The Return

Well, how long has it been since I've written here? Three-quarters of a year seems like a good estimate.

Originally, I started this daily writing project for the sake of recording what I was up to in Taiwan during the summer of 2008, but apparently I didn't make too much out of the self-assigned task. But now, I officially declare my return to consistent writing, hopefully adding some spark into my own life.

First off, I will summarize the last few months of 2008 (when I pretty much ran off on an indefinite absence) to the best of my memory.

1. From Taiwan, my mother, lil' bro Jeremy, and I made a quick trip to Hong Kong. Too bad Dad was busy collecting college credits to reach another master's degree, along with obtaining a teacher's license. It was the first time I've ever been to Hong Kong and the experience was quite fulfilling.
2. Upon returning from the Asiatic tour, sophomore year in Binghamton was already around the corner. Time seriously flew.
3. Fall 2008 was in session and, not even close to deliberately, I found myself much more involved with college activities. In some sick way, I felt like I was back in high school again. Of course, fencing was still a big part of my life, but I decided to dive deeper into cultural groups, a campus magazine publisher, explore Greek life, look for an on-campus job, and on and on...
4. With the close of the 2008 fall semester, in those three and a half months, many things happened. To list a few, I guess I can mention winning a school Fantasy Baseball league, obtaining first place at a fencing tournament, learned how to fence foil (a bit), rushed for an Asian fraternity and decided it was not for me, caught myself in a failed relationship, broke my camera, decided not to vote because I became politically apathetic, dragged my GPA just a little higher (thought barely noticeable), and overall became a happier person.
5. For the first part of winter break, various episodes took place with my usual crew back home. We mutually decided that I played beer pong too much, along with Becky. Will was probably a secret drunk, Rehan probably never got drunk in his life, and Sule was my opposite and had no beer pong skills. Sule, Will, and I made a pit stop to Hooters and decided to leave without pay when we realized there were no attractive "waitresses" on site, Rehan threw up on my front porch and, in drunken delusions, thought my home was his home, and finally, everyone prepared for the arrival of 2009.
   

I think that's the gist of everything that I missed for the latter part of 2008. Now, second of all, the last couple of months for 2009 requires some summarizing as well... and again to the best of my memory:

1. From a typical double room (roommate included) in the Hinman community, I ran off straight to the apartment community of Susquehanna. Single rooms are amazing. Living became completely different in comparison to the entirety of my freshman year and the first semester of my sophomore year. Four single rooms in a suite, two suites on a floor. All in all, eight people living together, but with plenty of space. There's John, David, Andrew, Eugene, Kevin, Mingchee, Dan, and me. Aside from Andrew and I, everyone there was in their senior year. When I moved in, Andrew was the only person I knew beforehand, so I had to adjust to my new "second" home, while getting to know everyone around me.
   
2. Perhaps I got used being involved on campus and I decided to dive further into the clubs I decided to continually take part in. Those would be the Binghamton Fencing Club, the Taiwanese American Student Coalition (TASC), and the Binghamton Prospect Magazine group (which I have yet to write an article for).
3. Up to this point of writing, I've found a new home, made great new friends, took on an executive board position for TASC, MC'ed along with Andrew for the annual TASC Banquet (I can detail about that in another post), got back into snowboarding, broke my laptop, took on a new job on campus led by John, enjoyed a couple of days highlighted with Becky's visit from Buffalo, took fourth place in a fencing tournament (unfortunately), in addition to breaking two of my epees and my foil (unfortunately again), and am still quite a happy person.

I had quite a lot of fun writing this. I guess it comes with my natural interest with reminiscing about past events. Hopefully I can be more consistent and write on a daily basis.