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Topic: What a year, 2008
mmm...
Posts: 4,436
Join Date: Oct '03
Thought I'd start a new topic just to make this place seem a little more alive. Besides I have this ego thing going on.

This was my last year of secondary school, so yeah, it got pretty crazy busy and it was over so quickly I still haven't fully comprehended the fact that I'll never visit my school as a student again.

But let's go back to the beginning.

Things started off badly in January with the split between me and the girl I was dating at the time, this also lead to a fight with one of my best work friends who introduced us. Thankfully things worked themselves out by the time school started and by and large that was the only major conflict I had throughout the rest of the year.

Relationship-wise 2008 has been pretty dead, I did meet a girl at my best mate's 18th and we danced all night. Of course she had (and still has) a boyfriend so we decided to not take it any further. Apart from that I didn't really have time for relationships, since school and work were taking up so much time (I was at school five days a week, and the other two I was working).

School was alternatively fun and a drag. I really solidified a few friendships at school this year and - judging by how much we've been hanging out this summer - those friendships will likely stay with me for a long time yet. The whole study thing was a bitch. I've never really got the hang of studying for long periods of time. I can do homework fine, since there's a predefined goal to achieve in completing it. Study, on the other hand, has always felt like a waste of time. In the end it may have adversely affected my final score somewhat - especially with specialist maths (by far my hardest subject). In the end it didn't matter though, I got the ENTER (or ranking) I needed to get into my uni course of choice.

For those who are interested (and understand the ENTER system) I got 97.95, which basically means I beat 97.95 per cent of the state. So that's nothing to be ashamed of in my opinion, even if I didn't get top of the school like a few were expecting. My close friends largely did very well, which also made me happy. In the end it was this that made 2008 a great year for me, though a lot of other awesome stuff happened too.

I turned 18 (legal drinking age in Australia) on the last day of formal classes at school. Needless to say I went to the local pub/club (literally across the road from my school) with about half of my year level for a lovely drink-up. It was a fun night, though I got a bit down at the end (as I sometimes do when drinking after being under a lot of stress), which slightly tainted it. But I still have some great memories of my 18th birthday anyway.

I also bought my first car around the same time, it's a 1999 Holden VT Commodore Berlina. Which, if you're not Australian, probably means absolutely nothing to you. I posted a picture of it in the general talk page if you're interested in seeing what the hell a Commodore is.

Straight after exams (which started a week after I turned 18) I hosted my 18th birthday party, which again made me feel lucky for having such a close group of people I'd be happy to call friends, when back in 2003-2005 I struggled to name anyone as a really close mate. It was a fun night, surprisingly free of things getting broken, especially considering the amount of alcohol consumed.

A few weeks later I went on schoolies, which is basically a week where everyone who just finished school goes away for a week to get absolutely plastered every night. It was a fun time, though I'd have preferred to go with people I knew better (most of the girls who went, apart from the girl who organized it, I didn't know very well). I still had a couple of good mates from school, though, and it was fun to not have to worry about what the parents would say about a walk to the beach at 3am.

And that's about it for my 2008, New Years was fun but really just another piss-up, so no need to discuss much there. Bring on '09!

Anyway, how was your 2008?

 


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Breakfast Food Yojimbo
Posts: 5,763
Join Date: Jan '02
Good to see another Aussie on these boards! Congrats on the ENTER score, I don't know how you studying would have "adversely affected" your final score if you landed on the tail end of the 90s... most of the people I know landed in the 50-60 zone and were stoked for that.

As for my 2008, well it passed pretty fucking quick. It kicked off with a MASSIVE hangover and an even bigger argument with my girlfriend at the time (now ex), I had way too big a New Year's Eve at her friend's house and broke some expensive glasses (not to mention crushing my own aviators and burning her friend with my cigarette... it was by accident the first time!) basically we had a shitty start to the year that underscored a lot of issues that we'd been ignoring. Usually good movies and music keep me from boiling over, but this wasn't a spectacular year for either (though I did have the new Cut Copy and Wolf Parade albums on high rotation). I also didn't get to many gigs, only catching Foo Fighters and Kanye West at Rod Laver.

My section of the office was split up from the rest of my company and moved down a few floors in our building to give everyone more space, which turned out to be awesome. We got a new boss, who is the only boss I've ever liked. He went through a divorce in August and has been joining us on pub nights since, on the whole my workmates are a pretty good bunch, which is another thing that almost never happens. I've had a couple of good people to work with in the past, or a good team and a REALLY shit boss... but a good team that I actually want to socialize with... that shit is bananas to me.

Outside of that I landed a promotion (same day that I broke it off with the ex, which was a weird good news bad news to tell my folks since they liked her) aaand... got fucked the hell up with my mates on New Year's Eve without having to worry about the morning after... we did get yelled at by his neighbours for setting off Fireworks at 1am, but in our defense we went to stop when his other neighbours came outside and they asked us to do them all at one go so their kids could see.

 


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Species In Decline
Posts: 10,028
Join Date: Sep '06
I lost a shitload of money, or rather the fucking losers and cheaters on Wall Street lost it for me. On paper, they say. Well fine, providing it comes back in my lifetime.

 

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Beer is your friend - Fishbaugh

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Booka
Posts: 3,178
Join Date: Apr '05
2008 kicked off pretty so-so for me, since I was still living in the states at that time but my sister was visiting for the holidays so that cheered me up. I started uni that month too, only to quit in May (and this was my second university, mind you) after my father kicked me out of the house and I moved back to Europe, best thing I ever did. I saw my lady after being away from her for almost a year, we're still together, I worked as a copywriter at Saatchi & Saatchi Macedonia over the summer, an ad agency, and made some great ads and fit in really well (those guys are still waiting for me to come back).

In august I got a book translation deal, and in September I started my third university, journalism. I quickly shot to the top of my class, so much so that my writing professor asked me to work at his newspaper. I said yes at first, and my first piece was an inflammatory bit about a radical political group, so that stirred some shit and I decided to hold the whole thing off till I was done with my studies (and also not to write about politics anymore).

In December I finished the book, and am waiting for the big cash monees, which will go towards an HDTV and an X360 (I found a Jasper in a nearby store, and I know no one's gonna nab it). New Year was an intimate affair with only about ten people at my place, lots of food and Belgian beer, and was awesome.

Here's to an even better 2009.

 


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Not The Boss
Posts: 21,799
Join Date: Aug '03
Things I did this year:

1. Graduated law school, which is kind of a bummer because school life > real life. I'm no longer surrounded by 23-25 year old women 8 hours a day.

2. Passed the bar exam. This is a big, big one for me, because if I hadn't passed it the first time I'd be studying to take it again right now at great effort and expense. Thank God that's over.

3. Got a shitty job in this shitty economy. Sort of a wash, since I'm thankful to have found anything.

4. Started playing ice hockey. This is, by far, the highlight of my year. Hockey is my fight club. It's how I measure myself against other men (and a few women), it's my motivation for getting through a tough work day, and it's when I feel most alive. I only wish I had started earlier in life.

 

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Posts: 7,164
Join Date: Jul '02
Not much for me. Lost some weight, finished a semester of school, got one more semester of it before graduating, taking my commission, and risking my life on a mountain in Afghanistan sometime in the future.

 

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evil science

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