The title was almost "New Year 2008". Perhaps the notion of a new year has sunk in, but the birth of 2009 has yet to escape from the sense of 2008-ness. On a personal note (and this is an important disclaimer), 2009 looks to carry the tradition of 2008. After a year of National Service, I am bitterly aware of what the next year brings. Metaphorically, if 2008 is wandering lost in the jungle, 2009 would be having to hike back whence you came... the potholes, the steep path, all... It is precisely because one has gone through the experience that it is difficult to put a positive slant on the 200+ days of been-there-done-that-not-again. But I will not belabour this age-worn complaint. After all, it is the new year, bringing with it all the promise of new beginnings.

My biggest and most time-confusing affair in the '08 has to be university applications (nevermind National Service, which, though demanding, never fails to fade eventually into a background of unreality...). I did not expect university application to be such a bewildering, laboured process. However, I recognise that my collegeapp journey is probably atypical. Which RJCian, or Singaporean for that matter, sifted the forums of collegeconfidential, hardwarezone, etc., for information (and obsesses) on overseas undergraduate studies in the U.S. and Hong Kong, and devours books on university application, university choice (private vs. public, small vs. large notions do battle in my head), to speak nothing of days devoted to the singular task of studying for SATs... My university choices are as unorthodox as my journey to find them. None of them the typical Ivy-ward brand-conscious fare. I do not mean this to mean my chosen universities lack reputation or recognition (although they are largely unheard of in this side of the Malay Peninsula)... Important as reputation is as a quick gauge of a university's reputation, I feel such factors should be secondary to more pivotal aspects of university fit, such as university size, location, student body and faculty, and strength of academic department. I chose based on strength of department of chosen major/degree, university size, faculty-student interaction, and university scholarship opportunities... Parents, and past generations of seniors who have gone before me attest to a glorious other, but I hold steadfastly in my heart the conviction in the sacred eight...

I have lost track of the number of college/scholarship essays I had written for my choice universities/colleges... In all probability they rival the time and effort I invested in searching for my university choices.  I wrote on topics ranging from experiences in leaving my comfort zone, current affairs, diversity, school involvements, community service, etc... If I did not have considerable experience writing (cannot be understated...), I would have surrendered before the mammoth task. I am reminded none too fondly of my Knowledge & Inquiry 3k-word independent research thesis... I heard that a significant part of undergraduate education involves writing essays/theses, so perhaps I should warm up to the practice.

2009 is the year many from my batch will contract ORD fever. 2009 is also the year many will, like me, sit before a computer screen in March, awaiting the fruits of our labour bear the words "Congratulations! You have been accepted..." I hope...

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