wow. cant believe it’s alrdy twenty-ten. and it has been such a long time since i blogged seriously. certainly, the dawn of the new year necessitates a blog entry to take stock of the ups and downs of the year that went by.
to dread that twenty oh-nine was a drag would be very unfair. but to say that it by swiftly would also be an understatement. twenty-ten has always been, at the back of my mind, something of a unforeseeable future; a future that would never arrive. singapore had, earlier, set twenty-ten as a deadline for achieving goals. and twenty-ten is the 10th year i left my secondary school. the two-thousand year cohort would be due to return for a reunion. but it has strangely arrived. but twenty-ten has become the present. the new now.
change would definitely the word that encapsulates oh-nine for me. not like in the form of obama for america or how ris low transformed our singlish repetoire with boomz. the change that took place for me was much more of an internal one than something that is tangible or visible. this psychological and emotion change was moulded through plenty of thinking, questioning and re-questioning of many things - my personal life and relationships with others, my beliefs, career and my future, design issues, society, cultural identity. in trying to discover the answer, i have often attempted to integrate my questioning into the work that i do. however, i wouldnt say that this internal change have caught up with my hand and manifest physically. well, i havent notice it anyway. hopefully it will happen soon :)
the fuel for change came in the form of a lot of reading that i did during the year. some were necessary for school, others based on intrigue and curiosity. the two were further reinforced by the great authorities in knowledge, like my professors and tutors – deborah alden, cindy wang, jesvin yeo, kanaga sabapathy, yin ker – who serve as guide post in my journey of self discovery. also the talks i watched online and those i attended, like from alexandre wollner and kenya hara. they inspire me to hold fast to my passion, hard work for it, question the norm and deep deeper. they spur me on the find the many links that can connect between design and life, and take singaporean design to something greater and nobler.
oh-nine was also filled with many blessings. my family situation has improved heaps since a year ago. and the bursary and scholarship opportunities that ntu has provided helped me get through each semester without worry much of the peripherals. 
i have also been very lucky to be able to travel siem reap (during my summer break), burma (in dec) and back to hoi an, vietnam again. travels like these are not just trips to get out of the urban madness of singapore. they give you the mental freedom to think and to be inspired. charged and armed with the knowledge i gained from the asian art courses, my eyes have been opened to see and appreciate the immensity and diversity of each of these cultures. the history, language, ethnic groups and religions are just as compelling. through the ureca programme, i have been very privileged to work with the nicest people. they are the folks at reaching out in hoi an, vietnam. thanks quyen, binh and everyone at reaching out for making me feel so at home amongst you guys! together with nanci and brian, we were there to research and put into practice the role that design can play in a social context. this initial contact of two weeks in december has been overwhelmingly interesting experience. i am really glad to be part of this project.
it is hard to not think back into the past at such times. i remember very vividly a decade ago (i was only fifteen then!) the time i was out with my secondary school friends for the then-highly-anticipated millennium night countdown. the setting for that night – orchard point, suntec city / marina square, clarke quay / liang court – have since changed dramatically. just as how each of us, since that night, have also changed completely. for better or for worse, it is amazing to see what change can happen in the span of a decade. i am very glad to say that i still share most of the friendships with those that i hung out with that millennium countdown night.
twenty-ten is here. i am darn scared of what’s coming up next. yet i am bouncing in my seat, eager to know what the new year beholds. for one, by mid year, i would have completed my third year of undergraduate studies, with one year left to go. final year project then the reality of working (again). but i am looking too far beyond. in the meantime, time to embrace twenty-ten.
happy new year everybody!
