HELLO THERE

My god, it's been a long time. Young Darius had no idea what was coming to him. It's the year 2023 now, a good 13 years since my last post, it is now Monday, the 19th of June. Let's catch everyone up, shall we?

Let's begin with 2010, it was a wild year for Darius. Sometime around October, he was cast as the male lead for a school musical! Kiddo was ecstatic, and really poured his heart and soul into his rehearsals and performance. All in all, it was a great time and he was clearly talented with stage work. Alas, it was not something he pursued. He ended the year by choosing his specialization subjects and opted for the pure science option that his school offered: Physics and Chemistry. This was also the year that he struck a bargain with his dad, qualifying for his opted specialization subjects and he would be rewarded with the new Xbox 360 Kinect. Let's just say, he's still proud of the day he marathoned 24 hours playing that thing during the school holidays. 

2011 was quite uneventful compared to 2010. Unfortunately, the fame got to him and he lost his way for a while but which teenager really knew who they were back then? He eventually "woke up" and straightened out his behavior again. There was one event that occurred that was exciting, his school's participation in that year's National Day Parade! He was a "pixel" in a human LED screen. Pretty exciting stuff!

2012, the year of Darius' 'O' level examinations. Poor chap didn't study hard enough but I must admit, his results? NOT TOO SHABBY. Proudly achieving an A2 in English and an A1 in E-math. Gotta say, well done! Definitely not amazing by any measurement but he's pretty happy with it. Naturally, this meant it was time to choose his next path: JC or Poly. 

2013, he stood nervously on the steps of Temasek Polytechnic, wondering whether he made the right choice. Coincidentally, this was also the year that he moved in with his grandmother, Nai Nai as her home was directly across the street from his new educational institute. Just as regular students suffer, so too did Darius suffer from fitting in. Winning an Xbox from a Dance Central competition in his second month of matriculation was not exactly the best way to do so. Well, at least he got a second Xbox, which he sold!

2014 came along and Darius joined his course committee as a Chief Liaison Officer! It's just a fancy term for a town crier. He was now responsible for disseminating official information about events and decisions made by the committee. 

2015 was quite the year for the young man. His results were not doing very well, achieving a 3.57 GPA that went downhill from there was not something a committee member was expected to do. Fortunately, Darius had the sense to start taking charge of his own learning and decided not to rerun for his course committee for a second year. It did not exactly save his results but it did stop going down! This was also the year where he went for an internship and of course, the young fool applied to fly as a cabin crew for Scoot Airlines where he was instantly rejected for god knows what reason. Devastated, he looked for other options and decided that if he could not choose the route of glamour, he will tread on the path of money. Choosing the highest paying role, Darius applied to be an airline representative for Cathay Pacific Airways (he suspects that his ability to speak Cantonese helped give him the edge)! It was a great 6 months learning from his mentor, Helene who had a great and wealthy amount of experience. While going through his internship Darius was also getting busy and started dating an old secondary school friend...

2016 was Darius' final year at Temasek Poly. After completing his internship and major project (achieving an A), Darius now had to choose a specialization again: Airline and Airport Operations or Aeronautical Science. Considering his application for AMS was fueled by his desire to be a pilot, the aeronautical science route was the choice to be made. He did choose to do so and he did fairly decently. It was quite uneventful but he eventually graduated! Congratulations Darius! This was a long year for Darius with three milestones, graduation, earning his driver's license, and enlistment. Not long after receiving his Diploma, Darius received his letter for conscription. Oct 4th was his enlistment date, unfortunately, this was 2 days before his first anniversary with his dearly beloved. But they promised one another that their love would endure.

2017 was a blurry year, Darius completed his Basic Military Training and was chosen to continue into the Officer Cadet School! In the first week of OCS, they would extend invitations to all cadets to sign on and Darius very graciously did so. Unfortunately, so did a great many people and eventually, only a hand full of people had their contracts passed, Darius was not one of them. Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise but salty, he remained. This feeling eventually passed as his commissioning date arrived! Chosen to be the contingent commander of his contingent, he wielded his sword with pride and led his contingent through the parade.

2018 was the year of ORD! It was also the year Darius started to panic and worry about University. Facing rejection after rejection by local universities, Darius wondered if he should even be wasting time with it. His girlfriend's encouragement led him to eventually enroll in Murdoch University at Kaplan! 

2019 began Darius' journey through his final education phase. As a partner to a part-time student, Darius ensured to remain as supportive and encouraging as he could to his girlfriend as well. A truly uneventful year but blessedly so.

2020 was the final year of his University life. Truthfully, he could have gotten much better results if he was not so hooked up on Magic the Gathering but he eventually graduated with his double degree! Tragedy struck as COVID was introduced to the world. In one fell swoop, one degree was rendered useless, and with the economy in shambles, so too was his second degree. But one thing remained his rock, his ever-supportive partner-in-crime. 

2021, Darius' first-time job hunting as a fully grown human with maxed-out stats. The world was his oyster, and he was the grain of sand waiting to be polished. After months of applications and interviews, Darius eventually received his first offer in May! To be a Focus Adventure Facilitator. This role meant leading team-building activities and programs, a role he was extremely comfortable with! Excited to begin, an additional plus point being that his office was in the center of Sentosa. Alas, the excitement was short-lived as he started dedicating weekends to running Kayaking programs out at sea which meant that he was required to leave home at 5am just to get to work and return home only at 3pm. Deciding that this was not a part of his job description, Darius gave up on this role 2 months after. Shortly after, his sister informed him that her tuition company was looking for a person to manage and run the Tampines branch. Skeptical, he accepted the role and agreed with himself that he was only going to stay for a year and move on.

2022 went by in a blur, settling into his new company and impressing his bosses, a promotion was on the horizon for him if he agrees to stay until Jan 2023. Uncertain but afraid, Darius stayed and achieved his promotion and pay raise

2023, was the best year of Darius' life. He had been employed for a little over a year and was doing well. It was time and Darius finally popped the question to the best friend he ever had. The month is June, and Darius is now an engaged man.

Crazy summary huh? Lots of details were missed of course, but how's that for a quick recap? Until next time!

P.S. he did not do well in that Water Venture competition but KHR is still awesome but the anime was never completed.