'hello my name is'; a year in review
Monday, December 31
The year was truly an unpredictable one - I hardly knew what to expect, right from the start and even right now when approaching the end.
But one common occurrence stands out amidst the tumultuous string of events across the year, and that is the sheer amount of hello's and goodbye's I had to utter, largely due to the fact that I was thrown around from one new setting to another in multiple areas of my life.
On the NS front, I had a change in environment pretty much at a bimonthly rate:-
- I began my time in BMT,
- moved over to OCS,
- ended up joining the ranks of the storemen,
- got shipped over to the shadowy slacking realm of AFT in OCS HQ,
- and finally got thrown over to where I currently am in TLS Tm, TD Branch to await the arrival of my next posting order,
- before getting whisked off to Taiwan for three weeks.
That's 6 transitions over 11 months... Yep, just as I said, effectively a bimonthly rate.
And on the church front, I was progressively making the transition from COOS to NCC, trying my hardest to feel comfortable in the AC Care Group in NCC, before I eventually decided to try out an Overseas Varsity one recently.
Having made the easy transition from ACS(P) to ACS(I) Secondary and further on to ACS(I) IB in my younger days (hahaha I make myself sound like some old fogey), where the bulk of friends in my cohort moved on to the new place with me, the first transition into BMT - with no other ACS(I) guy in sight - took a while to adjust to. And as if that wasn't enough, I went through similar transitions over and over again!
In all honesty, the persistent changes in environment was really emotionally taxing on me. I mean, just imagine getting ripped out of a group that you've
just grown close to after working hard to build that bond of friendship, and having to start making friends from scratch all over again, and to have this happen 8 times over.
But God saw me through it all.
I've always doubted my friend-making abilities (and still kinda do...), and never had much of a platform to brush it up till this year. But somehow or another, I still made great connections with people. I can honestly say I don't know how I grew closer to people, or what I did that put us on the journey towards friendship. So if I were asked to do it again, I wouldn't know what to do either, and I'm still just as lost as to how to make friends. My point in saying this is that it's really God that led me to meet the right people, make the right friends, and caused relationships to strengthen by means I know nothing of. And many of these friendships are ones that I still look back on fondly, and would keep up, if I could!
Even looking back through the archives of my blog for the year, I'm pleasantly surprised to see the numerous joyous moments the LORD provided for me, and I'm sure that these are only the tip of the iceberg, because obviously I don't blog about
every single little thing that happens in my life. It's truly a testament of what He's done for me in my life. He filled my days with great joy despite changing circumstances, and was truly the Rock to which I was anchored during these times. If not for this stability He provided, who knows how wind-tossed my ship would be!
And of course, He also provided a great friend-base for me from my school years, in the form of the Mathlab gang (I will never stop getting asked, "What the heck is a math lab???"), the BB folk (+1 venture scout), and my desk partners (: So not only has He provided me with a strong base of friends, but He's also allowed me to get to know so many new people along the way too!
There's really lots to be thankful for, if only we choose to see the good in the seemingly bad (:
AMEN;
3:35 pm
