2006

There are not many things that are as awesome and thrilling as a live fireworks display.

Yesterday was at the bayside waiting to usher in 2006, even though I was feeling a bit under the weather. Phew...what a heck of a lot of people over there! Heh, I guess people will flock to wherever there is fun to be had. And it is heartening to see everyone out for a good time at the bayside, flooding into the streets - at least those which were not cordoned off by the police. While the people will not cross police lines, at least they will go right up to them and try to push them back. Which, I think, is a rather hopeful sign for Singapore =P

Mmm well, eventually, after wandering from Esplanade to the Esplanade Bridge to One Fullerton YS and I decided to just end up at the bayside area almost under the Sheares Bridge, where we had a front-row seat to view the bay area. Right in front of us the baywater played chicken with our feet. To the right was the river mouth with the strange arrangements of balloons floating in the water, lit up by the spots from the Esplanade Bridge. To the left was the Sheares Bridge, and right in front of us was the New Downtown field.

It was very tasteful, I thought, the display for the new year. The bubbles on the water were simple yet surprising to look at, and they really used the spots well to create colours on the water and in the air, where a slight fog had conveniently appeared. Rather minimalist, elegant, and, I thought, dignified. And when the fireworks started firing from right in front of us on the field, it was a real surprise. Yes...there are few things as stunning as those grenades of colour exploding a few hundred metres away from you. It creates a feeling of collective awe and delight, something sweet and childish in the air. However the old year was, the end of the old and the beginning of the new cannot but be upbeat with fireworks.

But it has been a really good year...it has been a really good two years, to boot. Heh, you would remember me grousing about the new school last year. Starting anew, I was looking backwards. But it has been a surprising two years, I think, filled with exciting and overall rather happy moments. The crowning moments must, of course, be the overseas trips. Texprog and Bangkok introduced many good people to me, and opened up whole new horizons to be explored. It was the time to indulge in the old fascination with wandering, with the new and surprising company of flightmates. And Fraser's Hill and Hong Kong...time to catch up with old friends and family, retracing old steps. Yep...the exchange programmes were the culmination of everything I had learned up till then, and the year-end trips were a fitting tribute to two years well spent in making new friends, exploring new places, all the while not losing track of old connections.

And everyday connections, too, were surprising. The brilliant, warm, sparky people of the Humanities Programme...it has been invigorating to work with such like-minded, yet such diverse, people. Even my own class, too, started to grow on me after a while, I must add. Good people they are, whatever else they may be. And not to forget the nicest CCA in JC, RJGE, with the kind of bonds and camaraderie that I thought I would never see after EDrama. The exhilarating feeling of being able to, collectively, make a mark with what we were doing.

And my old refuges of the old 4Ners and friends from secondary school. So many friendships from that period were continued that I am frankly rather stunned. I thought that it wouldn't be as easy to keep up with each other, but somehow things just happened so we could stay in contact. Some part of what we had is preserved; not everything has changed. And in many ways I think these two years are the fruits of the foundations and preparations made in secondary school. Then, I was learning; now, I put it into practice.

Like I was saying to YS yesterday, these two years were characterised by this kind of happiness, by the surprises that surpassed my expectations and taught me to hope for more. I think, really, this happiness is founded on a feeling of security, after all. While competition in school is undoubtedly fierce, the thing is that I don't feel, presently, that I have to fight for my position, or for my respect. Socially I feel safe among my friends and workmates. And from this foundation, on the brink of a new year filled with unknowns, I feel that I am ready to begin.

I don't know what to expect from this new year. Probably many things will not be the same. Hopefully I will continue to be surprised, and I can continue to learn. But from the vantage point of the end of 2005, I can begin to look forward to 2006 with anticipation and eagerness.

After the fireworks displays the people lining the banks started lighting up their own sparklers, and the boats started to run out to sea again, their lights blazing. From the Bridge people were showering sparklers on the boats as they passed underneath. It was rather pretty, these little lightshows that dotted the shoreline. If the fireworks were our collective hopes for the new year, then these little lights were individuals who were taking some of the hope with them. I don't want to sound too sentimental myself, but I have to say that I look towards the new year with hopes of my own. With these little lights it doesn't look so scary after all.

And an exhilarating new year to everyone! Things will change, obviously, but I believe not all at the same time. Some things we should keep from the old year I think. Keep in touch, yar? =)

pondered by phoenican @ 1.1.06