Monday, January 2, 2012

Welcome To 2012!


Bye-bye 2011, I had an amazing year with you. Hello 2012, I hope to have more amazing experiences with you.

Twenty-twelve has arrived and people are getting hyped up! The big end-of-the-world doom is supposedly pending to occur on December 21 of this year. But who knows really? I don't know about Armageddon but I do know that, like all the preceding years, many impactful things are going to happen in the world.

I have some hopes for the year ahead but since I'll be entering my fifth and final year of medical school, I know things are really going to bear down on me and life's going to get a little tough. That said, I'm hoping for some positive reinforcements to jam their way into my life throughout the year so that it'll be just a little more bearable, a couple of which include:
  1. Music Factory - May 27 - After last year's event, how could I not look forward to more? The date is wonderful too because I should be on one of my lighter rotations, allowing me to attend...all my clerkships following will be like working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Phew.
  2. Final year elective at Yale University - This is yet to be confirmed...I'm currently playing the waiting game with Yale University. Hopefully I'll be getting me a grand acceptance letter sometime this month! =) Since my 4th year elective at the Chinese University of Hong Kong didn't work out, this one has to! I'm looking forward to looking forward to 4 weeks in New Haven, Connecticut.
2011: A year in review - my personal experiences
Like I said, I had some amazing experiences in 2011 that made it one of the most eventful years of my 21 years of life. Since I'm an introvert who likes home and preferred to stay away from people, it doesn't take a whole lot of events to make a year eventful. Haha.
  1. The start of my clinical year - January 2011 - Thrown into the abyss of clinical duties, I had a little rough, but meaningful start to my year. I've learnt many things and I've developed an even stronger resolve for my desire to study Naturopathic Medicine and enter an Integrative practice. In the span of a year, I've been exposed to so many experiences and, whether good or bad, I can certainly say that I treasure them all. One experience and one patient I believe I will forever remember was my last baby delivery of my Obstetrics & Gynaecology clerkship last month. Clinical experiences certainly encompass the majority of my year.
  2. I turned 21 - April 2011 - I'm an adult! I had a huge celebration for my 21st birthday. It was like a party that lasted an entire weekend. My friends and I rented a beach house for a weekend and we all had an amazingly amazing time. The beach, a pool, good food, video games and a little alcohol made for an excellent weekend. A great way to unwind the weekend before I started my penultimate year of medical school. A weekend full of memories that I never want to forget. Interestingly, I never once mentioned this on my blog all year. =o
  3. AnimeKon - July 2011 - After the first ever pop culture convention was held in Barbados in June 2010 with disappointment on my part, I have to say the second one held a lot of excitement for me. It could've gone either way but I had good faith in the organisers, Melissa & Omar who were both so kind to listen to the complaints and worked hard improve and impress...which, I must say, they did flawlessly. With, not only one, but two days of convention greatness they pulled off an epic unforgettable event! And, for the first time I cosplayed...Osaki Nana! A practical, but well put-together outfit that earned me some praise (humble much?) and introductions to tons of people those two days.
  4. I travelled to New York on my own for the first time - September 2011 - It wasn't much of a trip. Just a quick little thing to grab some stuff I ordered like my awesome new Canon Powershot S95 (which I'm absolutely in love with).
  5. My blog celebrated its 3rd birthday - October 2011 - Not a huge event but, you know, I feel great pride in being able to maintain something for such a long time since I typically don't have the discipline to keep up with things for long periods of time. Take my health blog, for example. Don't get me wrong, I haven't dropped it like a bomb yet but I just haven't been able to keep up with it the way I would have liked. My last post was in July but there was a 4 month lull between that and the preceding posts which were weekly. With 5th year coming up, I'm even less likely to get back into it, as much as I'd like to...it's already a little difficult trying to keep up-to-date on this one. Ha. I haven't forgotten my YouTube channel either but, gee, video editing is time consuming...time has become such a precious resource for me...I think I'd like to just sit and talk to my webcam...but I never know what to talk about. Ideas anyone? =)
  6. Music Factory - November 2011 - I never thought I'd be so into an event like this. To be honest, I almost chose not to go and the only reason I chose to go was because I was extremely stressed out (leading to an almost breakdown) from my Pathology clerkship and wanted to just get out and get some relief, plus all my friends were going. I definitely made the right decision to go. And now I'm looking forward to May 27!
It's been a long year, quick in passing but one that has introduced me into 2012 as a more matured person. I'm still young so there's still some maturation to be developed but it'll come as the experiences come. I look forward to facing them head on and standing strong in the face of defiance, after all, character is built when we survive our hardest experiences.

And, while much of my year was enjoyable, I know there are tens of thousands of people in the world who have suffered many losses. Whether the disaster that struck was within your personal life or environmental (like the earthquake in Haiti as well as other major earthquakes around the world and the tsunami of Japan), I hope you were able to overcome those obstacles successfully. Hold fast in your faith and know that things will get better.

Here's hoping we survive 2012!
I give you my warmest wishes for a year of blessings, especially within tragedies.

No comments: