茶碗蒸

Wow. I really don't know where to start. It really is as Jack the RA said - first year of uni is one of the biggest changes anyone would ever experience in his or her life.

As I'm sitting here today, exams over (mwahahaha!), extremely sleep-deprived from the accumulation of late-nights (hard to say it was all studying though), surrounded by mountains of half-filled cardboard boxes, but nevertheless gloating in a cloud of excitement... the fact that my first year as a University student is about to come to an end finally hit me. Sad? Yes, definitely - especially after my lovely neighbour went through a phase of "emoness" and constantly reminded me of "the last time you'll see the satellite on the hill covered by mist" and "the last time that bird's going to stop on the branch outside your window"... and then we would both go quiet and simply stare at the object in question and try to grasp the sense of loss. Packing was quite difficult too... stripping my room of the countless anime cards and posters, peeling each item of clothing off the crooked hangers in my overstuffed wardrobe, it all got too emotional, really. It was just as Jenn said... "it was like stripping off pieces of yourself and packing them up in a box".

Oh, and of course there's the sadness of being yet another year older... but I guess my sister would beat me to death if I complained about that.

Ah, and then come the time for reminiscing... all the "I remember"s, and "remember when"s.

I remember O-week, and Pauline saying how quickly this year would go by, the Tacky Tourist Trip which I went and missed the Taiwanese Association barbecue for, and the beach day (with Wei's black umbrella).

Also the night when G4+Wei went to Countdown at 1 o'clock in the morning, then Jayani, Jenn, Caine, Charissa, Margaret, and I stayed up all night (til 8:30am)... the 3 cups of coffee (for me) and 3 hours of truth or dare to keep us awake, and the few people who failed along the way and went to bed before breakfast at 8:30 - Wei and APAPA. That was also the night when the discussion about Wei's towel dance came up and he was forever being harrassed to do it in public. Jenn's attempt to stay awake by helping the weekend cleaner lady vacuum the Games Room in the morning was pretty classic too!

And let's not forget about the April Fools Prank which never really happened - the "AP meetings" (which should really be AF but Jayani couldn't spell), with Miya and Jenn's amazing discovery of the eerie screech in one of the broken taps in the Lady's Floor bathroom which ended up being used in our prank phone call recording - along with Miya's breathing and my strained voice-over of "24 hoursss..." But even though the phone call was done (with Thomas's cellphone), the rest of the horror movie theme never went ahead due to various reasons. Although the victim was indeed scared shitless throughout the day (first thing he asked us in the morning after the prank call at midnight was "do you know this number?"...*snort*) and Thomas certainly seemed to enjoy sending stalker-ish texts to him! Oh, and Jenn's love letter which got read out by the second years...HA!

There was also the 5-hour love-couseling coffee break with Jenn in the link - which we missed cells, hubs and chem lectures for ==+ In fact, we were there for so long that two people came, sat, and left again during different intervals of our break. This was followed by another 2-hour coffee break in The Fix in the afternoon - during which we stole sugar bags and wrote random messages with Jenn's coloured pens - something along the lines of "It hailed for the first time today!! So romantic" and "Conclusion: we don't know!".... good times.

This was followed soon after by THE fight... the breakup of G4+Wei to G3 and Wei & Jayani. Break-up point? HUBS discussion before the second terms test, where Jenn and I cowered in a corner of Jayani's room on a blanket and the rest of the nerds gathered on the other side of the room and eyed us with an air of superiority and silent accusations of "retards"...(okay, maybe that's a bit harsh. But that's certainly true for J**s - hint: 4th floor, computer hog, bitch in general)

Another thing that was memorable was the study group with Jenn and Charissa in Jenn's room before the First Semester final exams. How we kept getting distracted by Kenshin (sorry guys, I apologze for my husband's irresistable charm), and how it snowed for the first time on Charissa's birthday - right on midnight, too! And yes, that deserved another sugar bag momento.

What else happened? Oh yes, the last few days... when my loving neighbour began studying in my room (I'm not being sarcastic by the way). And the hours of procrastination with the occassional appearances of Miya and her 蔡旻佑 frenzy... the constant loading of YouTube clips of Aaron Yen (炎亞倫) from Farenheit - a.k.a one of Jenn's husbands - and the constant screaming and sighs of admiration whenever one of the above two smiled. Lovely. All the best for the Assam Milk Tea competition Miya... and Jenn, fly to Malaysia for the Farenheit concert!! I'll look forward to sifting through truckloads of Farenheit and Evan Yo merchandises under heavy disguise.

The increible amount of caffeine I've drunken over the past week has also been quite alarming. Although I know Miya and her rebellious acts (though with severe consequences!!) will still hold the top of the charts for a while yet.

Here I just have to add a few of Miya's classic texts during our nutty study breaks. Sort of like a tribute to her dedication to 蔡旻佑... (sorry Miya... think you'd forgive me if I said that)

"good morning, good mornin, good mornin to u~, good mornin, good mornin, how do u do~?"

(Referring to you-know-who) "I have his photo on my laptop and he was helping me with Chinese conversation just then hehehe (crazy grin)"

(You-know-who... again) "O yea he jst shouted "wo keyi ai ni ma~!" and I want to shout "keyi~ inwei wo ai ni~!""

So yes, it's been an eventful year. And it makes me wonder how next year is going to turn out. Well, there are the trips to look forward to, and the J+W+S(?) love triangle to entertain us, and new HSFYs (who think they have a chance of getting into Med) to scare... so even though I'll no longer have a beautiful neighbour *coughcough* and I will no doubt be so lonely that I'll want to hug the tree we both shared this year, 2009 will be one I'll be excited to experience.

But for now.... packing, procrastinating (well, it's really "legalised bumming around" now), sleeeeep... and treasure the remaining time I have as a first year student in Hayward. *dumping shredded exam papers out of my window with a crazy laugh*

I'll miss you, tree. (A.k.a Amber) You and your ever-changing leaf colours and whispering branches have always been the best indication of the season transitions, and I loved it when your golden hue matched with my duvet cover!! I remember coming into my room for the first time and hearing your welcoming rustling as the small green leaves cast emerald shadows against the cream walls. And now as the leaves grew back from the bare twigs in a brighter shade of green, it is time for me to depart again. Farewell, may your presence comfort another first-year student as it had comforted me.