Chapter 2017: Goodbye and Hello 2018
YEAR 2017 Oh look its my blog! After 9 whole months of blogging hiatus. Not that I've forgotten about my blog (not any fat chance that I will) - its just how things have gotten so busy for me this entire year and it's getting really hard to find a proper time to sit down and pen a post. I've been up to so many things and with the year-end approaching in eight days (can you believe I actually took more than a week to finish up this post) yesterday, I wanted to keep a log of all my milestones / things I've been up to this entire year (just so I can tell myself that I haven't wasted any of my youth in vain hahaha).
Turned 25 a couple of months ago, and the so called #quarterlifecrisis is real as ever. It's like, didn't I just celebrated my 21st and graduated from university not too long ago?? I can no longer say that I'm in my early twenties (an unfriendly hello to mid and maybe even late twenties soon) AND even my BFF is married. You can now hear my deep, audible sigh of sadness.
I have come to an acceptance now.
CAREER
I would say this year has been off from a rocky start. The whole economy was in a really bad shape from the beginning of the year. Quite a handful of my friends lost their jobs (hello, we're talking about being retrenched at the age of 20s). And at the same point of time, I tendered my resignation to my boss as well because things wasn't quite working out for me. Let me tell you it was so darn hard to get any job interview. I trawled through hundreds of job postings on Jobsbank, Jobstreet, and even sent my CV directly to a few companies but yet no one rang me up. (I'm in the events line if you are wondering).
It was in March that I started out my own events company "Petite Events" - the very reason why I stopped blogging that month - and slogged day and night behind my desk to make sure I'll survive out there on my own. Somehow and somewhat, I made it through event after event, month after month, and I even have a little office space of my own. *proud grin* I really, really, can't be more thankful and proud of myself for all the events I have delivered over the last nine months.
I have also come to realise that being employed and being self-employed is two vastly different things. For example, let's put it into context:
One of the most common comments I get when chatting with others is: "waaa,.. that means you don't have to wake up at 6am every morning for work, and no stress from any boss at all."
Yes that is true, but that is only about 10% of what you see. - cue laugh cry emoji - While I do get to sleep in a little later every morning, what most people don't see is that work never, ever, ever ends. You don't get to "switch off" or "tune out of work" everyday after 6pm. Imagine a little voice at the back of your head nudging you constantly about all the things that needs to be remembered, done and completed 24/7.
And then there's the countless hours poured in after working hours in the office; how I always laugh a little when I hear Jean Danker over the radio saying she's going to accompany your drive home after work from 5pm; how I scrambled to try and find a way out of the office building at 3am because all corridor lights and servicing lifts have long been shut down; the midnight hours spent setting up events in shopping mall atriums up till 5am; the dizzy spells now and then from exhaustion; and how tough things can get at times because there is no one else but yourself to depend on in order to get things going and done.
There is 0 margin for error. (zero, nil, kosong)
Of course I don't bombard the person back with the entire essay as above lah. I'll just always reply that its a different kind of stress.
ATTENDED MY FIRST EVER CONCERT
For Ed Sheeran!!!! Which is a really huge thing, because going to concerts was never a thought that crossed my mind in the past. I simply don't get the idea why would someone pay hundreds of dollars just to see a singer sing live for 2-3 hours? It's equivalent to a month's worth of food expenditure, or 42 sets of McSpicy meal from Mcdonalds, or round trip air tickets to Bangkok for a shopping spree. Whichever you resonates most with.
Now I'm that "someone".
Simply because I haven't liked a singer that much in the past. I even picked up guitar just to learn how to play his songs (hahaha). Then, I heard that he was coming to Singapore for his Asia Divide tour but guess who got stuck in Sistic's virtual waiting room forever?? Even when they released the second date for his show in Singapore, you would need probably twelve fairy god-mothers WITH all the stars aligned in your universe to get through the virtual waiting room.
Long story short, nope no tickets. And it was a stab to my heart each time I hear the radio DJs mentioning about his upcoming sold-out concert. I get about 10 to 15 stabs on a daily basis, so thank you Class 95FM.
2 days before his concert, I was doing my OT in the office when I heard that Sistic just released extra side view tickets for Ed Sheeran's concert. And you can totally imagine yours truly who sprawled across the office to rush to my laptop. GUESS WHO GOT HER TICKETS!!
Off I went for my first ever concert by myself!
I GOT A LOFT FOR MY BEDROOM
Oh this was such a tricky affair because my mum has such the tendency to say 'No' to almost everything that I propose - especially when it comes to changing out furniture in my room. Trying to get a 'Yes' takes about two months of concise thought and detailed planning, and catching her in a good mood at a good time to increase the probability of an "Let me think about it"; and another additional month of persuasion to change that to an "Okay".
In this case, I mapped out my entire room down to the very last square centimeter and even went on to do a 3D rendering of my room to 'substantiate my proposal' that this loft from Ikea can, and will fit well into my room. Lol. Yes, I really did that.
It wasn't going to fit height wise for a regular HDB room so a friend of mine actually helped me to cut off 16cm off the legs and it's just perfect! I get to walk right underneath without hitting my head on the frame, and I get to sit on the top of the loft without knocking my head on the ceiling. Turned the bottom of the loft into a full fledged nua-zone filled with lots of pillows and blankets and my life is officially completed. I can netflix and sleep at the same time.
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YEAR 2017
2017 has been off to a rough start but I'm so glad that things are all falling into place now. It has been a year filled with constant changes, but it is also these very changes that made me grow as an individual; changed the way I look at certain things; and pushed my boundaries out of my comfort zone.
Here's to another year filled with milestones in 2017 and onwards to 2018!
P.S. Tomorrow's date will be 2nd Jan
Hello 26.
