Hello there! Been a while, hasn't it? I just wanted to post an update on what's been going on in my life, as well as (hopefully) provide a start for me to resume weekly updates next week.
...heh. We'll see how well that goes!
Anyway, it's been over a year since I last posted anything, and boy howdy, has a lot happened. A summary of the more important things that's happened since my last update:
- I had a big, big fight with what were two of my closest friends here, where we fell out and stopped being any sort of friends, to the point that one even blocked me on Facebook for a while and both refused to talk to me for months. It took a while, but I guess things are getting better now, even if only slightly. Still wish they'd give me the chance to apologize, though, but hey, hopefully all in due time.
- The Roscars this year ended up being even more interesting than the last one. I was nominated for Little Miss Sunshine again, even though I was a miserable little git throughout the year (not as miserable as the guy who ended up winning it, though). Also, not only did I end up keeping my eye on no less than three of my friends, but I got to sort of wingman my best friend as well as take care of another really good friend of mine, even taking her home (her home!) and staying overnight, after an emotional trip. It was definitely unexpected.
- I got elected to be Treasurer for Rostra for the second year in a row. Woohoo.
- The aftershow party for Rostra's last play of the 2013-2014 academic year was ... interesting. I got to see my Bangor best friend at one of his, uhh, least stable moments. Protip: absinthe does things to you. Avoid at all costs.
- Went home for the summer - again - and had a refreshingly good time with friends. Nothing too out of the ordinary ... until my dad got sick and contracted liver cancer in July (during Ramadhan, no less). Three months later he passed away, though fortunately I was able to go back from Bangor to Jakarta in time before it happened. I still remember his last coherent words to me. Hope you rest in peace, dad.
- Got my first chance at directing a play for my drama club, Rostra, which was a collection of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. It was put on on November, and though it wasn't the best thing ever, I had tons of fun and learned lots from many people, so that's always a plus. And if I do say so myself, the cast enjoyed themselves and the audience laughed loads (even though they weren't supposed to...), so all in all, I'd say it was a success in the end.
- Got to perform in a Panto again, this time of Aladdin, and it was far more fun than the last one. Partially because I got a somewhat important role, before getting bumped up to another, even more important one: the Dame! I got to play a woman who was most definitely a man in a dress, and even got to sing two songs, one a solo of Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend. It was probably my biggest role to date, after which I decided to retire from stagework for various personal reasons, unless something truly interesting comes up (more on that later...)
- Worked on and finished my dissertation, after a while. For once, I'm actually quite proud of it, though I didn't get to say everything I wanted to say, partly because of time constraints (and we all know my time management is far from the best) and partly because of the word count. As always, I went over the maximum word limit (i.e. 7700 words), so I had to cut it down hehe. As for other academic work, the first semester of third year was my best, while in the second semester I kind of stumbled a bit due to personal stress. I hope I've managed to pick it back up.
- Applied for a scholarship by the Indonesian government because I tried to look for scholarships with which I could do my Master's, but most scholarships I could find were geared for UK/EU students, and the ones for international students were very country- or continent-specific, and when it comes to Asia, most of them were for students from either China, Japan, or India. So I applied for LPDP and let me tell ya, it was one of the most frustrating things I have applied for. Damn, I hate bureaucracy... Oh, also I failed the administrative stage, surprise surprise.
- On the topic of Master's, yes, I'll be doing a Master's degree in Cognitive Linguistics next year!...in Bangor again. I was going to leave initially, and go to places like Lancaster University, but that was because I was worried I might end up doing a lot of the same things if I stayed in Bangor, a worry that was valid for a time before disappearing once it became clear that the School of Linguistics and English Language is revamping the Master's modules for next year. Also, the fact that I will be living with two of my closest friends here (the male ones, not the female ones I mentioned earlier whom I am no longer close with) really cinched the deal, because it means we'll quite possibly have a lad's night in every other night. However, we'll be living about 40 minutes away from the main campus building, Main Arts. That's even farther from Normal Site, where I lived during my first year! Fortunately, we've all planned to get bikes.
- I got to teach Indonesian for a little bit. There was a guy who emailed the International Students Office (or something) that he was looking for an Indonesian student in Bangor. How lucky it was for him that there was indeed one, and even more, he was a Linguistics student! So in my second semester I met up with him weekly for two hours and helped him practice Indonesian and stuff. It was nice, and opened my eyes to the fact that there's so much I don't know about my own native language, linguistically-speaking. Also, the cash on the side was good.
- The Roscars for the 2014-2015 academic year was good fun. Surprisingly, I was nominated for Little Miss Sunshine yet again, despite not being as cheery and happy as I was in my first year where I won it. I ended up not winning it again, though, which was expected. Also to my surprise, Rostra decided to award me the coveted Lifetime Membership Award, which means I am now officially a Rostra member for life. This award is usually given to members who are leaving Bangor and have contributed a significant amount to Rostra, which, yeah, I guess I could see why people would think I deserve it, but I'm not leaving Bangor next year! And I know I haven't exactly made a fuss out of it, but at the very least I expected the new chair of the committee - who's a fellow linguist - to have brought it up when discussing eligibility for the LMA. Oh well, it was still a very pleasant surprise.
- Rostra's last play of the year was the legen - wait for it - dary Blackadder! For those of you who don't know, Blackadder is kind of an iconic British TV series from a few decades back, like Doctor Who is currently (well, technically Doctor Who is even older than Blackadder, but now I'm digressing!). It got us some new members in Rostra, and it even got one of our members who's never on-stage to try acting! It ended up fantastically and I think it's safe to say that Rostra went out with a bang this year.
- BEDS, meanwhile, has decided to put on Much Ado About Nothing for next year. FYI, I pitched Much Ado to Rostra for the second semester of this year (because we sort of kind of did it last year and I enjoyed the hell out of it), but it didn't get it. If it had gotten in, that would've definitely gotten me back into acting. Rostra, unfortunately, has nothing that greatly interests me for next semester, so I'm very tempted to audition for Much Ado... Still mulling it over, though.
- And finally, but most importantly, I met someone who became one of my closest friends not just here in Bangor, but I can confidently say that she's become one of my closest friends in life. Impressive, for someone whom I've only known for about 3 months. And ... I am falling for her. Hard. Not ashamed to admit this, of course. I'm genuinely falling for her. And my close friends know this. I know this. And she knows this. Of course, any of you who are familiar with any of the goings-on in my lovelife will have wondered if she has a boyfriend, and the answer to that is: yes, she does; a boyfriend of 6+ years, in fact. Some things never change, eh? Such a shame, too, since she and I truly get along really well, and we most likely would have made an amazing couple... Ahh well. At the very least, she and I are genuinely good friends, whatever other feelings there may be between us, and I am more than grateful for that. And as for my own affections, well, Megara from Disney's Hercules put it best:
"At least out loud I won't say I'm in love."
SEE YOU NEXT WEEK, FRIENDS!
No comments:
Post a Comment