Different people live for different reasons: some eat to live, and others live to eat; some live for the fame, and others are content with staying under the radar. Each of us has a different ultimate goal in life, and we all want different things, but sometimes, it’s hard to know what the next step to take is when we don’t know the destination that we are aiming for.

When I was younger, I used to think that people my age would already know what they wanted in life, but now that I am actually here, I realise that I was sorely mistaken. Most of us are still a little lost at this point, stuck in the middle where we are supposed to act like adults but lack the experience to do so. And somehow, we are expected to make decisions that will affect us for the rest of our lives when we haven’t yet seen enough of the world to know what we want.

Then, there are those who already know where they are headed. It must be quite comforting to have a clear objective, but at the same time, I also wonder if they ever feel deprived of getting to make those difficult decisions that we have to. Even though decisions are hard, they are part of the beauty of growing up. And even though it‘s confusing, searching for what we truly want is rewarding when we do find it in the end.

We live and we learn; we make mistakes, and we grow from them. We have to search through both the familiar and unexpected, and hope to find what we are looking for. We have to let ourselves take chances and take on new opportunities so that a decade from now, we won’t regret having not looked harder.

This past Saturday, the Young Writers Awards Ceremony 2013 was held in Marriott, Putrajaya. It was my third year attending, and it was pretty awesome seeing my friends there - not just the ones I've met before, but also those whose articles I always read, but have never had the chance to meet before. It was also really fun seeing my friends win awards, hehe. :) The theme was The Lord of the Rings, and it was definitely interesting to see what everyone was wearing. Some interpreted it, and came in more "flowery" clothes, whilst some also came in full costume.

While I'm on the topic, I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to NST, and also the awesome people in the NiE unit, especially Aunty Mary. <3 I won for Best Cover Story, Best Survey Comment, and Best Columnist, and I feel really grateful. :) Writing for Niexter and SchoolTimes has taught me a lot of things, not least how to be a better writer, and also helped me make friends with some really cool people. :) Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be involved. <3

Coincidentally enough, I had two articles published yesterday. The first was my latest column article, and the second was in SchoolTimes' Occupations section, for which I interviewed a man in the pest-control industry.

Loyalty for one’s own country can be a very powerful thing. For the past few weeks, Lahad Datu has been involved in a bloody conflict, and facing the brunt of it are the Malaysian armed forces and civil servants, who have been placed in charge of defending our nation.

They have made, and are still, making tremendous sacrifices for the sake of their country. They have forsaken their own safety, putting their lives on the line to protect Malaysia. Their families too, have sacrificed a lot by letting go of the comfort of having their loved ones around, and this sacrificed is even deeper for the families of those who have died in battle. Even though nothing can lessen their loss, hopefully knowing that their loved ones did not die in vain will offer some degree of comfort.

The loyalty of these people for their country has driven them to make such an immense sacrifice, and it must be said that we should admire them for it. While we may not have to make such grave sacrifices, there are many things that we can, and should do for our country.

Different people have different ways of giving back to their nation. Some bring pride through sports (think Lee Chong Wei, and Nicol David), and others excel overseas to bring fame back to Malaysia (such as Jimmy Choo, and Yuna). Others choose to exert themselves academically, and prove themselves to be the brightest of young minds.

As students, we have a duty not just to ourselves and our parents, but also to our country to strive for knowledge and excellence. Our generation is the one that is going to lead the nation in the future, and the best thing we can do for Malaysia at this point of our lives is to prepare ourselves for this future – to equip ourselves with knowledge that will benefit our country, and enable ourselves to drive it forward.

Whichever way you choose to give back to Malaysia, be sure to put your all into it.

The KDU University College campus in Damansara Jaya was abuzz on the 7th of January, with students pouring in for orientation. The excitement of a brand new beginning, and the bittersweet farewell to secondary school hung thick in the air, in the midst of conversation, and nervous fiddling of the program sheet.

The emcee had us arrange ourselves according to our respective programs, and we started talking among ourselves. Even within the Pre-University group, there was still a wide variety of people, and among those were students taking the A-levels, AUSMAT, and the KDU foundation programs.

Soon, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Khong, welcomed us to KDU. Following a short speech, in which he shared with us a little about college life, he introduced some key people, including the heads of the schools. In came the head for the “most fun school in KDU,” also known as the Mass Communications school, the school for games development, and the culinary school. Of course, there was also the head of the Pre-University school, Dr. Todd Nelson. He introduced himself briefly, and came back later to sing “My Body Lies Over The Ocean” to loosen us up, making the boys and the girls alternate in standing up and sitting down at each ‘b’ sound. Think it’s easy? Well, let’s just say that the girls on my left stood up while the girls on my right sat down, and vice versa.

Now that we were a little bit more relaxed, they split us up again. Earlier on, they had pre-assigned us animals, and now, we had to find others of the same kind. The cats and dogs had it easy, as all they had to do was meow and bark. The kangaroos, on the other hand, had to hop. Eventually, I found my fellow bees. It was quite an amusing sight, with the entire auditorium filled with funny imitations of animal sounds and actions.

Once we had all been successfully grouped, the student volunteers (some of whom had just started going to KDU in 2012 and still had their own orientations fresh in their memories) came around. We had to construct something using some paper, and a hundred straws that symbolized the transition from secondary school into college and university.

There were quite a number of creative ideas, and an hour later, when it was time for the groups to present their creations, we got to see them all. Each group who got up onto the stage had to make a speech, and most of them spoke of how starting college symbolizes a sort of release – a new freedom that we didn’t have in secondary school.

After lunch, the rest of the afternoon was filled by a treasure hunt, where the students had to hunt around the school. All in all, it was definitely a really fun and interesting first day in KDU for all of us!