testify to love

Indeed one of the best years in my life. I wasn't in school in the first half of the year, and I don't really remember why. But I ended up having so much free time to go sailing and traveling. To summarize 2008 for those who want to know:

January was interesting. First time i traveled with laser kids younger than me and we had a great time together in.. Melbourne, Laser nationals. And then joined manyi and vic for asia-pac. Fun, although.. I was extremely disappointed when i didn't get chosen for the worlds in new zealand. Like extremely. It wasn't the best way to start my year off plus i put studies on hold for the 2nd sem already.The place where we sailed was super duper nice though and the racing was fun. So it was worth it anyhow.

Chinese New Year was in February this year. Oh and I started training with the sch team for Top of the Gulf. Feb was also the month that Giba left Singapore for good. Which was sad. Giba was my first nat coach and he's so nice.
SL qualified Singapore for the Olympics in the Laser class.
I went to the zoo and night safari sometime in March. And went sailing on a Mumm30.

In April(April's a long one), I bought my first music album ever. The Walk by Hanson. 5stars for the album and I also went to Lake Garda and Hyeres. Lake Garda is a must-visit-before-you-die-if-not-you'll-regret-it place. You really should go. It was also the coldest place i've ever sailed in.Manyi and I taking a picture while waiting for the wind to come. It was below 10 degrees that day. 4 if i'm not wrong.
I've said it many times, but i'm gonna say it again: I will go back to Lake Garda again someday. Soon, hopefully. Hyeres was fun, first time sailing in France. Not forgetting the race committee sent the radials out in like 30 knots only to call us back because the wind was too strong. duh.. Oh which reminds me of my first encounter with the infamous Belgian coach who is really nothing but an a**. Also attended my first protest hearing ever in Hyeres, in front of a very fierce looking lady and some men.

Took a flight to Antwerp and stayed with Daddy. Drove to Luxemburg and then to Frankfurt where we met up with Ian for lunch, which is one of the highlights because it was the first time I met up with a non-sailing related friend overseas I believe.

May was all about Top of the Gulf in Pattaya, charity and Medemblik. First time traveling and racing with SMU Sail Team. And I helmed an all-girls boat which made it very fun, but tiring too, haha. Back in Singapore, we held a donation drive at NSC to help our sailing friends in Myanmar.

And hello Medemblik, Holland.Don't ask me why, but that's Manyi posing with some rubbish in our house. How much messier can it get.. 4 girls in one house. :)

A great place to sail and apparently this year, the wind was a lot lighter than usual. Yay for me, and for all the SG girls. The last race was funny though- I capsized so many times that Jo Aleh was 2 laps ahead of me and I DNFed. Bman was waving to me at the gate while I was uprighting my boat and I remember him asking me back on shore why I didn't wave back to him. Daddy picked me up from Holland and I spent a few weeks in Antwerp.Daddy and I fixing up a wardrobe in Antwerp.

I was back in SG in June and all I remember about June is I screwed up big time with my boat in Europe and managed to piss a million people off. And I don't even feel like talking about it now. But i'm glad it happened too.

Ok, July was fun fun fun. Visited Na and Tiff in Melbourne and learnt a great cookie recipe. And I went over to Sydney to stay with Liz and Tara for 2weeks and it was the best 2 weeks in 2008. Bringing Tara out(alone) to the Koala Park, Bobbin Head National Park, shopping malls etc. was the best experience ever. I toppled the pram more than once, and it didn't help when she insisted on bringing her shopping cart, dolly, football and crayons along to the Koala Park that day because there was already the pram, nappy bag, picnic bag, coats, hats and my handbag to carry! Haha.. it wasn't that hard actually. Just put it all onto the pram.Went snowboarding for the first time in my life! Steven brought me to Perisher Hills. Want to do it again sometime. August. My birthday was ok. I like it when it's ok. I got dunked into the turtle pond though, and that was also when I fell in love with turtles. Olympics happened and soon after, I started school. Met a few people, most of whom are nice.

I took up drumming- something that i've always wanted to do, but never had the time to actually go for it. And I count myself lucky that some high class drumming school never got back to me in 2007 about their vacancies because I found myself the best teacher ever. And since then, i've always looked forward to Thursdays, my TGITs.. I wish my house was big enough for an electronic drum set.

Sometime in September I got pretty stressed over school work and that wisdom tooth that was giving me a lot of trouble eating and sleeping. And everyone was caught in the F1 jam. But I remember I was happy.

October was pretty uneventful. Slipped while I was on trapeze one day, and whacked my knee so hard that I bruised the inside of my knee cap. Couldn't walk properly for a few days. Also discovered that I can't live without music.

I went for Beyond concert in November and went Beyond crazy for quite a while. School exams were either in November or December. Just a random picture I took of baby J in November.. He was having diarrhea that day, so he wasn't too happy:(:(
So finally, December came and it's about to leave in a few hours' time. So happy I extracted my wisdom tooth. I thank God for this year because I've learnt so much, experienced so much, met wonderful people, and met up with old friends, traveled to so many places, seen so many things and I have absolutely no regrets this year. Goodbye 2008.

Hello 2009.