I'm clearly resisting the temptation here to write about more recent stuffs, my daily life, etc but ok let's not. Might add a bit about those at the end, but who knows. Alright, so now I shall begin digging into my memory:
January - This is clearly not easy. I just opened my phone gallery to see pictures from back then haha. And I found that it's my first time going for a "picnic" with my friend. Except that we bought a cheap bathtub curtain from Daiso to use as mat and bought takeout sushi rather than preparing the food ourselves. We were strolling around the Botanic Garden before settling, so by that time we're both quite tired. Still it's quite a pleasant day because there were so many families with kids, pets, all having fun. We also got to witness a feud between two (or three?) cocks fighting for a chick and one of them even flew across the field.
February - A happy month! As usual I went back to Medan for CNY and to be honest.. I think I dressed pretty bad for the first day. I didn't have much time to shop so I bought a light blue striped shirt from Uniqlo. I'm totally not dissing the store here (it's my go-to place to buy clothes) but just felt that I've chosen material and color that don't fit me that well. Also, I was planning to pair it with a short pants to create a more casual look, but realized later that hmmmm those two piece of clothing really ain't made for each other. It left me feeling quite self aware most of the time 🙃 until I decided to change to t-shirt after house touring was finished.
Those who know will know the other reason why February is a nice month to remember. Not talking about Valentine's day.. although that was nice too! My friend and I decided that we've spent a lot during the Christmas holiday, so instead of buying fancy gifts, we bought each other the cute bears from We Bare Bears :3 also, we had dinner at this cafe/pub around Tanjong Pagar and I remember they have awesome tomyum pasta! Too bad now I can't remember the name.. shall find out later.
March - Ayyyy it's my birthday. My friend gave me a diy 3D printed cute lil robot which is now placed on my desk (haven't seen it for a while since working from home 😔) and we went to this place called Riders Cafe for lunch. I like the chill pleasant vibe that it has, and just beside the cafe there are horses hanging out on the grass field. Oh also, I was quite happy that my housemate and colleague baked me a cake! Carrot cake and rainbow cake if I'm not mistaken..
*and OOPSSS now it's May 11 already! At this rate I'm guessing the whole recap will finish mid of the year*
April - Nothing quite notable happened last April tho?? I went to Singapore Open badminton tournament with a few friends but it was not as exciting as the previous years. Mainly because the security really tightened and people can only seat at their designated seat number (it used to be okay to move literally anywhere but the VIP section) and basically it means we couldn't even say hi to our favourite players :( I was considering whether to go to the next year's event, but ended up not having to make that decision at all - because corona.
May - My friend and I went to the Universal Studios! I can't remember exactly but it must be fun, because we both hadn't been there for soooo long. And somehow they had fireworks on weekend nights, which is nice ✨ mid of the month was quite special as well, because I went on my first business trip ever :D We're doing user interview and usability testing in Jakarta, Indonesia and it's fun because there were some Taiwan colleagues joining (I have soft spots for Taiwanese, don't know why). Besides the thrill of seeing people using your product and giving their feedback live, the preparation, collab with different parties, and team dinners were highlights of the trip too. Also, it was my first time becoming a moderator for interview session and trying Indo style massage. On our last day in Jakarta, our work's settled by afternoon so I got to meet my high school friends who are staying there. We took multiple Gojek trips (to Kota Tua, aksara, and a random fancy donut cafe) and spent the night at a friend's house, playing card games and order LOTS of food. It was reallllll fun! Oh and I went back to Medan (no special occasion) right after the trip~
June - I got my first promotion ever 😁 I have been working for exactly one year at this point, so it's certainly a happy occasion, although I realized that my responsibility immediately increased haha (my direct manager expressed his expectation very directly). Usually, I would buy myself a watch when there's a milestone. But at that time I think I've just bought one not long ago, so I bought sneakers instead. It's quite a good buy because honestly I think they look dope and my old white sneakers are breaking apart. I also went through my phone gallery again, and saw photos of the first time my friend and I cook proper food together. It was fried udon, with certain sauces that made it nice... ok maybe it's very obvious now that mostly I just helped out hahaha. Or being a burden. Anyway, I think it's a really nice thing to cook with someone you love. I hope we can do it again after this circuit breaker ends (yup putting a link there so that I won't forget what the hell CB is many years to come)
July - Korea Trip!! I write a whole post about it so here you goooo. But besides that, there's one quite sad thing that happened this month. So of course at work, people come and go, right? And especially in the tech industry, turnover rate is generally higher. I'm quite understanding about this situation in general, even when some UX members resigned. But on last July, the one who was resigning is one of my favourite team member. She's a damn great designer, and we're quite close because we're both more junior (and younger haha). We also worked on many projects together and I've always felt that she really understands my "vision" and mannn we did produce some cool work. So the thing is, I have known that there was some family stuff she needed to settle back in China. All along I thought it's gonna be a long leave or something, but in the end she decided it's better to resign altogether. I was dumbfounded when I heard that.. and sad too. A few days before she left Singapore, we went out together with some other close colleagues. We played badminton, had lunch at Thai restaurant, and sang KTV. Nice memory. (checked again and turns out this whole resigning thing happened in September, but the plan was in July)
August - Owww my wisdom tooth started to grow right after I came back from Korea. It began to feel weird on my last few days there and there's a particular day I felt especially off. So long story short, I couldn't bear it anymore after around one week and went to the dentist. Paying for the extraction cost was as painful as the tooth haha, and I had half swollen face for quiet long. Later at the month, I found an amazing hotpot place and went with my friend. Mannn I really like it. The price is super reasonable for a buffet and it's not the "all stuffs displayed and you can just pick" type. They will give you an order sheet (can request this as many times you like!) and prepare your food in the kitchen. So it actually taste better cause it's still hot, and more hygienic too I guess. They have quite a big variety and give free sorbet when we're finishing! One not so nice thing was that my friend had a pretty bad sprained leg right on the next day after this.. it's certainly not a pleasant experience and the healing process was quite long (we had a fight related to this in September 😔), but I'm grateful now everything is okay.
September - It's Mid Autumn Festival and I made some modern moon cake together with some colleagues~ we ordered a DIY kit for this and it had all the ingredients we needed + easy to understand instructions. And the best part was that it tasted nice! I love one that is filled with strawberry and yuzu. And oh I think I got PR around this period, after applying for it a few months ago. Among other things, I'm particularly excited about being able to borrow books from library using my ID card now hahaha. I bought way less books ever since.
October - Ah I went to Thailand with my high school friends, a so-called late graduation trip haha. I was largely okay with the places we went to, nothing too special, and food was nice (although I wasn't the type who gets very excited about food). But still, it's nice because it had been quite long without holiday and I really could use some down time (remember that work got busier since June?). And yep, going on a trip with group of friends certainly has a different feeling vs going with family or one friend. Oh now I remember about the trip moree. We often hired family sized Grab and somehow most of them have very extra decoration. Also, I decided my favourite place was the Wat Arun temple in Bangkok! Later in the month, my colleagues and I went to Batam together. We stayed for only one night but it's quite exciting. Upon reaching, we had lunch at a "kelong" and whew it suddenly rained heavily so we had to put down the tent. And because accommodation in Batam is quite cheap, we stayed at a nice hotel. I love the view, the facilities, and especially the buffet breakfast there (imagine 5 different types of Indo chili available). We had some amazing martabaks too~
November - Hmmmm it's the first time I went all the way to the east side of Singapore. I took a bus and enjoyed it a lot because there were so many things I hadn't seen before. Mostly cafes, hahaha but I always like to see bustling neighborhood and they don't really look like the typical Singapore I saw daily. This month, my department also organized a team BBQ. I forgot where exactly, but should be around east coast because we could see planes taking off or landing like every 10 minutes or so. The budget was quite high so we had the luxury of hiring private chefs to prepare all the food. So nice! Because usually every time I had bbq, it's a struggle even just to get the fire crackling. Now that I think of it, somehow these months were quite fun and a lot of random stuffs happened (?) I totally didn't realize it back then hahaha. I remember I went to Batam once again, this time with some of my housemates and we visited a high school friend who is now working there. Food and karaoke session were niceee! And the airbnb we rented has a super fancy toilet mirror with a back light, I believe it's called vanity mirror haha.
December - Okayyy nearly there! Sometime in mid December, I had a very pleasant day with my friend. Our first stop was a open studio event by a ceramic artist that I've been following for so long on Instagram. It was amazing to finally get to see her in person and saw her works (we bought matching cups!). Then we went for a dimsum lunch at Swee Choon since it's just around the corner, before going to SEA Aquarium 🦈🐬 Our dinner was at a food court within the resort world area, but I remember that we had this claypot rice that was soooooo nice. It's such an expensive day, but totally worth having once in a while haha.
Another special thing for me is that our family (including everyone!) had a vacation together after so many years. Not that we stopped having vacation, but since my grandpa and grandma have become older, it's not easy to arrange trip for the whole family. So usually the combination of family members can vary, but it had never been all of us together. But last December, finally we did it. We went to KL + Genting, which I think is a really good choice because we have lots of memory there. When I was younger, like maybe around 10ish, almost all of my family holiday was spent here. It's way before we started to go to further places. So yeah, it's nice to be back. The same old Bukit Bintang, experience of renting apartment in KL, Chinese food dining, accompanying family members to shop, going up the hill to Genting, strolling around in the casino, iconic Starbucks that's right at the hotel car park.
For people who know me, you might know that my grandpa passed away this year's January, not long after that trip. He had not been very healthy in the recent years, but I just didn't expect it would be so soon. Especially when he looked joyful and fit during the whole trip. We got him to try different food and snacks like fries, cotton candy, and even bubble tea. I was sad and still sad now whenever I think of it, but people die someday. Looking at the bright side, I'm lucky to be able to spend such a nice time with my grandpa before he passed away. Also, every one had the chance to see him at the hospital.
Also, I love my grandpa a lot. The past six years, I'm living here in Singapore and of course didn't get to see him as often. But good thing is I always go back to my hometown regularly and spend a lot of time at their house, just chilling and chatting. Every time I'm going back to SG, my grandpa and grandma would always wake up super early to say goodbye to me before I go to the airport. And every time the message is always the same, "take good care of yourself". I guess the thing about family is, no matter how old I am, they're always kind of worried about me living on my own in Singapore. On the other hand, I feel like at this point I should be the one worried about them already. Are they enjoying every day, are they in good health, how are they spending their time, and so on.
Honestly, I'm not a very attached person, so sometimes I kinda forget about stuffs like these. But really, somehow I can notice that it's changing. Which is a good thing, I guess. Hmmm back to my grandpa. All I wanna say is.. I want to be like him. He's such a good person with a kind heart (good looking, too) and I always think that if I can be half of the man he was, that would be great already. So yeah, that's it. Let's embrace the present and do our best. Till next time!
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