In Retrospect

I forgot to make a post of this nature before I left for the New Year's... So why not do it now? Let's see, last year was in many ways, a great year for me, although some aspects were left for want of improvement, but hey, you can't have everything, can you?

Last year for me was a fresh start of sorts for me. I left behind most of my peers in high school to join university a year early. Which, in some ways, didn't exactly make me the youngest either due to my school having weird cutoff dates. (Retarded school). The college life was well, exactly what I wanted. A greater degree of freedom, a reduction in social cliques because of the nature of the degree I was in. I'm not saying these cliques were completely eliminated, but that they were just reduced to an extent.

Last year was also a year in which I found myself becoming more socially active, or as some would prefer, extroverted. To be honest, I'm not that extroverted I reckon, but perhaps I became more approachable. Call it whatever you will. I found myself associating with more people and having to divide my time to hanging out with several groups of friends.

That may have been the upside, but the downside would be the inevitable drift between me and my old peers. As I found more and more people, it became hard to keep the same level of contact I once had, and so I drifted, far from some, and not too distant for others. I guess it could have been avoided, but I don't mind all that much. Perhaps it was for the best, too.

I learnt that in a way, having more freedom from the college life meant that you actually lost a lot of time trying to finish your assignments and projects in time. It certainly was the case for me in the 1st semester until I took a leaf out of Richie's book, so to speak, and attempted to manage my time better.

I learnt that helping and teaching others in their coursework brings a certain joy and satisfaction when they finally understand. Conversely, I found that when they failed to comprehend, it would be a most frustrating moment, at which point I would internally question their ability to understand and grasp the basic concepts of logic, or even mathematics.

Last year was a year in which I was christened with a new nickname. Yes, I actually do respond to Damian now, its more or less ingrained into me by now.

It has been reinforced into me that girls coming into Engineering in Auckland are:
1) a minority
2) rarely good looking (I'm not being mean, it is true)
3) not necessarily smarter than guys

I discovered that many people would never live up to my expectations of minimum intelligence. It also made me reconsider some of the principles I had established for myself since a few years back. Along the same lines of thought, I discovered that engineers all over, be it in Auckland, Christchurch, Melbourne, or some college in the States, share similar stereotypes. Perhaps we are all more interconnected than we know...

Despite the similarities though, it is also worth noting that we are all still different (obviously). For one, my almost extremist views on genetic purity and creating the perfect human (no, not Holocaust style, more like Gattaca if you've seen it) are rather distasteful to most, but the good thing is... everyone in Engineering has got their own quirks, so mine is well, just another quirk.

I learnt that engineers as a whole aren't too fashion conscious and would often make fashion mishaps within the faculty, although no one seems to care. I learnt that sometimes, its alright to loosen up your inhibitions and have some fun.

Since getting to know Richie, its come to my realisation that I have found an excellent role model in him. He's well-managed, able to find that balance between sport, study, and having fun. And he eats well too.

Last year, I learnt that as crazy as Alastair is, he's got a lot of substance under his whacked demeanour. I also learnt that I can trust people more than I would normally be prepared to, or more than I think they could be trusted. Which means I may have to tell more truth than skirting issues instead next time.

And lastly, I discovered that alcohol still tastes as good, and still is a great social tool, as it always was before. Cheers, and Happy New Year's! (Belatedly)

P/S: Yes, I really do have purist views. I, however, have my code of ethics, but I'm more relaxed than most people would be in their views concerning the optimisation of the human body.