The Pensieve of 2007.

Directly copied from Facebook, and added a bit at the end.

2007.

"I walked across an empty land, I knew the parkway like the back of my hand.."

This year's been really different. I felt like I was on an exploration, going to different places and embarking on a mental, and emotional adventure. New experiences, new friends, new challenges, and with each passing day, I realize who I am more and more.

So for my reflection of this year, I've dedicated the title to the series in Harry Potter, just because it ended this year. Let's all look into my pensieve of 2007.. *takes hair out* heheh!

Haha, I just looked at old pictures of me from January 2007 to now. Lots of pictures, lots of memories.

Btw, this note is REALLY LONG. So if you read it all then.. you're awesome. x2. And you guys all know me. You know what I'm expecting if you read it all.. hehe. :]

Specific memories will be showing up in this Pensieve. Special ones, indeed. :)

-- Lincolnton High (Winter by the Lake Tournament) 2007. This tournament was.. one of my favorites. It was the first tournament where I majorly placed, 1st in OO and 2nd in HI. It was a great achievement, and it felt.. so good.

Before.

-- JL Mann High Tournament. Another tournament where I double-placed, high too. 1st in OO and 3rd in HI. It was a really fun tournament where the majority of my friends were, and it was a moment where I felt like a leader.

-- Southside's Tournament. This was just so much fun. Got to hang out with all my SHS friends, my MHS friends, RHS, etc. etc.! It was awesome to give out OO awards as well. A feel-good moment right there.

Don't worry, there's more than forensics in this. I think.

-- Talent Show. I won it. Holy crap. It was a great time. Tarantula.. hahaha..

-- States Tournament 2007 @ Irmo High School. Okay, this was.. so much fun. First overnight trip of the year, and it was with all my friends. It totally rocked. The first day we went to the mall and got my "lucky polo." Heheh. Competition was hard, I got sick at the trip, but my friends were their to.. mother and nurture me, hahahah! It was a lot of fun, and I broke to semifinals in Original Oratory. Great stuff. The way back was a bit miserable, but it was all in all, fun.

-- Districts 2007 @ Southside High School. Heh, you know this was coming up. So this was a defining moment in my "forensics career." Tried out International Extemporaneous Speaking, and man, that was a lot of fun, haha! AIDS + grandmothers = win. Hahaha. Broke to only 3rd round of Original Oratory :'( and I was really sad, but I guess it made up in the end when I broke to finals for International Extemp and got 5th place! Woot for a plaque. It was really fun afterwards too; heheh apple juice boxes. :D

-- Forensics Banquet. This was a really sad time because it was the official end of our season, but at the same time, it was a happy time because we were all being honored and applauded for our hard work. I also got elected Secretary of the team, and that was nice too. Afterwards, I went bowling and that was fun.

-- HORIZONS '07. First YIG conference and it was absolutely insightful, inspirational, and AMAZING. So much bonding and so much understanding, so much acceptance and so much love. GREEN FIERCEY MCLION PANTS FAMILY FOR THE WINNNNNNN!

-- Freshman Year in general. Here's where all the "not very specific" moments go.

+ AP World History was definitely an experience not to forget.. being in a challenging class for the first time when you didn't expect it, and that our class was like .. always bonding with one another. Haha, and the exam wasn't THAT bad. Stevi B's was fun too. ^_^

+ Physical science was .. quite the subject. Haha, wasn't extremely fond of it, but at least I had good pals in there.. to like, talk to while Mr. V was teaching. Fun times with Pokemon, eh?

+ Algebra 2 was fun too. It was kinda boring since we couldn't do much, but when we got to work together on particular assignments, taking pictures and "doing our work" was really fun. =]

+ BIO 1. Hahaha what else can I say. This class was just like, too awesome. From.. "floral sex" to dissecting yellow rats (like Pikachu! haha!) this class was one of my favorites of the year even though I had many emo moments in there. (when I got my tests back or report cards -.- grrrr! haha!)

+ LUNCH. That was the shiz. Potlucks dominated, third lunch with like.. practically everyone was so much fun because it was like.. potluck everyday. And then add onto the freshman potluck which was humongo-good. :D Lots of fun with lunch.

+ French 2. Heheh. With Mrs. Robinson, who was too kooky. Haha so much fun with call-button whoring, and just making fun of random people all the time. With Mrs. Robinson not noticing or supporting us or something. xD

+ English 2. Haha this class was pretty fun even though I had to sit in the front. >.< Grrr. Heheh, reading stuff out loud was the coolest.. except when bad readers got big parts. Oh man. Hahaha.

+ Physical Education. Cough. Physical education? Pfft. Hahahaha enough said, this class was so pointless but since it was with Judy, it got that much better. :D

So freshman year wasn't too bad. Actually looking back, I like it more than this year. Heh, it was like.. "I'm a freshman! This gives me an excuse to act immature and stupid!" Then again, we still act that way anyway. But it was more fun as a freshman xD.

Graduation ceremony was a super fun time. All night, every day. ;)

The summer was awesome. My 15th birthday was a lot of fun. =] And the day after that at the Dragon festival thing .. hahaha that was pretty awesome. And I finally hung out with the first freshmen I ever hung out with. You guys should be HONORED. :D

+ HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS. This was.. an awesome time. The release party was a ton of fun.

And reading it was great. Amazing book series.

Mm, I can definitely say I bonded with people over the summer. Definitely. :D You know who you are, laptop-humper. Well, if the laptop has a broad back.. eheheh mei mei. XD

And Bethe left for Germany, but I'll get to see her this summer hopefully!

And Grace left. :( But that's okay, because Grace is still awesome and I get to see her TOMORROW. Oh yeah.

BTW, WANG LEE HOM ALBUM. And him becoming my official idol for life. GAI BIAN ZI JI.

Then.. SOPHOMORE YEAR. Heck yes. Eh.

Sophomore year so far has been pretty craaaaazy. But there have been highlights. Pensieve, work your magic.

-- Wake Forest Earlybird Tournament. This was so much fun. Hanging in Steph's car was awesome, especially since my friends were in it. Hahaha and so many inside jokes. Ranging from eating feces, eating my baby and .. other stuff. ;) Hahaha. And getting my Hollister tee. Hehe, it's a pretty nice shirt. I also broke in Original Oratory to semifinals, and that was pretty awesome. Yay for plaques! Yay for PB&J's! Sorry Steph if you're allergic. :[

-- Academic Team tournament: North Greenville. Hahaha, OUR TEAM BEEEEASTED. And we totally should've won. If a certain someone didn't blitz. *glares* But it's okay, son. I'm not holding it against you. No allowance, no meals, and no incest for a year. GROUNDED. It was really fun because my team was the best: Paavan, Angela & Carrie. <3 Love you guys. And our Chinese code of announcing the score. Best. Thing. Ever.

-- The day before the Bob Jones Tournament: I remember this day. We had to go put up Student council things for homecoming. Heheh, that was fun. xD And then I had to write my oratory. And cut my HI. Heheh, cutting my HI was the bestest. Since like, my friends helped me type it out.. and I went to bed at like.. 1am, with the pieces NOT memorized..

+ Bob Jones Tournament! Haha, I memorized my pieces. And it was a ton of fun. 4th place in Humorous Interpretation, heck yessss. :D

-- YIG + Enchanted. Hahaha that was like, so much fun. Man I'm using that phrase a lot, but it's the truth, eh? =] I'VEBEENDREAMINGOFATRUELOV E'SKISSS... :D I mean, Neil & I totally watched Beowulf. That's right. :P

-- Mauldin High Tournament 2007. This was SO much fun. Absolutely one of my favorite tournaments period. Everybody was like .. cheerful and it was just a great experience. Met a lot of people, got closer with more people, and it was just great. Went in OO and Impromptu, and I uhh.. wow. BROKE to Top 3 of Impromptu in the Exhibition! That was the BEST thing ever. Performing and speaking in front of the entire stage and audience. That was so much fun and I felt .. so .. great. So guys, do the trash. Or your mom just might slap you. :D Recycling ftw. 2nd place in OO, 2nd in the Exhibition and 3rd in Impromptu overall. Awesome times.

+ Chin Chin: That was super fun. And mmm for lots of tofu. Got closer with a lot of people and ate a lot of food. :] After it wasn't so great, but.. that's an experience I'll keep to myself. ^_^ :[

-- International Festival 2007. It was.. pretty much awesome. And I finally proved to people that.. I can sing. Hahaha. =] Luo Ye Gui Gen ftw.

-- YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT. 2007. (And all the preparation to that.)
This was the best thing EVER. Seriously, one of the best things that happened to me this year. Got so much closer with everybody, and particularly certain people. PS14 got passed into chamber, but err, ran out of time. So unfair. PH30 totally got PASSED AND SIGNED, so heckyes. :D Committee was domination, chamber was AWESOME, and YIG in general was just amazing. Haha except when Daisy & I got screwed over. But that's okay.. because YIG's amazingness totally overrode that. Too much to say about YIG, but I guess I can end it with one question: Hey! Do you wanna buy a Wong..?

-- North Meck 2007. Wasn't my best tournament, but it was a really fun time. Congress was so much fun. Got closer with my friends again, and learned a lot from it.

** Winter break's pretty much rocked too. :D

And the "specific" memories have been placed. So looking back, it seems like there have been so many good times. And there have. But for myself, I've learned a lot about myself and .. I've changed.

After. :D

Change. This year I've changed both physically and emotionally. I GOT MY BRACES OFF. FINALLY. And emotionally, I've bonded with people and I've like.. secured my "second soul." I've allowed people to learn about it, even though I haven't told them completely everything. But you know what? Screw being emo, because life's too short to dwell on all the crap you've been through. :D

And to the people that I've bonded with this year, especially recently: you guys mean the world to me. Some of you I didn't talk to much last year, but this year, we've become super close. Some who I've alerady been close with are even closer now. And I'm content and thankful for that.

Having a blog helps a lot too. Lets you express yourself and free yourself of all the burdens in your heart.

Music is something that frees me now. Haha, I love singing, piano and starting back violin. And soon guitar will get in there.

So 2007, this year will just be one strand in my memory.

Because next year is MY year. Hell yeah.

And of course, like last year's note, I have to add some lyric to this. Some Chinese one anyway. And let's go Wang Lee Hom style this year b/c he is my older brother after all..

一點點改變 / Little changes
有很大的差別/ Can make a big difference
你我的力量也能改變世界/ We also have the power to change the world
(ni wo de li liang ye neng gai bian shi jie)

This year, I know I've changed. To me, I feel like I've changed for the better. Thanks to my family. Thanks to my friends. Thanks to forensics, school, everything. Little things we do can make a difference. Little changes we can make can change the world. (Wow, this sounds like my oratory.)

Turning my back on 2007, because it's time for 2008.

Hell yeah.

New Year's Resolutions 2008:
Might as well write a few down here so I don't forget. But I have a huge list of goals I need to make and hopefully, I'll achieve each one.

+ To become closer with my family, my best friends, my friends, and myself.
+ To figure out who I am, what I want to do, and who I want to be.
+ To change in the direction that I want to become.
+ To qualify for Nationals. VEGAS'08. (More forensics ones of course.)
+ To meet Wang Lee Hom in Taiwan.
+ To make 2008 MY YEAR.

If you're tagged, it's because you're important to me. There's a tag limit though, so if you're not tagged, don't feel excluded.

"Oh, simple thing, where have you gone? I'm getting old and I need something to rely on."

- Gary Fan

Less than an hour and a half until the new year, so let's give 2007 a farewell, and welcome in the year of 2008!

HERE'S TO AN AMAZING YEAR:

2008.

To my blog-readers: you guys are AMAZING. Thanks for like.. listening to my rants and stuff. Some of you guys are the best friends. EVER.

This is my official last blog post of 2007. Wow.

- Gary

So happy new year everyone. :)

I'm bound to make 2008 my year. (Motto for 2008: Hell yeah.)