Looking back on 2012, it has been a pretty eventful year and I did learn a lot. (:

I had the opportunity to head over to UC Berkeley with limzy for summer school, and made some new friends from Hongkong. we loved the buffet-style meals that we had everyday in the dining hall! It was nice experiencing American education for the first time. Managed to do quite a bit of travelling too. (:  We visited Yosemite National Park, Lake Tahoe, New York, San Francisco, and Washington DC in that short 8 weeks that we were there. pretty awesome stuff! special thanks to dad for allowing me to go on this adventure.

UMC got off to a really good start last year, with special thanks to an awesome committee. many new climbers joined us after the recruitment drive, and I'm glad many are staying on. (:

the future of UMC is looking bright, that's for sure. (:

very soon, the month of September came, and there were 3 climbing comps back-to-back-- Bouldermania, Rockmaster and Vertigo. Bouldermania was super shag both physically and mentally-- setting routes till late in the night, skipping lessons to run errands for BM, and being banglas for the wall building etc, but I could really feel the bonding amongst our climbers through the process. glad that everyone played their part and we made the event a huge success. (: really looking forward to Bouldermania this year.

I managed to qualify for the finals for SP's Rockmaster, but I guess I overworked my knees in the process. haha finals routes were typical Rockmaster style, dynamic and powerful. though I did poorly, I was rather happy I qualified anyway. (: didn't join Vertigo due to the rather weak knees (had to walk around with a knee guard and a slight limp for a while), but happy that Hanee won 1st in her category. (: novice woman no more!

the exams came and went, and results weren't up to expectations. :( I can't complain, because I know that I was more slack this sem as compared to the previous. need to make an effort to improve on my time management and discipline this sem! I was supposed to head over to China for the Work and Study programme but decided to pull out at the last minute, just about two weeks before I'm supposed to fly over on 9th Jan.

Reasons:

1. slightly uncomfortable about the language and culture and the fact that I will be pretty much alone over there. well I can speak chinese but it definitely isn't that fantastic

2. want to stay in Singapore to take more electives this sem to try to pull up my results

3. couldn't bear to give up my awesome hall room

4. I get to climb more with UMC peeps! :)

it's kind of silly when I think about it. if I have so many concerns then why did I apply in the first place right? haha. ended up having to pay the $300 penalty for withdrawing, and now I'm supposed to source for my own attachment during the summer (a form of punishment/penalty) but I guess it's a price to pay to learn a lesson. lol it's okay, I'd rather pay then end up going over and being unhappy. I know there are a lot of valuable life lessons to be learnt over there, plus definitely we'll get to travel around China quite a bit, but still, the heart wasn't willing, so I decided to follow my heart! (: maybe next time!

KL trip this time was awesome. 50 climbers, 2 buses. went to Damai wall, Putrajaya and Camp 5. weather wasn't too good at the natural walls but at least we managed to climb quite a bit. glad we managed to stay at our favourite Backhome hostel again! (: this time, it was bigger after renovation and there even was a theater room. the trip really brought us closer together and it definitely bridged the gap between the seniors and juniors. so looking forward to the coming sem! :D

Gravical is here once again! I'm competing, but I won't push it if I feel my knees are in trouble. haha. just not worth it! (: I'm glad that I have Nimat, Iman and Idris to accompany me in inter this time round. finally I have people to discuss route beta with. yay! quite a few freshies are participating too, it's going to be an eye opener for them. hope everyone has a good time!