Brand new year
I wanted to skip making new year's resolutions this year. Having to realise that I'm not getting any younger with the years passing by, I've decided to note down a few of the more realistic ones anyway.
The number one and most important goal is to watch my spending. I will try my best to spend on necessities only and avoid huge amount of luxuries (probably shop for clothes twice a year and go for a vacation once a year or so). What was the push factor? I would have never realised this if not for the amount of liabilities that I own at the moment - clothes and gifts, just to name a few. My latest liability is my chiropractic medical fee which amounted to S$4,700. It hit me like a bombshell the moment I discovered the cost.
When I look at all these, I think to myself, why did my savings stagnate at a point in the past one year? Do I want it to be this way a few years down the road? NO! I want to start saving again and manage my financials wisely. As a matter of fact, I had actually contacted a wealth management consultant via a close friend last month and we should be meeting up soon for a knowledge sharing session :-) First and foremost, I guess I should not indulge myself into the "shopping trap" most Singaporean does (oops!). Well, one improvement that I see is that I have stopped spending on gadgets in the past one year. I used to go about upgrading my laptop every other year. Keep it up!
Secondly, I hope to maintain a healthier lifestyle - a work-life balance lifestyle. I was diagnosed with neck misalignment and my spine was already compressing the nerves at my neck, causing me discomfort on my neck and numbness on my right arm. It is also the reason for my frequent headaches. Hence, I am currently undergoing a 12-month therapy to correct my neck misalignment and I would have to take good care of it so that it doesn't come back (yep! Dr Brett specially mentioned that he does not provide guarantee if I do not take care of myself). Leaving office at 6:00PM every day is a start. At least I do not feel stress/pressure at work now unlike the kind of stress that I had to go through with my previous company. I try to go to bed earlier and consume more water too.
That's about it for 2012 :-)
Revisiting 2011
I had a few posts drafted since September, 2011 but never had the mood to actually finalize and publish them. I was telling Pei Yee the other day - blame it to the chair and desk! Yeah, they are the mood enhancers to me. Hehe. Sitting in front of my laptop in this quiet night, I recalled my overdue posts.
Why don't I combine them into one and call it a year?
That's it. Here you go.
1. My overtime marathon continued in the first quarter of the year, having had to manage phase two of the same project which brought me sleepless nights as well as stress in 2010. The only thing I'd appreciate is having a great replacement boss in the last few months of the year and a few good developers working under me; both who would accompany me through sleepless nights in the office though the latter are more than 4000 kilometres from me.
2. I attended a number of concerts this year and the best one would be Kenny G's live concert at KLCC. I cannot describe the feeling in words on how good it was. As opposed to the few reactions that I get from friends, they either mentioned concerts are noisy, too crowded and that they could watch videos on their comfortable couch instead. No! It's a joy to attend concerts actually. You cannot possibly get the kind enjoyment of as you penetrate into the songs.
3. I left the company in August after a whole year of struggle. It took me 2 months to finally land on a job. It had been very relaxing in the first few weeks. I was either spending more time at home in Kajang or chilling in cafes with my laptop.
4. During my holiday, I had also registered myself for the Contempo Drum Level 1 class. I had wanted to pick up drum since a year ago but did not have time to do so. So this is it! I did not think that my new job would be as demanding as my old job. Hence, I went ahead with the course registration :-)
5. The final highlight in my 2011 would be the opportunity to travel overseas on a business trip. I was assigned to go to Hong Kong for two weeks just after my second week at work. I admit that I was kind of nervous when I was waiting for my flight. The feeling was as though it was my first day at kindergarten as a 5-year-old kid and I did not want to part with mommy. I wished a colleague or at least someone would have accompanied me. Okayyy.. that just showed how childish and inferior I am to the outside world. However, as soon as I had gotten used to the working life in Hong Kong, it felt better :-) I had to undergo a series of induction training during my visit. I was all by myself after work. I enjoyed having dinner at the char chan teng and shopping at Mong Kok after work. Here are some photos from the trip.
With the girls from Hong Kong whom I knew via my Kota Kinabalu trip last year.
It's good to also look at the resolutions I've made in early 2011 and check what have I accomplished for the year :D
- Bring my faithful camera out more - Ummm.. yes and no haha. I had been snapping more with my iPhone since owning it. However, I managed to get myself a first lens - the 18-100mm vrII!
- Bring my family overseas on a vacation this year - Mom, CK and I went on a holiday to Bali this year, without the 2 sisters :D Check.
- Target to complete kellerhomemade.com - Ummm.. Miss Keller was too busy; changed her plan and the new site should be in-progress.
- Spend more time understanding and doing things he likes together - On-going project :-)
Tioman Island
I had yearned for a relaxing vacation to end a rough year at work. Somewhere not too far and not too expensive. And so, we've ended up at Malaysia's very own Tioman Island, an island that is situated at the east coast of Pahang (I have always thought the island belongs to Johor, due to its proximity to the state).
The highlight of this trip was to try an activity that I have never attempted before - snorkeling.
I was not sure if I would dare to jump into the sea. My phobia list includes fear of height and water. I thought I'd give it a try and leave the worries aside till the day comes. Sidetracking a bit, I recall hearing a good quote some time back from a colleague - Worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but doesn't get you anywhere.
On Day 1, we departed from Singapore to the Larkin Bus Station (Johor) at 6:30AM. We transited via an express bus from Larkin to the Mersing Jetty. The journey took slightly less than 3 hours. Next, we boarded a ferry from the jetty to the Paya Village's jetty. For those of you who are not aware, Tioman Island consists of 8 main villages and we chose to stay at Kampung Paya.
Mersing Jetty
Arriving at Paya Village
Paya Village jetty
Our resort, Paya Beach Resort
Paya Beach Resort
Our room
After dropping our bags in the room, we collected our snorkeling gears and departed to the beach for some self-training. I was glad that we actually did minor training because otherwise, I would be all nervous and clumsy on the real snorkeling day. I tried to put on my goggles, learned how to breathe with my mouth and tried to keep my head in the water for a few minutes.
For the record, our photography gears for this trip is none other than my faithful Nikon D5000 with Nikkor 18-200mm for all the land photographs and the Sony Cybershot DSC-TX5 for underwater photographs. Here are some of the photos from our snorkeling adventure!
Snorkeling training at Paya Village's beach
Fishes at Paya Village waters
All ready for the real snorkeling adventure on Day 2
Fishes were much bigger outside :-)
Our findings at the Marine Park waters
There was really not much to do at Tioman Island other than snorkeling and scuba diving. Hence, a 3-day 2-night trip was quite sufficient and not rush at all. Besides snorkeling, we strolled around Paya Village and sat in front of our room to enjoy the sea breeze.
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The Heart Says,..
Pack your bag and leave for an adventure!
But where can I go given such short notice and low budget?
Hmmm.. Not Italy, India or Indonesia.
Maybe Bangkok? Or Vietnam?
My First Drum Lesson
I stepped into the classroom with my drum book and drumstick. No more excited. Just nervous.
Mr Richard taught us about notations and footwork. I struggled for a while to memorize the names of the 5 drums - bass drum, floor tom, middle tom, high tom, snare drum. Then comes the cymbals - hi-hat, crash cymbal, ride cymbal. Finally to associate their corresponding notation so that I can read and play.
The hour passed by really fast yesterday night. I did not had enough practice on the drum and it was time to go home already. In addition to that, there will be no class next week. Boohoo! :-(
Guess I would have to practise beating my lap and stamping my feet on the ground.
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