2012 was an extremely eventful year for me. A brief summary in the form of a timeline:
Dec 2011 - Mar 2012: PES B1 BMT (which I OOT-ed from)
Apr - Jun 2012: Supply Assistant (or just plain storeman) at Maju AMT (with a superior which subscribes strongly to McGregor's Managerial Theory X)
Jul 2012: Supply Assistant at Gombak Base HQ
Aug 2012: PES C9 BMT (recourse, it provided me with a guard duty experience to remember)
Sep - Nov 2012: Supply Assistant at Gombak Base HQ (RTU)
Dec 2012: Vocational Course at STC
2013 probably won't be as eventful as 2012, not in terms of NS commitments at least. I guess I should be glad about that, but I fear that I'll just be a wall clock watcher during work. That will happen, undoubtedly. Just serving my duties till the ORD, no passion whatsoever.
I gained lots more acquaintances during 2012. Friend count number (not the Facebook type) didn't really increase, if it did in the first place. The former due to me opening up and just speaking my mind to people around me (was that a goal for me in 2012? I reckon so), the latter due to characteristics and values not matching. To begin to build a new friendship, I read from the internet source that a requirement is for the acquaintances to encounter each other without planning at least a few times. I second it, from my own personal experience. Another source states that as one gets older, it's more difficult to construct new friendships with others. Two main reasons account for that: 1) number of commitments increases with age, and 2) values and beliefs are more deeply rooted as one grows older (hence, harder for one to get his views and opinions accepted and appreciated by another). Continued search for like-minded people to nurture new friendships with will be one of my main goals in 2013 (the main takeaway from NS, perhaps? Other than work experience... if it can be called this way). The hope that a "best" friend will emerge did not die away, but after reading another source on the internet (ok, I know I'm too free), I realised I have to treasure the people who are currently around me and enjoy their company rather than incessantly waiting for a perfect friend to appear. Life is too short for that. I go out with friends relatively frequent nowadays. Nevertheless, my hope stays etched in a corner of my mind, reminding me of itself once in a while...
Oh, and I have two more items to be checked into my New Year Resolution: 1) to be more daring, 2) to be able to use words more intelligently (no, not in the academic sense, but the social).
