Wrapping up 2019
Hello to my first blog post in forever (Carol don’t kill me pls >_<) and alas it’s the last day in 2019… Well I decided to summarise my year in 1 friggin’ blog post because 2019 has not been kind to me. But anyhow let’s hope you’ll get through the huge picture spam and see how my year turned out 😆
The year started out pretty decently - I graduated officially and even though I wasn’t in Sheffield to celebrate this happy occasion due to work commitments (and $$ also la tbh) my friends and I went out to celebrate in style at Atlas Bar. And then together with the GZBs, I attended BTS’ Love Yourself Concert Tour at National Stadium - which has shitty sound system btw wtf - where we awkwardly waved our super old ARMY Bomb cos we were too stingy to purchase Ver 3. that could sync together with the concert effects cos it cost SGD50++ 😂😂
“Je t’aime plus qu’hier moins que demain”
Chinese New Year
Year of the Pig
February
Was still living my life pretty vicariously through work, gym and my social life. Wasn’t feeling that motivated at work because I was in limbo but thinking back those days were da best 😭😭 Took an Artsynibs Modern Calligraphy Workshop with the partner in crime and I loved how almost a year ago I was in Manchester’s Northern Quarter taking her Brush Calligraphy Workshop. I should really get into practising my writing heh (gonna add it into my 2020 New Year’s resolutions 😆) before shit hit the roof in March where I got tasked with a new portfolio and that was the beginning of my professional nightmare.
Anyway, I did manage to steal a getaway to Shanghai at the beginning of this nightmare - the irony because it was the beginning of several trips to +86 meh.
Shanghai 你好！
Hidaya, Carol and I headed to Shanghai in mid-April over the Easter holidays. Well Carol crashed our trip and that was the first of a few trips that she did that (and I’m really beginning to see a pattern here woman lol 😂). Shanghai Disneyland was amazing because of the rides (Tron and Pirates of the Caribbean are must-takes!) and it was fun to be with my fellow Disney fan Hidaya who truly understood the magic of Disney.
Yu Garden
Staycation with the GZBs
And for the life of me I cannot recall when we went for this staycation but the GZBs and I did a 2D1N staycation at Studio M over one weekend. It was pretty fun drinking and playing card games at night, chatting about life because all of us are so caught up with our daily activities.
The bff, Stella and I even headed over to Sentosa the next day to play VR games at Headrock VR because we had always wanted to go and try since we heard Seungri from Big Bang is one of the owners and we were afraid that it’d soon close down after his scandal broke 😂😂😂 And as of Dec 2019, the place is still in operation so I guess it’s still surviving heh.
It was 5 days of eating and taking a ton of pictures in a country that wasn’t on the top of my vacation list but I had a blast because of my companions. I had been to Shanghai before about 4 years ago but was just a passerby because I arrived through the city to head to my work place which is located elsewhere in the Mainland so I hadn’t properly been acquainted with Shanghai.
Here’s the official list of places we visited whilst in Shanghai as first-timers!
Shanghai Disneyland - we stayed at the Toy Story Hotel and gained early access into the parks wohoo!
Nanjing East Road - had Haidilao, Nayuki and did some light shopping there
Yu Garden
Zhujiajiao - did a half day trip out after visiting Yu Garden in the morning and it was full of rustic charm. Highly recommend to go!
Oriental Pearl Tower - went in the night and while it was mad crowded with people the view was really beautiful.
The Bund
Staycation with the GZBs at Studio M
Goodbye Merlion
“I’m turning 30 years old this year it’s better than 20, I’ll tell you that. The lessons I’ve learned.”
In between all the work trips abroad, tons of meetings, several days of overtime on weekdays and weekends, I managed to organise my 30th birthday in a span of 3 weeks - at Mcdonald’s no less 😂😂😂.
Turning 30
Long story short - I had always wanted to have a Mcdonald’s party when I was younger but my mother being her didn’t want to organise one for me so I could only look on enviously at friends and relatives who celebrated their birthdays at Mcdonald’s and had Ronald Mcdonald appear at their parties! So I decided to throw one for my 30th because other than the fact that I had to change my identity card this year I wanted it to be special. Managed to find an outlet last minute and invited only immediate family, colleagues and close friends! Thanks for fulfilling my lifelong dream of having a Mcdonald’s party Mummy!
Went on a short trip to Bintan with Carol the next day for an overnight stay and that was pretty much how I celebrated my big 30 - with my loved ones :)
Remember how I mentioned earlier on that I was flying to China non-stop the past year for work purposes? I never liked any of them because they were just so dreadful. Thankfully on one of the trips, my partner in crime was finally in Shanghai for work too and I flew over earlier to entertain her over the weekend before embarking on my work trip! I pretty took a red-eye flight on Friday and landed early Saturday morning, crashing out until about 12pm before heading out with Carol and exploring Shanghai once more.
Arabica was one of the coffee joints I wanted to try (they weren’t in Singapore then) so that was on my to-try list in Shanghai along with my favourite food of all time - hotpot! In that week we had hotpot 2 times xD Shanghai definitely seemed much better on that trip and I was able to discover its charm once more. We had drinks at a rooftop bar on the first night where I arrived and the view was so amazing, definitely one of the highlights of my Chinese escapades this year!
I love their Spanish latte but they are just so darn expensive &@(&#(@&#()&@$()&@&$()@
Korea Trip
#Annyeong30
And in between all the work shenanigans, the GZBs and I went to Korea for our big 30 trip at the end of Sept till mid Oct! And yup, Carol crashed this trip in the second leg lolololol. Hopefully I will be doing up individual posts for this Korea trip because we did so many stuff although it wouldn’t be as detailed as my old travelogue posts but… let’s see when I get down to it >_<
Here’s a list of the places we visited:
Jeju
Daejeon
Jeonju
Busan
Seoul
And at the end of October, I did one of the most drastic decisions ever in my life thus far - I decided to resign from my job. It wasn’t an easy decision but now almost 2 months later I have not regretted the decision to leave even without lining up another job. Any sane person reading this would have called me crazy for doing so however I will keep the exact reasons of what happened private (although my family and close friends all know of my reasons and I’m grateful for the support rendered thus far!).
In 2019 I definitely learned to be better to myself, to place my emotional and physical needs a priority because I was so drained from all the toxic people in my workplace. When I found myself crying almost every week at work from work stress and sheer desperation, I knew it was high time to call it quits. Quitting this job isn’t me being a coward and running away from my responsibilities, it is me being kind to myself and putting my happiness and health above everything else. Anyhow, I’m now #funemployed and just enjoying my time at home or running errands everywhere and I’m loving it . At some point I definitely have to head back to the workforce but I’ll relish all this freedom for now and think of it later 😆.
“Self-care is taking all the pressures you are facing right now, and deciding to which you will respond, and how.”
My first Our Second nature purchase!
I’ve been having a ball of time meeting up with friends in the daytime and also adopting a somewhat healthier lifestyle by attending dance and exercise classes starting in December. While the weighing scale numbers still scare the hell outta me, I’m just gonna continue the classes because it made me remember how much I loved working out in the past before that nightmare called work took over my entire being.
This year also saw me attending alot of fun and artsy activities like going to concerts, musicals and the Disney: Magic of Animation exhibition which I went with Hidaya. Managed to catch 1 musical each quarter (Matilda, The Phantom of the Opera, Aladdin and Cats) and 2 Mandopop concerts in December (Eric Chou & JJ Lin). Cannot wait for Jay Chou’s concert during the first week of Jan 😆😆😆
Anyway, as the new year beckons, I want to take this time to show gratitude to all my friends and family who have been a steady presence in my life the past year. Even though we all had our own personal struggles throughout the past year, let’s only remember the happy moments and leave all the bad ones behind! Thank you God for showing me immense love as I struggled through 2019, may you shower me with continuous faith and hope in 2020 and walk with me in this journey. And to whoever is reading this, be kinder to yourself in 2020 because you are your own happiness :) See you all in the new decade!
Xmas with the GZBs
Annual Xmas gatherings with the Gossip Girls and partners - welcome baby Kaylene!
