Top 10 memories of '09-'10

There really are some curious people on formspring, who ask random questions like this:

Top 10 memories from 2009 - 2010 school year?

obviously, i didn’t see anything sexual with that question, so i went ahead and answered.

1. IASAS2010 in Singapore

2. citi meet!

3. MANTAS

4. may 7th

5. hot dog stand

6. water park w/ brian, berlin & andrew

7. MOS burger

8. all the bondings

9. frolic

10. november 18th 2009 - december 10th 2009 ♥

then a few hours later, a question regarding my answer was asked. it went something along the lines of the typical “justify your answer” thing you get in one of those annoying English reading comprehension quizzes. anyways, so someone asked me to “justify my answer” on my top 10 memories of ’09-’10. so here it goes.

1. IASAS2010 in Singapore

i spent the majority of the ’09-’10 school year training my butt off for this. and in the process of “working my butt off”, i met new people, people i never thought i’d be friends with. and i found out new things about people i’ve known for a while. and i’ve definitely gotten closer to some of them.  yes, it may sound cliché, but suffering through all that hardcore training did bring us closer. and this might make me sound crazy, but i actually enjoyed all the pain and the constant wave of tiredness and hunger hitting me in class due to the lack of sleep and breakfast from the morning practices, all because i knew i wasn’t suffering it alone. it was the first time i honestly wanted something, to get a medal for 200m backstroke and to get a PB for it, and i achieved my goal.

In addition to me successfully achieving my goal and enjoying the process to get there, there was the actual 5 day period at the end of January 2010, where we all got to show what we’ve been working for and how much we’ve worked to get to where we desperately wanted to get to. and I had the privilege to witness and be a part of all the little bits and pieces of idiocy displayed within that 5 days. and I enjoyed it so much.  I honestly loved being a part of the TAS varsity swimming team,  and I know that the people I met during the season and at IASAS are the people I’ll always be close to, people who’s seen me at my worst and not judge me for all the wrong that I’ve done.

I have never wanted to be a part of something, never wanted to achieve a goal, this much. and to me, IASAS 2010 and all the things leading up to it is the thing that made me realize who I wanted to keep close to, who my real friends are, and what makes me who I am now.

2. citi meet!

Similar to IASAS, but this came in second, not first ‘cause this basically was a part of the whole IASAS season.  but it was different this year. I’ve been participating in the annual citi invitational swim meet since 2005. but it was different this year. ­­­­­this was the first year that I was a part of the varsity team, not TAS tigersharks.  but that’s the only difference. or so I thought before the thing actually started. then I found myself cheering for people I barely knew, like Rebecca and Jacqueline. or Rhianne and Sandy, in addition to the usuals like berlin, brian, eric, ian, William etc. so the citi meet 2009 contributed to me finding my true friends and who I am right now.

not to mention the fact that I had a fuckload of fun and good laughs during this two day swim meet, despite the fact that we were in the Upper Gym at 5 in the morning, and we were there until 7 in the evening.

3. MANTAS

I don’t actually remember MANTAS being this fun in the past. but this year, not many people went so it was peaceful, and I got to know a couple of great people better than before and it was all fun. Going out for dinner saturday night, crashing into the guys’ room and pigging out, watching basketball & soccer games +  watching cartoon network until 3 in the morning even though we had to get up at 7 and had races the next day, and nobody listening to our 24/7 PMS coach on sunday. oh, and of course I can’t forget all the sexual jokes we’ve made during that :) and the weekend before, when we went to that cold-ass pool.  all good memories. I know I had my little crisis before MANTAS, with the dilemma about whether I was gonna go or not, and it sucked that I had to come back on an earlier flight, but it was still pretty damn fun.

4. may 7th

basically, may 7th was the only time when all 7 of us (me, tove, berlin, brian, eric, ian and william) were able get together and spend some time together. and I now realize that these 6 people are the people that I absolutely love no matter what, and that I want to keep them close to me. and it got really late that night, and we slept over, not all of us, just some, and it was uncomfortable having 3 people sleep in a same bed, but it was still really fun.

5. hot dog stand

spring fair! and hot dog stand! selling all the hot dogs + grilled chicken was fun, and the process of getting ready to sell them at 8.30 in the morning, was also exciting. and our awkward photo, which turned out to be… well, pretty good. and eating the grilled chicken, which we were supposed to buy, not just eat, was delicious, and I learned that swimmers kinda suck at tying strings together :P

6. water park w/ brian, berlin & andrew

summer ’10. we were severely sunburnt, severely tired from the UFO ride, and severely surprised by how much the lockers cost us, but it was really entertaining. we discovered that if two of the heavier people out of the four sit on the opposite side during the UFO ride, then there’s more possibility of the boat thingy flipping over. and our adventures in the lazy river, was totally amazing. we spent about 45 minutes in that pool, just going around in circles and flipping over every once in a while, plus freaking out when people splashed us with cold water.

7. MOS burger

YEEEAH MOS BURGER. and our weird photos, where we all looked like shit cause it really was just bad timing and talking about hot Swedish guys :) it was all a lot of fun, especially ‘cause we weren’t under the eyes of LP, who would be telling us to get the fuck out of MOS burger cause it was unhealthy and because brian and I were going to MANTAS in three weeks. but it was all good, us randomly pigging out on food.

8. all the bondings

bondings. yes. started with the swim teams traditional bowling alley and then off to Momo paradise for dinner. then after pre-I, at jonchen’s house where we watched Pineapple Express. and then the last bonding at Alex’s house, and we watched Oceans Eleven plus the beginning of…. The Dark Knight. and then we listened to LP’s speech and then kuhlkes but nobody listened to the latter one. and then we went downtown for… well, ATB and then that little crisis with my parents. but other than that, it was where we all got to hang out with each other, and I have to say, I didn’t think I’d enjoy being around swimmers this much. but I did. it was really really memorable.

9. frolic

frolic 2009!  it would’ve been so boring without all the crying & laughing & photos ;) so thanks to all of you out there who made it pretty fun for me :D and the dancing. crazy dancing. but I learned that peyton is a pretty good dancer, and derrick doesn’t like to dance. and we had a little bit of fun at the end stealing people from their dates. yeah, that might make us sound like total bitches but eh, we had fun so whatever.

10. november 18th 2009 - december 10th 2009 ♥

this was the time when I felt like I belonged somewhere. and it didn’t work out so well but it was worth it. and it made me realize how important this person was to me.