Posted on

2014 Reflections

It’s the time of the year where people will start posting on their reflections 2014 and/or resolutions for 2015.

Being an irregular blogger over these 2 years, I can’t remember if I did anything similar in 2013. Goes to show how irregular I’ve been blogging! (edit: I found a Goodbye 2013 post!)

Looking back, 2014 was eventful. Earlier this year, I wished for the ability to continue flipping the book. Though I didn’t get the opportunity to continue flipping, things were good while it lasted. 🙂

Earlier in the year, I started classes on classical guitar. Music has always been a passion. Guitar wasn’t the first instrument I wanted to learn (piano is!), it is an instrument that I think is easier to bring around when the occasion rises. 10 months now and I’m getting ready to take Grade 3 LCM Practical exam in April 2015! Prepared to fail but I’ll still try my best.

2014 was also a year of a few trips. As Jiawen was on an exchange at Bath (a 2 hours bus ride from London) in the first half of the year, 2 cousins (Jiayun & Wanxin) decided to make a trip to UK/Europe before Jiawen comes back in July (the main agenda of the trip was to help Jiawen bring her stuff back). Itinerary for this trip included London / Bath, Germany (Berlin / Munich) and Switzerland (Zurich / Lucerne / Jungfrau). We purposely included Germany because Leemei (another cousin of ours) is living in Berlin and we’ve not seen her since CNY! And I thought we can save a bit on accommodation if we bunk in at her place. hehehe 😛

I’ve yet sorted out the photos (procrastination wins), but the browsing of the photos is enough to make me want to go back again! Goal for 2016 perhaps?

That was the highlight of the year which happened in end May / June.

And in July, I was overseas again! Went to Malacca with J-Kai & his sister. This time round (I went Malacca with J-Kai & Jem in 2013 too), we covered new places that included the Peranakan Museum and popular eateries that were strongly recommended.

Sometime in August, there was a decision made to take on a 3-year gym membership with True Fitness. Few weeks later, I made the swop to become their lifetime member. To-date, I have been going for their classes regularly (grateful for the companion of my zumba khaki!). No regrets so far!

November was where I went Langkawi for the first time. It was also the first time I went overseas with my parents and the extended family via plane! Knowing how much I love kids, this trip allowed me to have some bonding with the 3 year old nephew and 7 month old niece.

It was also a month where I bought my own bowling ball. Thanks to peer influence of the colleagues.

In Dec, I went on to take up the (self-issued) challenge of running 10km at Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore. Despite not having done any training since the registration in Aug (I think), I still managed to clock 1:33:56 (compared to the last run in 2012 – which was also my first attempt – at 1:35:xx). Slight improvement in timing and I felt less lethargic after the run compared to 2 years ago. I guess the regular zumba classes helped!

As I did some searching on blog posts on resolutions for the past years, the one posted in 2013 for the summary of 2011/2012 sounded very sad. As I read the summary, I felt sorry for myself for not making the right decision earlier. The me now is definitely much healthier and happier! Whatever that had been killed in 2011/2012 are all coming back – photography, blogging (still not regular but at least better?). I love my current life! 🙂

Resolutions

I vaguely remembered I wanted to have some resolutions this time last year, but I think I didn’t jot it down because I knew that I wasn’t going to fulfil it/them. When I read that post in 2013, I realised that the resolutions listed there weren’t fulfilled (yes NONE at all!). So this year, I thought I’ll put some wants / wishes that I hope I can fulfil this year. Note the keyword – HOPE.

First on the list will be the driving license. It has been on my list since university days. I think I want to strike it off the list while I still can.

I also wish to have a highlight trip of the year. The HKG trip in Jan has been confirmed. Tentative plan for other trips are Penang in March, Bandung in June, New Zealand in Dec.

I don’t think I will have time for my language classes this year, especially if I want to continue with my guitar classes. But if time permits, I would like to resume either Japanese or Korean class. I can’t decide which one I prefer. Or I might want to pick up a new language. German perhaps?

Overall, 2014 was good. It was definitely better than 2010 – 2012 combined. I’m hoping 2015 will be awesomer!

Posted on

2012 and resolutions for 2013

Every start of the year since 2010, I’ve been wanting to do a summary of the year post. Busyness took over the thought of it, unfortunately.

I had a post in 2010, summarising the year 2009. Couldn’t remember why it remained as draft. I should just publish the post, for the content reminded me why I loved social media back then, and how much fun I had. It also reminded me why I loved my job.

So I came up with a determination to do a summary for 2012/2011, despite it being mid-February-2013 now. Better late than never!

2009, in summary, was a year I got introduced to social media as a blogger.

2010, in summary, was a year I had LOTS of fun being a blogger.

2011 was a year I learnt how to play politics, simply because I was a victim and I needed to get out of it. Nevertheless, it was also a year I went on my first plane trip (to Korea!) and also my first business trip (which was my first solo plane trip too!). Also the year where I got posted to HK for work for several months. It was a tough 2nd-half year, with a work-project that had a steep learning curve. But I had fun due to the many firsts. First time experiencing winter, first time being away from home for such a long time.. And it’s also when I had to disappear from the blogging scene ‘coz I was far away from homeland..

2012. A year of ups and downs. The overseas posting worn me out. What came in multiples – politics, arrows. What came in negatives – sleep, enjoyment, passion. The year was very tough at work, with the multiples that came and the negatives that I didn’t have. Whatever passion I had was killed this year – passion towards work, passion towards social media, passion towards blogging, passion towards photography. All killed by the word “work”. No I’m not kidding. It was that bad. 2012 was a year I lost my passion for everything. I became a 行尸走肉 (corpse that walked) – everything I did was done by routine, it was done simply because it had to be done. There was no life injected in what was done.

There were a few takeaways for the year though!

  • Completed my first Standard Chartered 10km run walk!
  • Made so many plane trips that I”m very familiar with airport procedures, both in HKG & SIN
  • Got very familiar with 3-char country codes due to the nature of the project
  • Despite the many plane trips, the passport remained empty coz I used the express queue for residents (which is something that I missed!)
  • Made some good friends in HK!
  • Made a virgin trip to Taiwan!

And that pretty much sums up 2012.

Every start of the year since 2010, I’ve been also wanting to do a resolution for the new year post. “Resolutions don’t work for me” won the thought, unfortunately.

This year, however, I decided to set some goals for myself to achieve. Reachable goals.

  • Have a more balanced work-life (which I have already achieved by making the first step of throwing the white letter)
  • Take TOPIK exam (Korean)
  • Take JLPT N4
  • Take a good break and let the body recuperate (Planta Facitiis is back to haunt me after so many years)
  • Revive some passion for photography & blogging!

Will these goals be reached? We shall see my determination!

The next immediate thing that I need to do.. is to start processing those photos that I have taken over the past years and upload them..