, although i didnt talk to the girls in my og much too. it was about 2 weeks in my class before i toked to the girls and realised they really are not that scary or different and thus ive like overcome my phobia of girls (is there a word for it? like girlophobia or femalophobia or something).

and thats it. long long update and my hands are tired. my brain too, recalling stuff seems so difficult when you haven't used your brain for so long.

have a good year ahead guys!!

my new year resolution: keep my weight under 75kg, and preferably work a six-pack out, and do reasonably well for my a levels.


UPDATE: this slipped my mind. i will always remember guinness world records rejecting my application to set a record for most number of consecutive crutch-hops. and how i had to ask shib to get her mother to help me fax in the application.

UPDATE 2: this too, slippd my mind. i will always rmb how jovian and yam, ardent man u supporters reacted when they watched arsenal undeservedly win the fa cup on penalties. jon was there too, but he was a neutral, so it didnt affect him that much. but i rmb wearing my arsenal jersey crossing my fingers during the penalty shootout and whipping it off when patrick vieira blasted home the winning penalty and running around my coffee table. hahaha i will never forget that.