Tuesday, January 01, 2019
THE Annual Review -- A Summarised 2018
January 2018
After ushering in the new year, 2018 got off to an exciting start with
busy preparations for our wedding. It was a month of shopping
& coordinating; meeting our solemnizer for his useful life tips;
meeting the people-in-charge for our wedding venue and bridal studio etc. Those
were seriously fun times!
February 2018
More wedding preparations were underway. We took a little breather at
the food tasting session with our immediate families. We had the customary 过大礼 about 2 weeks before CNY. On the same
evening, we caught 学友.经典世界巡回演唱会 again, which remained as the best
concert I've ever watched in my life. This year’s Chinese New Year was
also one of the busiest I’ve had – busy with serious spring cleaning (for CNY
and Wedding); busy with preparing invitation cards to be given out during CNY
house visiting; busy with more coordination work. My room also
took on a transformational change – my single bed was ditched, and replaced by
a Queen-sized double bed. Before the month ended, we also filed for marriage
at ROM.
March 2018
After months of preparation, the month finally came. The eve of the big
day was so unnerving, as we travelled around the country to tie up all the
loose ends, collect bridal car, collect the gowns, and then went to TMBS for a
major setup, which lasted till 10-plus pm. I slept quite late that night,
making last minute briefings, and writing my vows. 3rd March
2018 came, and it was a surreal day that passed quickly. We hosted 400
people at the morning session at TMBS and another 400 people at the evening
banquet at Joyden Hall. It was a day we would remember for the rest of our
lives. This month, I caught a concert by 动力火车 and enjoyed all the classic songs. With the wedding done, I was able to
commit fully to trainings (at Bukit Timah and Dawson flats)
for my upcoming Mount Kilimanjaro trek, with my fellow trekking mates.
April 2018
The immediate month after wedding felt like I was suddenly relieved of
many things. I could finally return to my usual commitments, which included
attending meetings for the upcoming T.H.I.S Buddhist Film Festival; attending
meetings at TMBS; and having a celebratory meal with our
Wedding groomsmen and bridesmaids.
May 2018
On Mayday, we went for a nice Kayaking session near
Sembawang, something refreshing that we rarely do. My family had a studio
portrait shot with us in our graduation gowns. Training for
#KiliTeamSG continued religiously as this was our final month of preparation.
We had a staycation this month, as we had yet to finalise with
our honeymoon plans. The month went on with many meetups with
family and friends.
June 2018
The month started with last minute shopping for essentials for my trip
to Tanzania. We also caught a concert by 五月天 at the
National Stadium. Then I flew to Tanzania, setting foot on the
African continent for the first time in my life. I had been apprehensive about
scaling Mount Kilimanjaro, and a huge reason was because I had
experienced some symptoms of Altitude Sickness when I was at Mount Agung in
Bali. Thankfully, we took a 8-day trek via the Lemosho route, which allowed us
ample time for acclimatization. All 4 of us in the #KiliTeamSG group
reached the Summit! To me, this was a high point in my life too, as reaching
the Uhuru Peak was a huge item on my bucket list and I had been dreaming of
this day since 20 years ago! I had a very brief emotional moment while walking
on the ridge to the highest point. After the trek, we went for a Safari tour,
where I found myself on a hot air balloon for the first time, as well as
witnessing the famous Great Migration of animals. This
Tanzania trip was a truly memorable one. The month of June ended with WL’s
Dharma class graduation ceremony at TMBS.
July 2018
We had another staycation this month, to celebrate our
birthdays. One realization was that, as you progressed to the age of 30s, and
after a change in the marital status, birthday celebrations started to dwindle.
The excitement this month, was my daily monitoring of the selection status
at Ubi Grove BTO project. We were happy to have
successfully balloted for a queue number in the first 38% of the available
supply, and managed to select a unit that was still relatively alright, in our
opinion.
August 2018
August was a month when the T.H.I.S BFF team became busy with roadshows
and publicity, ahead of our event the next month. There were some additional
media reporting this year, which seemed to focus on areas where we didn’t
intend to. I took part in this year’s Army Half Marathon and
managed to score a new personal best result of 1:57:01. New PBs are always
worth celebrating! This gave me quite a good morale booster for the year-end
marathon that I was about to start training for.
September 2018
There was a family day event with WL’s company, and it brought
me for rides at Universal Studios Singapore for the first time! The significant
event for this month was the 5th edition of Thus Have I
Seen (T.H.I.S) Buddhist Film Festival. I reported to Shaw Lido every day in
the 8-day festival week, and had a great time there. It didn’t feel tiring at
all (to be there every day after work), and I know it’s because it’s something
that I believe in, and so I don’t feel tired at all. In fact, we (the
committee) felt a little sad when it ended.
October 2018
We celebrated our dating anniversary at the start of
the month. We had one more staycation in mid-October, before
doing our final packing at home for a 25-day long honeymoon! This
honeymoon was an epic one for me, as it involved another item on my bucket list
– taking the Trans-Siberian railway! Ok, more accurately, it’s
Trans-Mongolian, as the trip started from Beijing, passed through Mongolia, and
ended at Moscow. We experienced so much (culturally, historically,
geographically etc) in those 25 days, and I can’t wait to finish writing my
trip review and post it up here soon!
November 2018
Back at work after honeymoon, this month felt like the most uneventful month
of the year. Having had a great trip, from sleeping in a Mongolian Ger to
touching the waters of the Arctic Ocean; from watching the Northern lights to
eating reindeers, you have to pardon me for suffering from withdrawal symptoms!
December 2018
The festive month was quickly filled up with many fun gatherings as
usual, which would end the year on a high. I was also trying to get my house
tidied up and declutterred, as CNY would also be here in a jiffy. At the Standard
Chartered Singapore Marathon, I missed my personal best by a little, but
was satisfied that it was still the best timing clocked in Singapore. I guess
the trainings with Running Department were useful, and I will try my next
attempt at the 4:15 target next year.
2018 had been a particularly great year for me, of personal achievements,
self-discoveries and checking off bucket list items. It would be hard to outdo
a great year like 2018 again, with different challenges that would be thrown at
us as we grow older and assume more responsibilities, so I am going to be
missing 2018 for a while.
人生是黑白的.
3:43 PM <3
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