I don't know where to start. This year has been a year of firsts and a year of finding myself. I turned 16, which kind of made this year important; But as a 16 year-old, I've matured quite a bit and looking back, I've gained a whole lot of knowledge.

At the end of 2007, I made note that I was really indecisive about so many things. And at the end of 2008, I feel like I've improved on my resolve. I'm a lot more sure of my decisions, especially when it comes to females. I've met and made friends with a colorful cast of wonderful girls, ranging from hard-to-get's to easiy-read's, from down to earth, to up in space. I've been boyfriend, best friend, counselor, chauffeur, girl's volleyball team manager, that guy friend you call when there's a bad party to rescue you - I've witnessed a lot, and I guess I could call myself experienced, to an extent.

Month-by-Month.

January: Macbook air revealed at Macworld. I ended up being really lethargic. Procrastination still is probably my biggest problem. I began playing volleyball in a game setting, and I even wanted to play volleyball instead of homework, but I didn't have someone to pepper with. I got my permit and started driving! Wow I bought "Bang!" too. That ended up being one of the best investments of my teenage life.

It's funny seeing how things I wanted at the beginning of the year end up getting fufilled. I really wanted to get better at volleyball and find a partner to pepper with; At the end of the year, I met Momo. Who always wants to pepper and has really helped me improve. On a side note, I've been going to volleyball open gyms at school this week. I totally see an improvement in my play since last season. Peppering all the time with her has been one of the key reasons, I think, I've improved so much. I tried jump-setting today, and it turned out alright. I need to push the ball out more. Hearing about Pono's aptitude for volleyball has really made me want to get better. I'm kind of jealous to be honest. I wish I had the ability to vary jump-serves and jump-set well. Something to work towards in 2009.

FebruaryI still love the gossip that hangs around Valentine's Day. For me, I guess it's just been a day to chill and have fun with girls. Dress nice, be charming, and it's the only day where I'm able to be cheesy and corny and player-ish and get away with it. Any other day, and I'd feel like such a loser. Volleyball tryouts happened too. I realize that I was really cocky and thought I was the shit then. I guess I can see why people think I'm a knowitall or a show-off at times. I really didn't like the fact that the system of meritocracy had been overthrown, which would have been helpful to me. I had green tea ice cream for the very first time wth!?

March: I spent a lot of time wishing it was summer. Applied for Columbia rather than ATDP, which made me feel like I was betraying so many people. I spent a lot of time daydreaming of situations and scenarios that could happen like in Animes and movies, that could make my life so much more exciting and interesting. My birthday came and went fast, didn't really make much fuss about it. I remember feeling really happy when a few of my friends gave me balloons and presents. It almost never happens to me. More volleyball talk. It sucks to be on JV in general.

April: Wow, way to start April by getting a volleyball spiked in to my face. I guess I get really frustrated at people who can't show other people respect. Especially when it's crucial to getting things done. Wow I damaged my mom's bumper in April too. It doesn't seem that long ago. I started paying more attention to politics with all the Seniors talking about who they were going to vote for.

May: The guy who plays Take On Me with his hands still makes me laugh and smile. Watched "Iron Man", another movie in the Superhero movie trend that's swept pop culture. Took my first AP Tests! Calculus BC and Euro. Did pretty well, a 5 and a 4 respectively. That was probably the most stressful thing that month. I got accepted into Columbia's summer program and went to SF for an extremely high class dinner. I reconnected with a couple people that I'd seen around ATDP but never introduced myself too. They became my friends for the trip. I made a couple public speaking appearances, and looking back, I'm a pretty good public speaker. As much as I don't like talking in front of crowds, once I start talking, it kind of becomes natural, or at least that's what people say after I finish speaking.

June:Yearbook signing rush! It really is hard to be original when signing the many yearbooks of people that you know, and the people that you don't really hang out with. There might have been at most, 5 yearbooks that I actually put effort into writing in. The rest got these cynically connotated blurbs. I learned about dealing with emotions when they occur and resolving reoccurring problems through a guy's fellowship. Something else I learned about dealing with life. I like making not so serious speeches.

ATDP started! And I left for NYC. But before, I watched Wall-E with my best friend Mahnoosh for her birthday, plus I wanted to chill with her before I left. I also surprised Tomoyo for her birthday with cake during the Japanese 3 class. The random acts of "overdoing it" I do for girls....

July: My Macbook died on me! Thank goodness I sort of knew my way around NY haha. Classes at Columbia weren't interesting, so I guess I met a girl named Stella to make it fun. She's the only Stella I know now, and whenever I hear Stella or the word stellar, I get pleasantly surprised. Recently, I heard the "Zephyr Song" by RHCP and Stella is in the lyrics. I went to my first movie premiere: "The Dark Knight" the most hyped movie of the year imo. I watched it when I came back from NY.

I came back from NY missing people and feeling out of the loop with friends at home. I feel like it's so tough to keep in touch with people who live far away or you never really got to know well. This was when I started to really want to change styles. I started listening to more hip-hop and R&B thanks to Stella, and being bored at home I started looking at new clothes.

August I was sooooo bored this month. Time either passed too fast or too slow. I went to Houston and bought clothes that began the change in style. The Beijing Olympics! Michael Phelps and 8 gold medals. I never knew that so many of my friends were obsessed with him.

School started. And lucky me, Junior year ended up being an easy year for me schedule wise. The school had some scheduling issues, but it didn't really affect me. Boo for standing in hour long counselor lines. My and the realization that I'm basically free to go anywhere. Met Momo, who would become quite the important person this school year. She hell of influenced the music I listen to now. The first few weeks of school would be my experimenting with a new style of dress that was more preppy.

The "4 R's": Responsibility, Remorse, Restitution and Forgiveness. This month was a test of my ability to stick by my decisions and resolve conflict. Looking back, I acted more and more like I had all the answers this month. I wanted to help so badly that I was blind to the faults in my own logic. On a different note, I finally busted out the glides and pops on the dance floor. Months of "omg you dance?" and awkward moments when people caught me idly practicing culminated into one night of birthday party dance floor fever. At the end of the month, one weird analogy about how my life was working.

November: Confusion as to what was going on. Am I helping? It looked like things were getting better. Barack Obama got elected president, and I tried to explain my ambivalence or apathy when it came to politics and Prop 8. There is more than one way to look at anything, and most of the time I see all the different points of view and can't decide my own. Or I lose my point of view once another one comes along that makes mine seem inferior in logic.

I came to God a lot more often for help in getting through the day. This was probably the month that I needed his guidance the most. And I got guidance and I was able to help others. Or so I thought. I was revealed the word "empathy" by Lloyd. Strange how I knew that word was there, but I never really saw how that word exactly defined how I was dealing with emotions and other people. It became the word I used most often to describe motivations and emotions for the next weeks.

December: I basically got owned by my need to be right. I couldn't decide what was more important. And being right and having to be right about almost everything almost destroyed a friendship. Ended up that I tried to hard to help and that in the end, I pointed out problems more than help to find solutions. It was still awkward knowing that I probably had the better understanding of the situation but I couldn't think of a way to present it without imposing on the feelings of others.

Christmas came and went, and now I'm looking forward to the New Year! My tastes in music has changed. From Soundtracks and J-whatever to Alternative, R&B, Hip-hop, and Electronic. It's become more mainstreamish. I've learned a lot about how I really love to help others and be able to give advice, and I've learned the limits to my own ability. I don't know everything, even though I do come off as though I'm omniscient. I do ridiculously nice things for girls, and sometimes I wish I could be more mean, just to throw some variety in my appearance.

Who knew that by having one person show up in my life, she'd be able to make the school year a complete roller coaster ride. Full of highs and lows, and full of discoveries of my own abilities and limitations.

2008 was a great year for me. I hope that 2009 holds more of the same.