The year was 2004. My freshman year in college. Cornell University. Ithaca. A college town in upstate New York that I could not place on a map then. That I still cannot place on a map now.

FRIENDS would screen its last episode after a ten season run. A real cultural event. People gathered to watch, cry, say goodbye. To Ross, Rachel, Joey, Phoebe, Monica and Chandler.

The US would admit that there were no weapons of mass destruction to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Bush would still beat Kerry to gain a second term. Students cried foul in Cornell. We were in the solidly blue state of New York after all.

Britney Spears would get married twice in 2004. The first marriage lasted only 55 hours. Neither marriage would be to Justin Timberlake, her one time love. Justin would cause Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction later that year. The jury remains out on whether it was a publicity stunt.

It was my first time away from home. Like really away from home. Half the world, twelve time zones away.

I stuck a poster of Elva Hsiao on my side of the shared dorm room. Next to a preciously procured poster of Noriko Sakai. My Ichiban. I look out my large almost floor to ceiling dorm room window. The buildings were modern like in Singapore, but the nature surrounding the buildings was different.

Familiar, yet unfamiliar. 2004 was that type of year.