Reflections of 2016

2016 has been a fruitful year. Unlike 2015, which I seemed to have wasted it away, this year has been a year of changes. Looking back, here are my reflections of this year.

WORK

This is an awesome "achievement" for me because I hit my first one year mark on a single job! It is not that I like to job-hop but life is too short to stay in a place you dislike. I almost wanted to give up at the start because of the lack of proper training and that my work was so difficult to understand. I also knew that there were certain aspects of the job that I hated doing, those mindless scanning and arranging of paperwork.

Thankfully, I told myself that I would give myself a year and I persevered. In this industry, I also had access to fitness classes and equipment, which became my source of motivation. After I got familiarized with my work, it suddenly came to me that I have stopped learning in this job.

Re-watching Jack Ma's career advice video, he said "before 30 years old, follow somebody". It is not which company you go, but which boss you follow. This is a clear guide that I needed to start moving. In the process of me considering my options, office politics started coming in within the same department, which makes my leaving more inevitable. I had to leave all the negativity and this stagnant situation. And so, I fulfilled my one year promise to myself and it's now a new beginning again.

GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT

Staying in the same job position for a longer period of time has made me see more potential in myself. I should be doing something greater. In the past, I used to think that I just wanted a stable office job with a great work life balance. This is a Monday to Friday 9 - 6pm job, and I mostly leave on time. But I became bored and started to see no meaning in my work anymore. It is a mundane routine and I don't get much job satisfaction.

I don't see myself improving in terms of skill or communication. I wanted to see more in myself. I started rethinking about my strengths, about my interests and how I can develop them. I started reading because knowledge can change a person's perspective in a way you will never expect (especially after I found the Overdrive app together with the database on our national library  <3). I will plan ways to learn up certain skills which can be self taught. This year, I also started watching the old Disney movies, which provide so much inspiration when you watch them as a adult (I have never watched many of them). I am ready to discover a whole new world.  

FITNESS & HEALTH

As mentioned earlier, I have staff access to fitness classes which I made good use of. Prior to this job, I was putting on weight before I even realized. My office pants started to become uncomfortably tight as each day passes and my face was much rounder. I disliked taking photos then. Once my probation was over, I began my disciplined fitness lifestyle, with the goal to make my pants fit better. I brought my own lunch, which was really unappetizing. Because I do not like using the microwave, meal prep does not really work for me. I wake up early in the morning to steam my lunch. I go for morning classes on alternate days so I really have to wake up very early. It energizes me throughout the day! But I get tired easier after work.

Nevertheless, I persevered and people around me noticed the change. My face was the first to slim down. My body shape still looks pretty much the same, but just more toned I guess. Eventually, my stomach faced gastric problems and I stopped bringing food because they were cold by the time I eat them. I still make better food choices but I don't eliminate any food types. I reduced and eventually stopped going for classes because it was becoming tiresome. I came to discover I have high arched feet and the weights were probably causing them to hurt due to immense pressure on the heels. I continued my fitness lifestyle with jogging and doing circuit routines at home instead. I tried a 21 workout plan on Nike+Training app, and by the end of it, I can do the exercises that I could not do before.

As I'm writing this post right now, I have also just registered for Sundown 10km run next year. I have not even completed a single 10km till date so good luck to me. My longest so far is 7km, which I never thought was possible before this year. I have to thank my job for helping me to start off and achieve this. I have never been as fit as I am now.

Most importantly, my office pants are no longer tight :D.

LIFE

After a couple of years as a "real" adult, it feels like I don't even have a personal identify. I don't even understand myself, nor do I know who I really am. It has been a difficult time trying to figure things out and I am still in the process of doing so. However, I feel that things do happen for a reason and I will just let nature take its course. I realized that nobody and nothing can truly be your source of happiness. You have to be the one making happiness possible. Nobody can tell you the right way. You have to be the one to discover it by yourself. Be brave.

A good friend of mine got married this year, and I was her bridesmaid and emcee. I don't think I would have the courage last time to take up these roles, and it is definitely a good change to take up small "challenges". It helps me to grow.

On last year's anniversary, my bf brought me to Forlino for a fine dining experience. However, he did not get me any physical present or card, which made me really unhappy. To me, a physical item matters for keepsake, which is also why I don't fancy food as presents. He told me that experience should be the more important part and that photos serve as memories too. I took his point down as one of the things I can improve upon, and I think I'm doing good. In fact, I realized how the lack of space tends to make me stressed up. De-cluttering your life of the many things really helps to clear your mind. I reduced spending on clothes especially, saving up for the upcoming trip. And for the first time, I am looking forward to my trip for the whole experience rather than for the shopping spree like the past few times.

In 2017, I would do my best to embrace changes and take up challenges along the way. I would make conscious effort to gain knowledge and pick up skills. Overdrive shall be my best buddy, providing me with works of great writers. I would also like to write more on this space. I will believe in myself and my ability.

~ From a changed, slightly more confident woman.

Me Before You - The book

Me Before You - Jojo Moyes, 2012

I got to know about this novel when the movie came out. This is my-kind of movie but somehow I have not watched it yet. Instead, I read the book and books are always better in terms of the story development. You can let your imagination go wild indulging in every word and sentences written. That's why I consider myself a slow reader, taking my time to appreciate the author's work.

 ~

The book starts by describing how William Traynor was living his normal busy life and got hit in a road accident outside his apartment. Will, who was a successful man living a full life, became a quadriplegic who was only able to move his head and with limited movement in one arm only. The story is written mainly from Louisa Clark’s point of view. She is a girl living in a small town of England, who became jobless when the cafe she was working in closed down. She has worked as a hairdresser and in a chicken factory before, and it was hard to find another job at the agency without some skill-set. Then, there’s a caretaker job whereby she needs to look after Will, a 35 year old man, taking care of his daily needs and emotional well-being. Nathan, a nurse, would take care of the physical cleaning and medical needs. Mrs Camilia Traynor has given Louisa the offer despite her having no prior experiences with quadriplegic because she seemed like the outspoken kind of person who might cheer Will up. 

Initially, Will was very cold towards Lou and she hated her job. She gave him a piece of her mind, saying she that she was just doing her job. Eventually, they started communicating and got more used to each others' sarcastic jokes. When Georgina, Will’s sister, came back from Australia, Lou found out their dark secret. Will will give Camilia 6 months time to change his mind about living. After which, they would have to agree to send him to Switzerland Dignitas for the assisted suicide process because there was no chance of recovery.

Shocked, Lou quit her job. When Camilia came to question her, she found out the reason why and urged her to help Will change his mind. Lou decided to fill her calendars up with various activities that quadriplegics can participate in and even posted her queries and progress in a quadriplegic forum. After the very first outing to watch the horses, Will was very angry and told Lou that that was exactly what he hated, that they did not even bother asking him for his opinion. People just did what they think is good for him. He went to her birthday dinner at her place, and gave her two pairs of yellow and black bumblebee tights, to replicate those which she lost during her childhood. They both got a tattoo each too. As time goes, I guess she fell for him and realized so much inadequacy in her relationship with Patrick. They broke up when Patrick refused to allow her overseas with Will for work purposes to cheer him up.

Lou planned for a big getaway as the deadline was nearing but Will caught Pneumonia which got rather serious. They changed the plan to going Mauritius instead, just sitting by the beach and enjoying the daily beauty. When Lou confessed to Will that she loves him and kissed him, he kissed her back but still, he wanted to go ahead with the assisted suicide. He loves her but it was not enough, he was not him anymore, that man full of life, full of possibilities. He does not want to live his life depending on other people.

As they flew back to England, she headed home without any goodbyes. Till the day before the process starts, Camilia called Lou, begging her to come to Will. Everything was prepared for her leaving and she left, despite strong opposition from her mum Josie. She had to be there for him for the last time and support his decision. By his side, he requested her to tell her something good and she described their story to him. The story ended with how Will’s last letter was read by Lou specifically at Will’s favourite cafe in Paris. He gave her money and wanted her to live her life to the fullest. Go for further studies and better herself. Life is too short to waste it away like this. 
~

This book touches on a very sensitive topic of assisted suicide. In the process of reading, you can feel the frustration and indignity of Will. While some may argue on the moral issues of taking away a life, it is also important to consider the quality of living and the emotions involved. I feel that there is no 100% right or wrong in every situation and it depends on your perspective.

As Will was a person who has made the most out of his life, he cannot understand how and why Louisa was letting her life slip by. A conversation between them has given me a very much needed reminder. He told Lou that if he were her, he would do things that would push him to his limits. He would do something that taps into his talent and he would go experience life.  

Because one day, you might wish you had done all those, he said.

We do not know when is our expiry date, but we can enjoy life better when we make the most out of every single day. I was reading this during another down point in my career and I still have not figured out what I am supposed to do. I felt like Louisa. However, I realized that the answer might take ages to come. Rather than lamenting over my inability to understand myself fully, I decided to take small steps in the present moment to better myself. I will continue to read and who knows, inspiration might just come to me and change my whole life. Learning shall be my new hobby.
 

Hong Kong Day 11

11th day - 20 May 2016

There was nothing really planned for the day except for the meet up with Zhang Fan and some Jenny Biscuits shopping. Since it was more of a free and easy day, we left the hotel only about 11am, which was just in time for the next shuttle bus provided by the hotel. Our stop would be at Langham Palace, which is a shopping centre near Mong Kok Mtr station. And then we remembered that we have been to this shopping centre before, with our first Tsui Wah Restuarant outlet located nearby. We decided to eat at this very same place but to our dismay, there is really no more buoluobao in the menu anymore! I ate it at least 3 or 4 times the last time we came to HK. Even at the airport right before we left, I had another one.

To be honest, Tsui Wah's standard seemed to have dropped, although they serve tea in really cute cups. Bf ordered the breakfast set with beef gong zai min, condensed milk toast and scrambled eggs. The eggs are really average, and we did not find much condensed milk on the toast. Maybe I have ordered the wrong dish, but the vegetable dumpling thick beehoon is very plain. I think his Nissin noodle taste better. People told me that Kam Wah buoluobao was not bad too but we did not get to try it. Sigh Pie.

Down the street, there is a roadside stall selling the street food. We had curry fishball and siew mai last time at this same stall and it was not bad. Not having satisfied my curry fishball craving, I ordered their spicy fishball (I remembered last time was curry though) at HKD 40. S$7 fishball is quite expensive but their portion is considered generous, probably about 20 balls in that one cup. We still wasted at least half of them because they were super duper spicy I can barely eat them comfortably. I only managed about 6 fishballs, my bf had 3 or 4 before we dumped it away and ordered coke at Macdonald's. I could feel my face heating up and turning red as I popped each fishball into my mouth. Very disappointed yet again.

We walked around the shopping mall but did not purchase anything. This is the mall with the very long escalator. Those who have some fear of heights might dislike this. We took a photo from above, like as if it was some scenic place where the view from high up is nice.

Our next mission was to find Yee Shun Milk Company. We were going to the Mong Kok outlet and it is quite a distance on foot from Mong Kok Mtr! To add to the inconvenience, it was raining too :(. I don't really enjoy walking along the shops in the streets as it is rather narrow and sometimes the drops of rain water would drip down. We took some time before we found the shop. In fact, we were opposite the store and yet we did not realized it. We only reached it after one round of extra walking, and seeing the cow symbol. We tried the normal milk pudding and the ginger one. I think the ginger flavoured one is good, as it takes away the strong taste of milk in the pudding. We did not see any scrambled egg item on the menu, and we ended up with two fried eggs. Maybe we were supposed to tell them how we wanted our eggs, but oh well. The macaroni with ham in soup is nothing really special, the soup a little milky tasting.

It was time for our souvenir shopping. Bf's mum requested us to buy Jenny Biscuits if we saw it. So this naturally has to be part of the itinerary as it is better to get from the original shop :P. There are random shops selling Jenny Bisuits, but we cannot be sure whether they are authentic. We took the Mtr to Tsim Sha Tsui and Jenny Biscuit is located in Mirador Mansion, exit D2. Their website states that they are located on level 1, but their staff ushered us to go to level 2 instead. They have a few queues, the menu is pasted outside the shop, and also at the board above. The biscuits are well packaged already so you just have to tell them which number you wanted. Everything was done really efficiently! We had to buy their plastic bags because we bought about 7/8 containers which cost in total HKD 1232.  Do remember to bring your own storage/ carrier because they do not provide free plastic bags. There were even people who brought their luggage over just for these biscuits. This is the first time my bf is so enthusiastic about buying souvenirs back haha. Their cookies are crispy and so buttery. The coffee flavour ones are especially fragrant and tasty. Singapore has one outlet but it is still cheaper to get it there.

We went back to the hotel to put down our heavy tins of cookies. We had to go back to bring out our jelly bean for Zf too as it was well forgotten in our mini fridge. We met Zf at Sheung Wan Mtr station after her work for our dim sum dinner at her recommended place. We reached the station earlier and I wanted to use the toilet. Apparently, their toilet was locked but we can only access with the help of the staff to unlock the door. Maybe it was not meant for public access? It started raining again, and thankfully, it was only a short walk to Dim Sum Square. I don't even remember which exit and how to walk there now, just blindly followed the professional :P. Some of the dim sum are really unique. Usually, bf and I do not take liu sha bao, but theirs do not have that overwhelming salted egg oily taste. It is more towards the custard kind. The chicken and mushroom with beancurd skin is really special and filled with tender ingredients. We ordered the porridge last after we were done with our dim sum. The waitress was trying to tell us what their porridge of the day was but we could not understand the term in Cantonese. It turned out to be pig liver porridge, which we would have called it a different name in Cantonese. Love the pearl rice used for porridge. The dinner was HKD 253 in total which is a reasonable price for nice dim sum. Thank you Zf for her treat!

 

Dinner is not complete without some dessert. Another Zf's recommendation to have some mango delight at Hui Lau Shan, located at Shun Tak Centre Shopping Mall. I love it. The consistency, thickness and flavor is all just right. Mochi balls always attract me. Bf chose the variety set in which he can try everything in their mini form. I still think eating the normal amount of one type is more shiok haha.

It's the end of the day. Zf was very nice and lent us HKD 400 in case we need it for emergency usage. We have to save up some money for the cab to airport as our flight was at 7am. Below is a photo of an adult single journey ticket for my Bf. He had to get this for our last Mtr ride because he used HKD 10 from his octopus card on the binoculars vending machine at The Peak. At that point, he regretted his decision of using the binoculars Lol.

We went back to pack our bags. Actually, I was the only one packing and he was chilling, playing with his phone. He can do last minute packing but I can't. Woke up at 3.30am and had only about 4 hours of sleep. It was raining SO HEAVILY! We checked out at 4.15am and the staff helped us to call for a taxi. It arrived super fast, like in 2 minutes o.o, and the staff helped us transport the luggage into the taxi. There was literally no waiting time at all because everything was done while we were checking out. To think I was still worried about whether we can get a taxi so early in the morning. They must have a good system for the booking of taxi. The staff gave us an estimation of HKD 250 - 260 for the trip to the airport when we asked on the first day. The total cost was HKD 230, and the whole ride was only about 30 minutes. It was quite scary for me to be in the taxi in the heavy heavy downpour :(, and it was a relief when we reached the airport.

We ate our breakkie at Cafe de Coral after we checked in. I felt safer to be checked in first haha. Since we were still early, there were empty seats around. Soon, queues started to form as more people were inside. The food menu also changed as certain food ran out of stock. Everything in our breakfast is nice. There's even a chicken wing inside the glutinous rice.

I was almost homesick and it was time for home. Although when I was actually home, I missed him so much.. after so many days of being together all the time. We took Scoots back since it was a one way flight only, S$225 for both of us. We added on meal at about $10 extra each, and I don't know why we did that because I was so full I did not eat it on board. We ate it for lunch and they taste quite good. There's a chunky kit kat for each of us too, in which one melted because of the heat from the food.

Singapore we are back! Massage our feet first :D. His dad came to fetch us back and here's a bowl of comfort noodles cooked by his mum for our lunch.

The whole trip had been awesome. I always wanted to cruise with him alone, influenced by my love for Titanic. The time on board was carefree and relaxed because we had nowhere to rush to. We slowed down our footsteps and enjoyed the present moments. There was no need to worry about forgetting things or putting on make-up before we leave for the day, because we can always go back to our room. We could have participated more in parades and events, but I guess the laid back part of our character came up more often. While the experience in HK this time pales in comparison to the previous trip, Disneyland made it up for all. He was my personal guide, ensuring that my enjoyment was his priority. One of the things I love about this trip is that for the first time, he took many photos of us, and mostly of me, on his own accord. I'm not saying he never did this on normal days or on other trips, but this is by far the best. I believe we are also starting to get used to each other's habits and daily routine, that our whole trip was rather peaceful without any major disagreements. We used to quarrel on trips over issues due of our differences in everyday living, so this is a great improvement as a couple. Let us explore parts of the world together for as long as we can, my dear. 

P.S. More candid shots please <3 

Hong Kong Day 10

10th day - 19 May 2016

LANTAU ISLAND 大屿山

This is the official Lantau Island post, because the cables car are in operation today! We woke up at 9am today and had gong zai min (Nissan noodle) at Gold Sand Cafe because my bf was craving for it. Gong zai min is the instant noodle dish which is famous in HK. The one at Gold Sand is not the nicest that we have eaten, but good enough as a hot comforting breakfast. 奶茶time again!

Again, we took the MTR to Tung Chung Station. Yay, for being on the same yellow line as Olympic station. As per the last visit, there was also a very long queue to buy the tickets. We waited patiently for probably about an hour, got our tickets at the counter, and then head to a shorter queue to board our cable car. We bought the 2 way round trip crystal cabin ticket which is HKD 255 per adult. The base of the cable car is transparent! Scary as hell the first time, and now the second time, was still rather scary. You will get a wrist band to be worn before boarding so that they can identify you as a crystal cabin passenger. 

We were with a family of 3 and 2 girlfriends. The mother in the family appeared rather afraid of the height too, so we were together in this haha. Eventually, we become immune to it because the ride is about 30 minutes or so. But any jerk or movement caused by the wind or the gears was still unnerving. We saw cows along the way up where the cable car was nearer to the grounds. They look so carefree roaming about just eating grass and lazing around. We were seated back-faced in the direction we were moving towards for both of the rides and the view was less beautiful.

Everything looked the same as we alighted from the cable car and started exploring. There were some food places at the start. I believed they upgraded their restrooms and it looked much cleaner, and the air conditioning was so cooling as well. We passed by all the souvenir shops and found the food store which sells noodles, bean curd and black sesame paste. I remember that one cat scared me out of the shop because it was allowed to roam around within the shop. Thankfully, it was far away this time round. We bought the large sausage and curry fish ball from the pushcart right outside the food store shophouse. While the sausage is delicious, the curry fishballs did not absorb adequate curry flavor and taste like normal fishballs. I saw that the lady boss threw the curry fishballs into the curry for 30 seconds or so only :(. They only have paper bags and you can see the mess when the oil seeps through. The sesame paste and bean curb is from the shop front and they taste very homemade, although a little expensive for that small portion.

The sun was so bright that we can barely open our eyes for a decent photo. We headed to the side of where the stairs up to the big Buddha starts. At the counter, the tickets to the vegetarian meal at Po Lin Monastery were sold. I have searched for reviews to get a little idea of the type of meals they have. They have the standard, deluxe and snack meal ticket. Standard and deluxe were in the restaurant like setting whereby you get to eat earlier and have a personal table for the deluxe option. We didn't try the standard option so we cannot be sure what is the difference in dishes. What we noticed during our meal was that a bigger group have about 2 additional types of dish. Anyway, the portion of the VIP deluxe meal is really large and more than enough for two of us. It is about SGD 20 plus per person and the food quality is just satisfactory. The lemon beancurd and spring roll is quite oily. I think what we really liked best is the mushroom starch soup, but it could still be better. Maybe the snack option would have been a better choice, vegetarian bee hoon, kuey and beancurd sort of stuff.

We were tempted to count the number of steps up the stairs before we reach the top but I believe we would have lost track at some point. In my opinion, it is not very high up. If your fitness level is average, it should not be much of a problem. Some panting perhaps, and some sweat. The view up there is beautiful! But again, the sun was too bright and we did not capture any display-picture-worthy photo of us together with the background.

There are cows at Lantau Island too! They have tags on their ears so I think these animals are identified and protected there. It was time for shopping! I just enjoy looking around at those nice souvenirs, clothes, toys and display items. I found the metal Titanic puzzle in a bigger size at a similar price as the smaller one in SG, and also bought a Buddha date display item. The promotion that day was a free cute poker card deck if we spend above HKD 500. We also got ourselves a free hardcopy 4R photo. After payment, we went to take our pictures within the shop, doing the poses instructed to us based on the background they will photoshop us into. First, we were "enjoying fireworks", and then we were "kungfu masters". Our last shot was an outdoor shoot where we stood along the street. It was a fun short photoshoot and they were trying to push their photo package. We just decided to get the free one (outdoor) since I look fat in all of them :x.

We were also given one of those wooden plates from the shop, to be written and hung on the wall of wishes outside. While my bf was filming at another side, I was writing my wish. He did not even give me any constructive ideas of what to write, he just did not care about me. Somehow I already knew what I wanted to write :P. I hung it up and pretended like I did not want him to see. I was a little embarrassed when he was looking at it, but the moment after he finished reading and looked at me, that look in his eyes... I have told him the day before, that the next time we would come to HK Disneyland is probably going to be with our kids :). We started queuing for the cable car to go back at 5.30pm as the last cable car would leave at 6pm. But we have checked with the staff, as long as you can get to the queue before they close it at 6pm, you are safe. The queue was long for this.

We walked awhile at Citygate Mall, which is located beside Tung Chung MTR Station. We did not spend much here the last time, and similarly, it was quite boring for the shops are mainly factory outlets of branded stuff I don't really need. Except, this time, I bought a pink waterproof Timberland boots at a cheaper price (HKD 1043). That would be for our next trip! We did not have dinner there but decided to search for Maxim Palace Chinese Restaurant Dim Sum instead. Since we would already be meeting his friend, Zhang Fan, for dim sum dinner the next day, we can't possibly have it for breakfast or lunch too. I believe we alighted at Hong Kong station and walked a short distance. It was surprising near the MTR. There were people going in to the building for a musical performance and I thought we were at the wrong place.

Unfortunately, our silly brains did not remember that generally dim sums are served from morning till early afternoon only. So there were no more dim sum served for dinner, but a Chinese oriental dinner instead. At another level within the same building, Maxim has another food outlet. Called the Maxim's Cafe, they serve mixed western dishes at a more affordable price. The borsch soup is so yummy and the bun is served warm. The curry is thick and spicy at a comfortable level for me. It comes in a set so we have yuan yang and milk tea at the end of our meal too. Each set at about SGD 20 seems a reasonable price for the whole bundle deal.

I enjoyed the moments of the romantic walk under the dark sky after dinner so much. There was no time restriction and no destination. Just a leisure walk and some selfie time <3. The night view was amazing even though we were surrounded by buildings. Though the photos are blurry and it appears misty, the buildings were brightly lit, standing tall and beautiful.  

Re-walking the path, recreating memories.