Exciting 2013

(Due to buttock itchy, this post was completed in a few seatings, the first being 18 Dec 2013.)

Somehow, as the years go by the inertia to blog a review increases – is it just my laziness, procrastination, or lack of interest? It’s certainly not the lack of events; for every year just gets more and more amazing. 

Looking back at my previous years’ reviews, I feel I should keep this tradition going – to document my achievements, a snapshot of my life, a chronology of significant events, and at the same time, the rare opportunity and time to sit down, clear the mind of other chores, and to write, is a good time to ponder and self-reflect – considered a luxury given how fast things are happening.

Here’s looking back at my ‘resolutions’ set for 2013 (made in Feb 2013):

• Increase my monthly financial input

Ticked.

• Read a book? 

ROFL. A good start? Pat on my own back lol.

Hey, IT IS STILL A BOOK.

Who am I kidding? It’s a children’s book… nonetheless a very entertaining storybook! It’s been 20 years? I have completely forgotten the content and was quite eager to quickly flip through the chapters to unravel the ending. Roald Dahl really knows how to capture childrens’ attention with his fairy-tale characters, giants and queer made-up names e.g. snozzcumbers, frobscottle.

• Maintain Silver for IPPT 

ACHIEVED!!! :D

Usually, I would start training 2 months before the test date, allowing myself a slow start during the first few weeks. This year, however, I was feeling really lazy and unmotivated… was managing daily push-ups and sit-ups but unable to get my feet into my jogging shoes. Only jogged like 4 times the last 3 weeks before the test date. Input cheat code ‘M-a-j-u Camp’, plus a can of Redbull – I managed a good time to qualify for Silver! WOOOOHOOO~~~ Super happy.

• Donate blood twice

Forgot whether it was once, or twice. Could have done better, though.

• Paint

Girlfriend bought a groupon deal for like $29 for a painting class. Unlike the popular place Artisteque, we found ourselves in a HDB unit converted into a small classroom. Unexpectedly though, was that the teacher was a young talent and guided us step by step for a whole 2-hours. I loved my virgin piece of art! Teacher praised, “Are you sure it’s your first time painting?” I put it up on my bedroom wall in front of my bed and the scenery looks perfect for a lazy weekend sleep-in.

• I also want to pick up a new skill.

Hmm. Does beatbox count? Haha. Watched a couple of tutorial videos on youtube but that’s about the best I can do. Guess a lot is derived from one’s flair for music and creativity.

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Significant Events in 2013!

Jan: 

A successful company event that lasted 3 days – of which we shed blood, perspiration and tear for an intensive 2 months prior to it. Our goal was simple, to make the Head look good to his bosses, but the process was painstaking and stressful. Thankfully, all was smooth and our toil paid off.

Feb: 1^st anniversary with girlfriend. A simple dinner and not too expensive gifts but it was the significance and time spent together that mattered.

April: Overseas trip with my buddies Roy and Jx! 

So glad it happened, so glad I pushed for it, so glad we had bountiful fun! Only our 2^nd bros-only trip together, the first being an uneventful one at Batam in 2011. And probably the last too, as we’re all progressing towards the stage of starting a family soon… Nonetheless, this trip will go down as “One of my favourite holidays” because of the awesome company (couldn’t ask for better, really), the nightly htht-s, the variety of activities (from city to scenic to onsen to hanami) and the absolutely lip-smacking local flavours (ramen, yakitori, sashimi, convenience store take-aways).

July: Thank you bosses, fellow colleagues and my supportive staff, for the past year’s commitment  and cooperation. Upgraded from OM3 to OM4.

August: Triple-date overseas trip to Pulau Redang. 

Unbelievable snorkeling experience, the waters were clear and pristine, the corals colourful and virgin. Saw a few corals with many clown fish weaving in between the streaks – it was really amazing. Also encountered almost human-eating fishes, nibbling on our hands and fingers just to reach the wet lump of bread in our palms. The food at the island was better than expected, too. Very relaxing holiday, we restricted ourselves to not use our mobile phones and simply enjoyed the nature and company. The nights were entertaining, one night being a disco on the beach and the other a very memorable live band belting out awesome Canto-pop and Mandarin R&B songs. We drank heartily, sang merrily along and I even got sabo-ed to sing and later teased by the band to propose on the spot! HAHA! One of my favourite moments has to be when I challenged my buddies to dance along to 爱不怕 by 草蜢 - which we did! Oh, not to mention that one of the band members was none other than the lead of ‘Baby' (long forgotten 1-hit Malaysian band).

October: The Proposal

On the 18^th day of our 18^th month (really a coincidence), I did it! I took several trips to recce the place, choose proposal ring, buy props, dry run with my buddies, linked up with her besties privately – alas it didn’t turn out perfect with the drizzle, fly-away tiara and speakers that Roy forgot to switch on – but the string of surprises did their magic and was impressive enough for her to give the nod. J

November: Sydney!

It happened because I was just checking out air tickets one night and discovered it was reasonably priced to fly to Sydney. I have 2 cousins residing there and it may be a great chance to visit and holiday! Very perfect holiday, blessed with great weather (although it coincided with the forest fires and haze but thank heavens for looking out for us), smooth road trip and every day was filled up discovery of new sights and scenes. Especially unforgettable was a 2-night stay in a superbly cosy farm cottage which was fully equipped and we whipped up steak, ABC soup, fresh salad and grilled meat. Quality time with girlfriend and loved the bonding time with my parents and brother, too J Pity my sister couldn't join...

December:

My birthday this year was simple but it matched what I had asked for: red eggs, pig trotters with vermicelli, home-cooked ABC soup, and a steamboat dinner with my favourite friends.

26/12/13 – FINALLY owners of our humble abode! Never knew there would be soooooo much paperwork to be done prior to purchasing a resale flat. And when we finally put pen to paper, we didn’t feel much excitement because probably already numb after visiting more than 25 units and waiting for 6 weeks for the HDB appointment. Nonetheless, we looooove the unit to bits.

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An exciting 2013 it was, and an even more exciting 2014 I am looking forward to!

• April --> HKG with girlfriend, Roy and gf
• March-July --> Home renovation and furnishing
• July --> Wedding!
• September-October --> HONEYMOON in Europe!!!!!!! 

Lacking in quantity but the above events are more than occupying our weekends and free time already! Europe is exciting but planning and researching on it... not so easy.

Okay, lastly to end off this post - 

RESOLUTIONS FOR 2014!

• Learn to juggle 3 balls
• Donate blood 2 times
• Silver for IPPT
• Read a book (I think the least possible to achieve)

Read from a couple of sources that Horsey year will not be a good one for Rats... but I'm not buying it at all, cos I believe that the destiny is for oneself to steer! 

$10 Million Toto Friday, HUAT AH! 

:P

CNY 2014

In what would be my last CNY receiving angbao, I took special effort to ‘living in the moment’ and observing my extended family members. Am very happy most relatives made the trip down to gather during this annual festival! :)

So the weekend allowed my family and I to spend 3 full days at my hometown with my favourite people. Here are some things I observed:

•  Everyone’s favourite activity upon reaching a new place – connecting to WiFi. Seriously?! 
• Delighted that the wives and daughter-in-laws are all great chefs and bakers! Really enjoyed every traditional CNY dish and CNY cookie!
• It’s really relaxing to let the grown-ups take over, from organizing of accommodation and cooking of meals, to driving and photo-taking 
• People look the most ecstatic when doing jump shots - Wu family members are all food lovers and one crazy bunch 
• Time passes really fast when you’re having fun 
• Bidding farewell is the hardest thing to do...

Missing the hearty laughter of my huge family. Looking forward to seeing everyone again really soon! JJ

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WE'RE GOING EUROPE!!!

And the final picture for 2014 is hot off the oven!

The whole process was completed so quickly. I don't really like making decisions within a tight timeframe, but the offer was too attractive! So Celeste and I did much research and also hankered friends and relatives whom could provide insights of any kind to our raw travelling plan haha.

On Day 1 I glanced upon a Qatar newsletter in my gmail inbox, and I almost deleted it lol, thinking it was probably some spam or advertorial (too used to receiving all those nonsense). Until my eyes caught "30% fares to Europe" or something along the line!

Browsed Qatar airways website and did a quick simulation and couldn't believe my eyes - $953 for round trip to Zurich!?! However the promo will only be ongoing for 3 days... Was super excited and later that night, I spent like 2 hours just fiddling with and simulating different time periods and flight plans on Qatar airways website. I must say their website is very user friendly and the layout and appearance are easy on the eyes! So after 2 hours, we decided to do a multi-city i.e. land in Paris/London and depart from Zurich... many questions came up such as should we go Germany? Is 2 weeks enough? How is Florence different from Rome and Milan? Should we try to watch a football match in London? Both Celeste and I have never laid foot on Europe before and planning for such a major trip is such a risky headache!

On Day 2 the air tickets are booked! Honestly, there are too many 'beautiful' and 'nice' and 'majestic' cities and places to visit! Within Italy alone my friends recommend Florence, Rome, Venice, Cinque Terre, Milan, and plus must-go honeymoon places like Interlaken and Paris, omgosh 14 days seem barely enough. Finally, we decided to give UK a miss cos anyway we see it on tv for at least 4 hours a week on Mio TV Channel 102/Starhub Channel 227 lol. No la, but we are seriously spoilt for choices and given the tight timeframe, we needed to just proceed with and stick to a plan, don't we!

And SO WE DID IT!

So it's S$963.30 (all in!) for multi-city flight itinerary on Qatar airways, I think it's too attractive an offer to miss! So surreal!

One thing I learnt - there are really many awesome deals and offers out there! Think Groupon, all-deals-Asia, handed-out pamphlets on the streets, credit card partnership with merchant retailers, and big ticket items like flight tickets! Got a SQ deal to NZ for less than $1.1k recently, and now we're packing our bags to Europe for less than a grand! Hmm, I also just signed up as a Qatar privilege member for FREE and wonder if it'll entitle us to any freebies later on??? Really glad I signed up to be on the mailing list for Qatar airways newsletters - just about a month ago. To a tangibly sizeable extent, one can really steer towards opportunities... only if they put in the effort to.

And that's not all! Jx shared that a certain Amex card entitles the cardholder to free 2-night hotel stay under the Millenia hotel chain, anywhere in the world even Singapore! Gonna sign up for it really soon!

Think I can't sleep tonight ahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha :D

Walcott off the court

(Source: ESPN)

Extremely heartbreaking news for the Gunners.

Walcott has just returned from an injury layoff in December and his come-back has been impressive - scoring a few important goals and noting down a couple of assists. In his last game against Spurs, although Walcott’s name did not appear on the scoreboard, his overall contribution was telling and looked really like a matured, dangerous forward whom displayed the potential and class Wenger splashed so much cash on and devoted so much patience to.

I saw how much Arsenal’s game needed someone like Walcott in our recent loss to rivals Man U – pacy, direct running and skillful finishing. Man U was playing a tight midfield, crowding the final third and breaking up the flow of our midfield short passing. Man U’s formation resulted in a narrow midfield but alas, we missed the likes of Walcott, Alex Chamberlain and Poldoski who could provide natural width and whip in dangerous crosses.

When Walcott returned and was back to fitness, Arsenal’s game also improved, hitting quick on the counter and scoring good goals. Having a stealth forward in our line-up also led to opponent teams being more cautious at committing players to supporting attack, and overall the string of results proved Walcott’s importance – consecutive wins, a few clean sheets and the latest derby result further iterating ‘mind the gap’.

Never really thought Walcott was a good player (refer to hate post here), but in recent months he is really proving his worth. Six months out is an immensely long time for a professional soccer player, here’s wishing him quick recovery.

To Arsene, this piece of bad news is a sign from above. No doubt it is a wet blanket to our title hopes, but let’s be optimistic that the transfer window has just opened. Please strengthen the attack line!

December limbo

Need a kick to wake myself up from December inception limbo.

December is passing wayyyyyyy too quickly.

My birthday.
Xmas eve.
Xmas.
New Year eve.

Other than enjoying day offs from the public holidays, asked myself if I recall any significant events from December? I can't believe the year will be over in 24 hours.

In 12 days....

The year will be over.

WHAT??? Wait, I'm not prepared for that! This year has passed wayyyy too fast (then again, I think I comment the same every year hmm....).

While it's still 2013, are there any other things you would like to accomplish? Do you have anything to express, confess or explain to a person who matters?

My review of 2013 coming soon...

My internship

Twelve consecutive weeks at the far west was not a very short, nor very long period of time. The journey to and fro was arduous and work was strenous, but fortunately fulfilling. Rules were regimented; environment was not ideal; humans displayed not their best side. Thereafter the internship, an attractive offer was all but pending pen to paper, but I bit the bullet and rejected.

Boy, extremely tough decision it was, but not one I will ever regret....