I had my fair share of ups and downs this year. On this last day of 2009, I thought I'd take a walk down memory lane to freeze the year's gains and losses, happiness and sadness, into one blog entry before charging into 2010 with newfound energy and fresh hopes for a better year.
A '+' denotes a positive event/emotion while a '-' represents a negative event/emotion.
January
+ I found a sister in Sunshine23.
+ I rediscovered Sydney and Australia in general with a fresh pair of eyes and saw how beautiful this country and her people are.
+ My relationship with Mum got better.
+ I found meaning in upholding the traditional practice of paying my respects to Dad instead of just going through the motion of lighting joss sticks and burning offerings.
+ Bro for the first time, opened up and shared with me his love life, his career plans, his finances, his observations and opinions on the various incidents and events surrounding us, his worries, and most importantly on something that's been bothering me for a long while because I never knew where he stood in this taboo topic and never dared ask - his feelings and thoughts on Dad's passing and how he coped through the years.
February
- I ate my way around Singapore and gained 5 kg in 2 weeks. (!!!)
+ Thanks to the amazing social networking site Facebook, I found my long lost Secondary 3 & 4 form Teacher.
+ I made my first trip back to the island (Pulau Ubin) I grew up on after having permanently 'migrated' to 'mainland Singapore' since the early 1990s.
- I was painfully reminded of my ex boyfriend after watching the movie 海角七号.
- I got severely homesick after coming back to Sydney from Singapore.
March
- In need of some distraction from the downward spiral into depression, I buried myself in work.
+ I finally bought a car and that greatly enhanced the quality of life here in Sydney.
April
+ Went for the Sydney Royal Easter Show for the first time and enjoyed myself greatly.
+ I started plurking, which brought me closer to the animews.
+ I signed up for a gym membership in an attempt to live a healthier lifestyle.
+ Participated in several social gatherings so as to widen my otherwise non existent social circle.
May
- Nothing much. I felt empty.
June
- Felt empty for most part of the month.
+ Bought myself a digital SLR as a birthday present in advance to cheer myself up.
July
+ I got a promotion and pay increment.
+ Went on lots of photowalks with my new camera and polished up my phototaking skills a bit.
- Went into recluse.
- Cried non stop for days on end. Stopped eating and lost 5 kg in 2 weeks.
- My health took a massive hit.
- I was depressed.
August
- Went through the first part of the month in a zombified state. The first realisation that I lost someone I held dear hit me.
+ Took off to Singapore to regain my sanity and rediscovered my self esteem.
September
+ Project Chio was born with the objectives: eat healthier, sleep better, get outdoors more, generally love myself more.
- A severe dust storm engulfed Sydney which affected my lungs badly.
October
- Organised a road trip to Canberra which was disastrous to the point I didn't even want to think about it when it ended. (To Likklegirl: sorry, I didn't blog it as promised as it would have brought back unwanted bad memories)
- Took another weekend off to recuperate in Melbourne which turned out to be a nightmare too. It was so bad I ended up crying more than before.
- I terminated the gym membership.
+ Three of my photos were selected for inclusion in the Schmap Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra guides.
November
+ I fell in love with the Diana F+ kit. I have not purchased it (yet) as I don't have time to devote to her at the moment. I have been reading up on and checking out lomography since.
+ Attended my first black tie event in Australia in which a work paper I wrote and submitted got my nominated company a joint winner placing for the Best New Business Award at the Wagga Wagga Golden Crow Awards.
+ A photo I took and named 'Leaving Home' was featured on the Flickr blog on several days and hit my personal all time high in terms of hits and interest garnered according to the stats.
+ I signed up for guitar lessons.
+ I discovered Muse and rediscovered Nirvana.
- I gave up on a work assignment.
December
+ I re-emerged into the human society by attending parties and functions in an attempt to re-build a life outside of work.
+ I splurged on gifts for myself as a priority over getting gifts for others, which was a first for me. And it felt good.
In summary, I scored well in friendships, family love, materialistic comforts, pursuing personal interests and career but failed terribly at romance, personal well-being and health. So then, farewell 2009. I hope 2010 brings me someone who loves me for me, better state of mind and good health.
year in review - 2009
je m'appelle hélène
I would like to add this song to the list but I can't find the guitar tabs/chords anywhere on the net.
And I thought Joi Chua did a fantastic rendition of the song.
dune chronicles
I've been wanting to read Frank Herbert's Dune Chronicles since eons ago. Although the first book Dune was published in 1965, I never knew its existence until I played the PC game Dune 2000 (a real-time strategy game based on Herbert's Dune universe) when I was in college. I got so addicted to the game I would spend days and nights in front of the computer without food or sleep (not unlike my MapleStory addiction LOL).
Seeing how the chronicles have made it to the top few spots of so many must-read lists all over the net, how frequently they are cited as the world's best-selling science fiction novels, and how it was acclaimed that Frank Herbert had set the trend for 'planetary ecology' sci-fi, I decided I have to find out for myself if they are really that good.
Any comments from anyone who's read these books?
little miss sunshine
This is a screenshot of the first page of my Yahoo mailbox. Joyce Wong aka Sunshine23 aka Angel J and I have been emailing each other intensively for the last couple of months.
I am so glad she came to visit last Christmas. Sure, we've known each other since we were 13, but we were never this close like we are now. We bared our hearts to each other, talked and did more things together in the two weeks she was here in Sydney in December 2008 than in the 16 years we've known each other.
From playing dress up, to beaching and bitching, to linking and lancing ourselves silly, to road trips down south, up north, inner west and everywhere else here and there, to stuffing ourselves with food until we developed tummies so big we looked pregnant, to pure inexplicable madness, by the time we said goodbye, we had forged a bond so strong it was like we both gained a sister.
I am glad for it. I would never have gotten through the dark and depressing periods without friends like my little miss Sunshine. And I am blessed with lots of Mr and Miss Sunshines in my life.
Those of you who were there with me as I cried buckets of tears earlier this year, I thank you. It was because of each and every single one of you - the words you said, the things you did, the lame jokes, the virtual shoulders you offered in lieu of your physical presence right here with me, the smses, the emails, the plurks, the blog comments, the phone calls, the MSN chats - that I managed to pick myself up and gradually learned to love myself.
So which one of you wanna tell me a lame joke now? :-*)
an arty farty party
I received an invitation from a bunch of architects and interior designers for an event on the eve of X'mas eve and gamely attended the arty farty party held at their office garage in Neutral Bay.
Beautiful Vanisha was my date that evening. We thought we looked like the national flag of Singapore as we strode into the Leffler Simes Architects (LSA) building in our chilli red and snow white dresses.
Lots of effort was put in by the organising team to decorate the party venue. They even painted an entire wall to reflect the city skyline of Sydney with real smoke billowing out of the 'Sydney Tower' at the press of a button. And I was told that hours of work were put in by the girls to cut out thousands of leaves from coloured paper to decorate the otherwise plain looking floor we stood on.
Here you see me and my two travelling companions for the upcoming Byron Bay trip making faces at the camera.
We do pose for the occasional nice decent shot too. (Beakee and Fav Tudi: check out what accessory I was wearing!)
Here's a shot with the (weird and funky) Chief Architect I liaise with most of the time for my current work project at the pilot academy. Incidentally, the smokey tower behind me was his brainchild. Yes, you can tell it worked perfectly well from the photo below.
Natalie here who so kindly offered to share her X'mas party loot (she won two return flights to anywhere on the Rex network at our X'mas party draw) with me is the key Interior Designer for my project. She is one helluva capable woman! Guys take note!
And finally, group shots with my arty farty project team before we headed off for round two - more partying!
And this was the last X'mas party of the year. It was a simple party but lots of great fun.
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