MAIN » ARTICLESTwo Thousand and Three (A Personal View)
I write this sitting from the comfort of my room as the end of another year looms on the horizon. Its not going to be like this anymore – this will be the last year where routine is as has been for 17 years already, and we will soon depart of differing adventures in our lives. I had one of my now customary ‘thinking sessions’ just now and realised just how much of a year it has been, both personally for me and for the people I know.
The year started as any normally do, with a small gathering of people crammed into three small rooms in Pandy’s house, another alcohol fuelled LAN well underway. If I remember rightly, Counter-Strike made us forget when the clock hit 12, and it was at this point Grant had his head in a bucket while the rest of us sat nearby. This was to be one of the last LAN’s – they now seemly have appeared to dry up and not content with just sipping the delights of alcohol, we now indulge richly to entertain ourselves.
This brings me onto the social aspect of the year which is one of the biggest parts of this year for me. The amount of new people I have had the pleasure to meet, the social outings with friends from both school and work have helped me grow in confidence and have made me realise just what I have been missing out on by being a social hermit. The large amounts of gatherings out of school, particularly at parties have only aided this and have made me really enjoy the last year we will all spend together as a set of friends. I just hope that there will be many more to come and with everyone hitting the big ‘18’ and the dawn of a new year just a few weeks away parties should be aplenty. Please someone hold one just so we can see another ‘Rusty Drunken Moment’ – definitely a highlight of the year. I am lucky to have two brilliant but totally different sets of friends something which only began to materialise of late. I just reminisced by taking a look at various picture galleries and there have been many more outings than I had previously remembered. My alcohol consumption this year was about ten times that of a normal year – that’s got to say something.
Despite the good there have also been the bad this year. My low point of the year has been my under achievement in exams. It hit me hard due to the fact complacency set in around exam time and my inability to care (probably called laziness) did not aid matters. I now face the prospect of retakes but like all things I aim to learn and not repeat. School ends in little over 6 months and after 13/14 years in education that’s it. The school system will be a memory. It reminds me very much of a scene from the Shawshank Redemption. The character played by Morgan Freeman, a convict imprisoned for 30 years finally is set free. It was all he ever wanted, but the moment he left through the gates he was alone. Not knowing what direction to take, what to do with the remainder of his life. Roads to the left and right went different courses and it was there and then the realisation set in that his friends from the inside were still there, and he was alone. I am not saying that when school ends come June 2004 we will all be alone, but the convenience of being able to socialise on an everyday basis will be lost and it will be more of an effort to keep in contact. For a lot of us this will not necessarily be that much of a choice, as university takes us under its wings and distributes us in different places around the country for 3 years. Again life will seemingly have to restart with a new found independence and less reliance on others. This has been something on my mind for the latter part of this year as I have been applying for university, and finally getting my life on track. Part of me wants to move on and do what is necessary to live comfortably later in life, but part of me is dreading leaving friends, family and girlfriend. Sometimes I wonder whether I left living my childhood a little late – either way there is little that can be done now.
I touched briefly on growing up, and it is something we have all done. Recently through wandering down to the lower school it is obvious to me just how we have been forced to grow up in the last 18 months and just how well we have done at it. Goals I have set myself I have more or less achieved. 2003 was the year I really experienced love, maybe on differing levels and in very different situations, but now I am happy and I hope that things continue to go well and last. It has also happened to other people on much larger scale. What I have jokingly called the ‘mating season’ (the last 3 months or so) have seen numerous relationships forming and people being more happy than I have seen them for some time. This is nice to see, and I am happy that I can at last be a part of it. Long may it continue as the New Year comes in.
The remainder of this year is going to be an exciting one for sure. My birthday is just before Christmas where I turn eighteen, followed by Christmas itself, a driving test and the New Year. Let’s make 2003 go out with a bang, it’s been a hectic year.
Written by T. Bevan
The year started as any normally do, with a small gathering of people crammed into three small rooms in Pandy’s house, another alcohol fuelled LAN well underway. If I remember rightly, Counter-Strike made us forget when the clock hit 12, and it was at this point Grant had his head in a bucket while the rest of us sat nearby. This was to be one of the last LAN’s – they now seemly have appeared to dry up and not content with just sipping the delights of alcohol, we now indulge richly to entertain ourselves.
This brings me onto the social aspect of the year which is one of the biggest parts of this year for me. The amount of new people I have had the pleasure to meet, the social outings with friends from both school and work have helped me grow in confidence and have made me realise just what I have been missing out on by being a social hermit. The large amounts of gatherings out of school, particularly at parties have only aided this and have made me really enjoy the last year we will all spend together as a set of friends. I just hope that there will be many more to come and with everyone hitting the big ‘18’ and the dawn of a new year just a few weeks away parties should be aplenty. Please someone hold one just so we can see another ‘Rusty Drunken Moment’ – definitely a highlight of the year. I am lucky to have two brilliant but totally different sets of friends something which only began to materialise of late. I just reminisced by taking a look at various picture galleries and there have been many more outings than I had previously remembered. My alcohol consumption this year was about ten times that of a normal year – that’s got to say something.
Despite the good there have also been the bad this year. My low point of the year has been my under achievement in exams. It hit me hard due to the fact complacency set in around exam time and my inability to care (probably called laziness) did not aid matters. I now face the prospect of retakes but like all things I aim to learn and not repeat. School ends in little over 6 months and after 13/14 years in education that’s it. The school system will be a memory. It reminds me very much of a scene from the Shawshank Redemption. The character played by Morgan Freeman, a convict imprisoned for 30 years finally is set free. It was all he ever wanted, but the moment he left through the gates he was alone. Not knowing what direction to take, what to do with the remainder of his life. Roads to the left and right went different courses and it was there and then the realisation set in that his friends from the inside were still there, and he was alone. I am not saying that when school ends come June 2004 we will all be alone, but the convenience of being able to socialise on an everyday basis will be lost and it will be more of an effort to keep in contact. For a lot of us this will not necessarily be that much of a choice, as university takes us under its wings and distributes us in different places around the country for 3 years. Again life will seemingly have to restart with a new found independence and less reliance on others. This has been something on my mind for the latter part of this year as I have been applying for university, and finally getting my life on track. Part of me wants to move on and do what is necessary to live comfortably later in life, but part of me is dreading leaving friends, family and girlfriend. Sometimes I wonder whether I left living my childhood a little late – either way there is little that can be done now.
I touched briefly on growing up, and it is something we have all done. Recently through wandering down to the lower school it is obvious to me just how we have been forced to grow up in the last 18 months and just how well we have done at it. Goals I have set myself I have more or less achieved. 2003 was the year I really experienced love, maybe on differing levels and in very different situations, but now I am happy and I hope that things continue to go well and last. It has also happened to other people on much larger scale. What I have jokingly called the ‘mating season’ (the last 3 months or so) have seen numerous relationships forming and people being more happy than I have seen them for some time. This is nice to see, and I am happy that I can at last be a part of it. Long may it continue as the New Year comes in.
The remainder of this year is going to be an exciting one for sure. My birthday is just before Christmas where I turn eighteen, followed by Christmas itself, a driving test and the New Year. Let’s make 2003 go out with a bang, it’s been a hectic year.
Written by T. Bevan