Happy New Year 2026

Finally last day of 2025.... To be honest, this year really flew. A blink and we're already at the end of it. 

It was an uneventful year for me. I'd wish for it to be more excited and fun like last year, but uneventful year means nothing really bad happened. A boring year means all was good and manageable. And for that I'm grateful.

Work was busy but not overly busy. I actually felt this year was the best balanced year I've had in years. Work was busy, but not crazy. Home was stressful at times especially at the beginning of the year, but somehow i detached better later this year i think, so i could still keep my cool and not stressed out. I slept better too. And made peace with my diet progress, at least I'm not overly chubby, but I'm still watching what i eat, exercise and try not to stress. 

I became lazier though. So many diy projects i started but didn't finish. I only just finished the Sakura train yesterday coz my friend gave me that for bday and i felt obligated to finish it. It was easy too. 3 days done. 

I kept on learning Japanese with Duolingo. Currently on 384 days streak. I'm sure i still can't converse with Japanese, but at least I'm learning more vocabs and hopefully can catch up bits n pieces when i go there again. 

I watched lots of series, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and anime. The only hobby i keep on doing coz I'm too lazy to do anything else lol. 

In terms of friendships, there was an old colleague who reached out to me again after years. We met few times, but then her life got busy and i was tired to chase again and again. I'll let her decide what to do with it. But at this stage of my life, i really can't be bothered to put effort on relationships, coz it usually ends up to be a waste of time. 

When my boss told me i could bring a plus one to Xmas party, doesn't have to be husband or boyfriend, can also be sister or friends, I had The Business Proposal moment "I HAVE NO CHINGGUUUU" moment lol but it wasn't in the pity party mode, it was more like romantic comedy moment. So i guess I'm really okay with my situation now. I really don't understand why people like to post "I'm going to restaurant alone for dinner. That's okay right? ", man of course it's ok, why do you even need to ask? 

Threads was probably the number 1 app i used this year. I've always been annoyed with reels and shorts where i have to watch the whole thing slowly to get what it is all about. I really prefer to just skim the caption and see if it's relevant to me, but most reels don't have that. So threads is perfect for me. Lots of stories and i can skim to see if it's relevant to me before concentrating on it. 

I went to Indonesia again, with 1 of my sis. Jakarta and Bali. It was fun, tho Bali one was a bit disrupted due to my bestfriend's hubby sudden gallbladder. But it ended alright and well i got to stay in quite a few of different hotels in Bali. I pretty much booked hotel every other day back then due to the uncertainty lol but lots of interesting memories this time. 

We also went on a cruise to Moreton Island with our whole family and cousin's family. It was awful. I hated every minute of it and don't wanna get on it again. Prob until I'm damn old and just want to relax. But even then I'm not sure, sounds like going to Japan and just stay in hotel and go out to konbini appeals to me more than cruise. It was so boring. I didn't get the internet plan, expensive and i thought there's plenty to do, but no, there wasn't. Food was just pub quality and not that great. True i didn't pay extra. But i mean it was so underwhelming for me to the point i didn't wanna spend another cent coz i didn't believe it was gonna change it. 

Dad had small surgery. It was 1 night stay only, thank god it was only 1 day. It was already stressing me out. I couldn't fall asleep that night coz i worried of getting a phone call from hospital in the middle of the night like 3 years ago. Hope there's nothing like that ever again. 

I took a week off from work a month after cruise. It was supposed to be the original cruise date, but my cousin forgot she was going back to work that week. I didn't cancel the leave but instead went all over Sydney eating meals i usually can't go coz of work, and trying cakes at cafes. I thought it was gonna be boring, but actually it was fun. A week went by so quickly and i actually didn't get to eat all from my list. 

On my birthday i took a day off. I planned to go to the zoo ($2 bday ticket) but the weather was awful so i didn't end up going. My sis and I went to a cafe I've tried during my leave and i ordered the cakes i wanted to eat. Then went window shopping, used my bday vouchers and had Japanese BBQ lunch and shokupan Japanese/Thai desserts. Oh my IT colleagues actually called me on my mobile and sang me happy birthday. It was really sweet of them 😊

Lots of not so good things happened to people around me, be it money loss, or relationships issue or just too hectic of life. So I'm grateful for my non eventful year. 

Hopefully next year I'll be braver to face all challenges in life, more diligent. And hopefully life will be easy, peaceful but fun and enjoyable in 2026.

Happy New Year 2026.

Hospital Playlist

 Hospital Playlist is really good in warming our hearts, isn't it? 

 There's this scene when Chuchu fainted because of stomach cramp, then her professor that she's been crushing on for ages come running to visit her. She thought she was delirious and seeing things and broke down happy crying when she realised he really came. How nice it is to see someone you love coming to see you when you're sick. It reminds me when my bff was sick, her then bf came and dropped a bag of bread in front of her door. He just left them there and didn't come in. He didn't buy her the bread she liked, he didn't know her preferences back then, but it was still so sweet.

Then, the scene when Chae Song Hwa was down for all day after hearing her mum had Parkinsons. Just laid there all day and didn't want to do anything. Ikjun blocked her door and turned everyone who came to ask for her help away. Making sure she had all the time she need to be alone. Then when night came, only then he knocked on her door, bringing her food her intern gave and he also bought her the BBQ grill she wanted to get. She cheered up instantly. He knew her so well. I think...i know quite a lot of people so well, yet I don't think people know me well. Probably my fault, I let people know some pieces of me I want them to know, but not everything. What's the purpose anyway? At the end of the day, we're alone. When I have problem, the most they can do is respond to my text. If there's a time that they need to choose between me and someone else, they won't choose me.

Then there's this scene when Jaehak saw Junwan coming in. Jaehak was SO happy to see him, and his colleague noticed it too. He said, he's always happy to see Junwan. I thought, hmmmm must be nice to have someone who's always happy when they see me. But then I thought.... that stalker..... ew... ok no, nevermind. I'm good not having one LOL

1 thing I really wish I could have is the relationship between Rosa and Jong Su. Purely decades of friendships, they take care of each other and have fun together, teasing and scolding each other. I wished I have friendships like that when I'm old. Must be so nice.

I also envy the 5 of them doing band practice regularly. It's really fun to play music in a group. I only did ensemble during high school, but even that was fun!!

If I was asked to choose out of the guys in Hospital Playlist, I think I'd choose Jeong Won. He's the most attentive and perceptive. He also communicates well, he's not afraid to tell her girlfriend what he feels and willing to discuss about it. He gives space, but he also shows that he cares about her and acts on it. I woudn't need to do guessing game with him. Ikjun is fun, my days would definitely not boring with him. He's also perceptive. But I don't know, Ahn Jeong Won seems more assuring. Seokhyeong is calm, but too calm that he's a clam. Will definitely have lots of misunderstanding with him. And so far, he can't stand up to his mum. So Jeongwon it is.

 

My Life is Damn Boring, But At Least I Love Eating

I was thinking just now, what should I have for lunch tomorrow. Then I realised, my life is boring, but at least I look forward to my lunches. At least I love eating good food. It would be so sad if I had nothing to look forward too.

There was one time I had bad food poisoning. I was pooping out every thing I ate for 2 weeks. I had to eat plain congee, couldn't have anything else for 2 weeks. If I ate something heavier than those, ie a piece of biscuit, rice, a glass of soymilk, I would be running for toilet within 30 minutes.

 That was damnnnnnn sad... My life felt so plain. I thought, what if I have to eat like this for the rest of my life? I won't be happy for the rest of my life.

 Few weeks ago I had a week off. I spent that week trying out restaurants and cafes I never tried before. And also revisiting a food court I used to frequent back in uni. I had no other plans that week. My colleagues gave me confused looks when I told them my plan, but that plan was enough to keep me entertained and relaxed. That week went by soooo quickly, and I actually thought it wasn't enough.

 Human is weird isn't it? Or is it just me? 

My Ideal House

If I could choose, I'd want my house to be:

• Facing north.
• 2 stories.
• A stand alone house. If can't, then totally totally clearly separated duplex with fence separating us. 
• Have a bit of land I can grow maple tree and cherry/plum blossoms tree and crabapple tree.
• 4-5 bedrooms. 4 is ok, but extra 1 study would be nice.
• 1 bedroom with ensuite bathroom on the ground floor.
• 1 bedroom with ensuite on the 2nd floor for my sis.
• Decent size bedroom at the back of the 2nd floor for me.
• Plenty of storage.
• Decent size pool just for daily exercise. Not plunge pool but also not a big pool. Just enough.
• Shared bathroom with a bathtub, the rest just shower. All bathrooms compact size. I really can't get why people have huge bathrooms, such a waste of space. I prefer Japanese compact size bathrooms.
• Island in the kitchen. 

 

It Was Not a Boring 2024 :)

So I skipped writing last year huh? Well 2023 was a very hard and tiring year for me. No wonder I didn't have the mood to write.

My wish for 2024 was to not have a boring year. I wanted to have a fun and exciting year. I also thought 2023 was such a boring and gloomy year, hence the wish for 2024.

And I did get a fun and exciting 2024 :)

Don't get me wrong, it was a busy and tiring year too. But at least there were some stories, new experiences, and few trips for me, to enjoy and spoil myself.

January, I was busy with work. I started having to do more work as a Team Leader - the tasks I have never done before and had to learn as I went. Plus the normal development. In this month also, 1 of the bathrooms in my house leaked, so I had to call plumbers/developers and discussed about repairs/ renovation. It was a very hectic month. To make it worse, my online friend who's been friends with me for the past 2 years was getting more and more suffocating. A little context here, I just quit my game as of 1 Jan, and got slammed into busy work straight away. Hence, I didn't chat with him as much as before. While he, I think worrying that we'd grow apart, kept bombarding me with texts and stalker behaviour. The whole month I was busy with life and work physically, and mentally busy dealing with this guy. Everyone told me to block him, but at the beginning I felt bad for ghosting (since I knew, I couldn't talk it through with this guy. He'd just pity party again). But towards the end of the month with all these things going on, and him creating another account just to test if I blocked him on discord, I exploded and finally blocked him everywhere. He still tried contacting me with other means until Feb I think. Oh I did have a meal with a guy my auntie introduced this month too. But nothing afterwards.

Feb, I still had to deal with that guy's attempts to reconnect. I even got a hand written letter through.... can you guess it? TRUCALLER!!!! I didn't know that app has got chat feature. NONE of the people I knew knew about it as well. Damn. Everytime I remember this, it pisses me off that I was actually the one who INTRODUCED this app to him. *bang head on the wall* 

Then, it was full of doctor appointments. I've noticed a lump for the past few months, but I didn't want to deal with it before Chinese New Year. So once it passed 15 days, I booked for doctor and started doing all those check ups.

Mar was full of doctor appointments and I had my surgery booked just 2 days before Easter. I planned it that way so I didn't have to take too many sick days to recuperate. And guess what, the renovation started the week before my surgery :) talk about bad timing. I was already busy and had to deal with this too. Mostly just phone calls, but I also needed to go to shop to choose tiles etc. Oh but I managed to get some tickets for &Juliet Musical. It was very enjoyable!!!

Apr we learnt how to paint :) the reno apparently doesn't include painting the ceiling -.- It was gonna cost $800-1200 to paint the ceiling. So, of course I, refused to pay and instead asked my friend to drive me to Bunnings and buy paints etc. Just bermodalkan watching videos + asking the staff, I, a week after surgery, with my sisters, painted the bathroom ceiling. Man... how painful were my shoulders and neck after that. I took 2 panadols that night. But then, painting skills unlocked! We also went to see a play, not musical, just a play. So it was our first play. And my online friend from Canberra came to visit at the end of the month.

May we went to see a solo musical performance. And I booked flight tickets to go to Indonesia alone!!!!!! And we booked our tickets for Japan in November yayyyyyyy ^^

Jun - The month I realised that I'm actually rich :| On a Saturday morning while I was sleeping in like a pig, my sister woke me up and asked me to book tickets for our parents to go back to Indo. My dad's depression was getting worse and he wanted to go see his doctor. So there I was searching for flight tickets literally a minute after I opened my eyes, and booked it within 10 minutes after waking up. For the next day. I'm not bragging, but seriously at that moment I realised, I was actually rich enough. And grateful that we had enough money to be able to do this.

I've been grateful for this more since Feb actually. Eventhough Australia has Medicare and I'm covered, but it doesn't actually cover for everything. Ultrasounds and biopsies are not 100% covered and sometimes, you need to pay first and claim after. If you don't have cash on hand, then how would you pay for all these? 1 scan is already hundreds of dollars. So yeah, this year I'm more aware on this, and really grateful that at least... despite all these problems, we have 1 less thing to worry about. It's true, money cannot buy happiness. But if you have money, at least you can focus more on the other things.

I also realised how great I am in sleuthing ;) 1 of our Sydney friends got married. We talked about him and then I googled the wife. Then... I found some interesting details... ho ho ho ho.... But yeah, I always know I'm good at investigating, but this year I realised that even more as my friend asked me to help find info hahaha...

Jul - Guess what. I got my first ever covid 1 week before my flight. Oh man, I got to frustrated. I so blaming my colleague for spreading it to me. And we only talked for few minutes once??? I guess my immune system was really low then. But in order to make sure I got well before the flight, I pumped up my vitamin c, drank coconut water and ATE A LOT. As the result I got well 2 days b4 the flight, but 2 kilo heavier :| Great. Just. Great.

Anyway, then I was off to Bali for a week. I was worried I'd somehow bump into him at the airport initially. But, once I saw the crowds of people trying to pick up..... Yep, there's no way either of us can recognise each other. There were so many people!!!! Even my BFF and I had trouble finding each other.

I stayed with my BFF in Bali and enjoyed that week with her, her hubby and also her cousin who flew to Bali to join me. It was really a nice time to just be me. We did Pandora Escape Room together too, the most difficult one, and we finished it 10 min before time was up (with plenty of hints hahahaha). But it's ok, we managed to get out is the important thing. There was 1 time when my bff thought she saw him, and I froze. Thank god it wasn't him phewwww

Then another week in Jakarta with my cousins and uncles/aunties. Oh I also tried the new fast train - Whoosh Whoosh to Bandung. It was really fast. Feel rugi paying expensive only for 20 min ride lolllllll That week was really just meeting friends and families and full on eating. I gained another 5 kilo in Indo *hopeless smile*

Aug - I went for coffee with the guy Denny's introduced. Nothing afterwards too. Then, Metro Sydenham - Tallawong Opened yayyayyyyyyy Now I have a lot of lunch options!!!!! Guang Liang's concert woohooooooooo!!!! It was such a great concert. He sang so well and very stable!!! I hope I can go to his concert again in the future. And Conan the Movie Million Dollar Pentagram was out in the cinema yayyyyy and we were going to the places featured in the movie hehehehehehe...

Sep - In the mood of sending food to my friends overseas. And started booking accommodation for Japan.

Oct - Can't remember much except we were super busy planning Japan trip + tax return. So many things I need to change for Aomori/Hakodate part as the trains and buses stop running from Nov. But so excitingggggggggg ^^

Nov - The TRIP IS HEREEEEEEE!!!! OMG the best part of my yearrrrrrr. We visited a lot of places, tried a lot of things, saw a lot, shopped a lot, it was just awesome!!! I think I really feel alive when i'm on this kind of trip. All the places we went to this time (except Asakusa), we haven't been to before. It's all new. It was hard planning and figuring things out, but it's so refreshing!! We tried a lot of new dishes too. I even didn't get to eat simple things I usually ate there, but other new things. Didn't even get the chance to eat Mos Burger lol. But we had anything else hahaha..

I spent my birthday in Sendai. Visited some historical places and then ended it with trip to the Aquarium xD My bff was laughing when I told her. She said, it's like 4th Birthday celebration. But I didn't care. I wanted to relax in the Aquarium ^^ The dolphin and seal show was so cute too!

We also visited quite a few places featured in my favorite anime Yuru Camp. Felt so blessed and grateful that I could see those places and experience it myself.

And finally we got to stay in the ryokan we always stay at in Asakusa. The owner as usual was very nice and helpful and even walked us to places we wanted to visit to (within the neighbourhood). He also walked us to the restaurant for dinner, sent us map to festival and walked us halfway to the station when we were going to airport. His wife also bought us apple pies *touched* It feels to me that we are more like friends now.

Dec - Back to reality. Straight busy to work but since it's almost Christmas, I only had 3 weeks work, then off 2 weeks for Xmas and New Year xD So nice huahahahahahaahaha I'm still relaxed from the holiday and admiring the cute useless stuffs I bought there, and reminiscing my time there.

I watched 34 Series this year which include 21 Anime, 9 Kdrama, 3 Cdrama, and 1 JDorama. My favourites are The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today, Marry My Husband, Wrong Carriage Right Groom, Queen of Tears,  Frieren, Yuru Camp, Bartender, Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori, No Love No Gain,  and Light Shop. 17 Movies (6 Animations, 4 Anime, 1Hollywood, 4 Indonesian, 2 Korean) - I think I missed some I watched on the plane though. And listened to many many horror podcasts.

I cut quite a few friends this year. No regrets there. I'm tired of people who don't put as much effort into the friendships as well. Relationships be it friendships or love, need both parties to reciprocate. I was too nice before and gave them too many excuses and benefits of the doubt, while they didn't even appreciate my existence. I guess that's it, I will just give them back what they give me.

Surprisingly this year I got really close to this Thai girl. Dunno how long this would last too. I actually thought our friendship would end last Dec as I was quitting the game. But we are still close till now.

Hopefully next year work is getting better and we get new clients. Honestly, work has been my happy place this year. Our department relationship is really great that I feel happy to come to work everyday. When someone said "Nobody likes to go to work", I actually got offended. Because I am happy to go to work. Yeah yeah I am always lazy to wake up, but I'm always happy when I get to the office (Unless I see the people I don't like he he). So I hope we get new clients and we can stay together longer.

I wish for a less mentally stressful year especially within our family. And I hope I get to travel twice next year too. And hope I can lose 5 kilo!!!!!! Ideally 7, but 5 is good enough *puppy eyes*

I wish for a for a healthy, happy, peaceful but fun and exciting 2025.

Like a Drama

Hey there,

I think I jinxed it lol

2 weeks after that previous post, Sydney went into lockdown hahahaha... And coincidentally, it started heading towards it after I called in sick for work. Last year's lockdown was also like that lol

So here I am, on my 10th week working from home. Maybe I'm mouldy already lol

Yesterday I was chatting with a game friend about Mystic Pop Up Bar. I recommended it to her, and she tried watching it, liked it and finished it quickly. She said she likes that kind of stories, slice of life and warms the heart. And she likes that it has a good ending. 

 It is my kind of story too. It shows that there are other sides to stories, that maybe everyone isn't as bad as we thought they are. However, too bad it's only a story. A lot of people in that story received help from the main lead, be it to avenge, to get back what they supposed to get, to find things they lost, or anything really... But in real life, we don't have anyone to help us do all those... all you have, is yourself... Everyone else can only pity you, support you or just looking for gossips without doing anything for you... and there's no guarantee of a happy end...

Sometimes I wished life was like in dramas.

Bye 2020, Not Going to Miss You

 So I didn't write anything for the whole 2020 eh :/ 

2020 sucked, it was such a tiring, frustrating and depressing year for me. I blame it to Covid19. Of course, I'm still grateful that I still have my job, didn't get a paycut, even though my payrise was conveniently cancelled *rolling eyes*, talk about bad timing. I guess this year had a lot of bad timing for me *sigh....

I've always considered myself a more stay at home person. Going out tires me out. So, I was happy at the beginning of quarantine and wfh. I could stay up late to play games, and still had enough sleep and woke up in time for work a.k.a. open my eyes, walk 1.5m to my laptop and start working LOLLL But I wasn't happy when wfh those 3.5 months. The internet speed frustrated me (thanks to you damn Optus), 1 monitor wasn't enough, and I had a very bad back/neck/shoulder pain. The good thing that came out of wfh was that I lost a lot of weight and have now achieved my ideal weight. Strange, I know, people said to me that they all gained weight, but I on the other hand, lost quite a few kilos without even trying. The secret, you ask? SMALL DESK SPACE CANNOT ACCOMODATE SNACKS!!!! And I used to eat out a lot, but couped up at home, I couldn't eat out and my portion grew smaller.

Speaking about couped up at home, thanks to Covid, I realised that sunlight does make me happy. When I feel gloomy at home, I go out for a walk and I feel better with the warmth of the sun on my face. So yes people, sunlight DOES CHEER YOU UP! I never considered myself an outdoorsy person, but I still remember the first time I went out for bushwalking after so many months staying home, I was SO happy. Maybe it was the feeling of prisoners after they are released from jail. I felt so happy, so free, so relieved, like I could breathe again. So weird...

Compared to all years that have passed, I think I got to know myself more this year. And honestly, I do not like it hahaha... I've been very sensitive and moody this year. And guess what, I was so damn happy when I went back to the office to work. We started going back to the office way earlier than other people, and I would have thought that I'd be cursing my bosses for being so conservative and not let us wfh longer, but you know what? I was relieved. My first day back? I was cheerful and happy. I never realised that I enjoy those banters I have with my colleagues, the arguments I have with my colleagues, and them teasing me for any faults that happen eventhough they are not mine. I actually enjoy those social interactions! I said I got to know myself way better right? I did MBTI test and I was identified as ISFJ, which they say the most extroverted introvert, and the type that craves attention from their loved ones (not in an attention seeking or spotlight hugging way, just in a love and care, emotional support and conversation sort of way). I guess I enjoy social interactions but only with people I'm comfortable with?

This year was full of Covid related things. I lost 2 granduncles, 1 from Covid, 1 from other disease. There was also a distant relative that passed away due to Covid. My cousin and 1 of my close friends got married on the same day in Oct. Thank God, 1 got married on Zoom only, so I didn't have to choose which one to attend.

I cut my hair short. I haven't cut my hair short since I was in 2nd grade LOL I got tired of washing and hair drying my hair, and since I didn't have to meet people, I asked my sister to cut it short, and I actually love it hahahaha... I've been having it short most of 2020. This is 1 of the good things Covid gave me.

It's really hard to think what I did this year.... I played games most of the time, watched Netflix, anime, sleep, lazying and procrastinating. I really haven't done much this year...

In terms of friendships, I got closer to my gaming friends. They made me laugh a lot, though they also are the reason why I didn't get enough sleep, pissed or sulking till next day, however... it's been fun, real fun. And I'm scared of when this all ends. I also got closer to my uni friends here. I was surprised to know that apparently they don't have a lot of real life friends too... I've always thought I'm the one with least friends.

I haven't been a good person this year. I also realised that being a good person doesn't give you great return most of the time. You'll be used by other people. Of course I've known that, but I thought I'd be able to pick up the signs and stop it before it happened. Turned out that I was wrong. Who knows if karma actually exists.

What else did I do... I got addicted to reddit for a while, obsessed with MBTI for a while, and went on a phase of buying gifts for people, sent 1 to Spore, 2 to Indo, and 1 in Oz I think. I also treated my colleagues. Something I don't really do often.

I have been unlucky this year. I only won 1 competition for movie premiere, The Croods 2. But guess what, the premier happened on the same day of company Xmas party and I couldn't go. Asked my sis to go instead, and she fell ill on that day. I couldn't even get the goodie bag -.- And my drops in game? very scarce. A lot of annoying events...

So yeah, here's me wishing for a better year ahead. A luckier year, a happier, kinder year, a more exciting year, a more loving year, and people to be more understanding, value, spoil and appreciate me. Is that too much to ask?

And hope I'll be better in 2021, either for the sake of me, or for other people.

<3

Goodbye 2018, Helloooooo 2019!

Hi guys!

Just as I usually do on 31st Dec every year, I'm writing a reflection on what 2018 has been. I know I didn't write much this year, and it's to do with all the web novels I read when commuting XD but I still wanna write this one for a quick 2018 summary :)

2018 was full of TV series and web novels lol In total, I've finished 10 TV series this year. I think my mandarin should have improved a bit from watching all those :P I also attempted to sub last 15 min of Yanxi Palace on Youtube as I couldn't wait for someone else to sub it. After doing it, I now have respect to all those freee subbers out there. Even if English and Mandarin are their main languages, the translating, editing and timing takes A LOT OF TIME. So guys, please don't be a jerk and get mad when the subbers miss the schedule time. They have real life to do and it's good enough that they spare a lot of portion of their life to let you enjoy those dramas.

I think the drama that I liked this year was The Eternal Love. It's light and funny and made me feel happy and forget all my worries. It was low budget, but the crew did their best and it was very enjoyable. Another one would be Ode to Joy 2. I think it was comparable to the 1st season. It was realistic and kinda opened the can of worms of things that people kind know not to do, but still do anyway. Hopefully that show can touch the hearts of some of the people and make the world a little bit kinder place to live in. When a Snail Falls in Love was good too, I liked it better than Love Me If You Dare. It's good to see Wang Zi Wen play a role that's total opposite of Qu Xiao Xiao (eventhough I really wish I could be more like Qu Xiao Xiao). She's really an underrated actress. The King's Woman was so so, but Zhang Bin Bin was refreshing to my eyes lol Not that handsome, but still eye candy lol

None of the web novels I read was finished this year. I'm currently reading The Concubine's Daughter is Poisonous, Princess Medical Doctor and Rebirth of the Malicious Empress from Military Lineage. The Concubine's Daughter and Malicious Empress are GREAT! I really enjoy them. Malicious Empress is nearing the end, and I'd be sad when it ends :( The Concubine's Daughter translation is of very high quality. Again, respect to all those translators and editors :) Thank you.

We finally had our second trip to Japan this year :) We visited Tokyo, Nikko, Yokohama, Takayama, Shirakawago and Gokayama, Kanazawa, Tsumago and Magome, Kyoto and Osaka. I tried the Onsen too!!! And surprisingly I enjoyed it so much! If I go to Japan again, I'd like to go onsen again hehehehe... I also went all out in Disneyland and USJ. I didn't get on outdoor roller coasters, but I did ALL of their indoor dark roller coasters!!! I'm very proud of this hahahaha... And we got on almost all rides we wanted in Disneyland on a 50k visitors day (the red indicator day)!!! VERY, VERY proud of this achievement too hahaha... and we tried the night bus from Tokyo to Kanazawa. It was very comfortable :) This time in Japan, we splurged more. Afterall, we're all still single and we usually are thrifty anyway. So I let myself buy more cute stuffs, Conan stuffs, Sailormoon stuffs and tried more expensive snack food lol XD No regrets!

My cousin got married this year, and I got to help her set up the wedding hall. That's an achievement you know! From blank canvas, we transformed the hall into what my cousin had in mind. The end result was an on time really gorgeous wedding :)

Honestly I felt I was really lazy this year. We had a cold winter. Even it started getting really cold in Autumn. So I pretty much hibernated from Apr - beginnging of Nov :/ and that's how I managed to watch all those dramas XD Hope I won't hibernate that long in 2019!

Work.... a lot of drama in terms of the work itself, and in relationship department. It ended up in eruption just 2 weeks ago. I'm still a bit down if I remember it. Hopefully there's a way out for me next year. Someone please save me... I'm too scared to leave eventhough I know I should leave. So please save meeeeeeeee

I did help someone for a weekend for his website. So I kinda had a feel of freelancing. Man it was hardwork. I don't think I wanna go down that path. I like my weekend reserved for refreshing!!! A local bus driver mentioned that he wanted to have a website and may ask my help for it one day. Oh man, I was SO SCARED of bumping into him! I even went as far as to go earlier to gym, and walked home to avoid his bus! Unfortunately, all those exercises didn't do much help to my figure >>>>___<<<< My weight stays the sameeeeeee TT_______TT

This year I'm more lenient towards myself in terms of money and things I want to do. Some people I know, either personally or through someone else, were affected with cancer this year. They were all young, probably only few years older than me. It kinda shocked me that it can happen to anyone anytime. Therefore, don't always think about the future, of course future needs to be prepared, but don't always think about the future and not enjoying your present. We all hope there's a future for us, but at least if there isn't, you won't regret it at the end of your life...

Not much craft, not much language learning. As I said, the cold winter made me snuggle in bed for months, so forget about getting my fingers to do craft :P I did start listening to Audio books for language learning, and they actually work. It gets your brain to actively work even when you're walking on the street. I'll continue doing it.

I had the opportunity to experience the power of teenagers in social media. My 13 years old cousin, actually managed to make me one of the winners of photo competition by getting her friends to vote for me!!!! It's pretty astonishing how easy it it to get her friends to vote for me, someone who they don't know, for a photo that's just okay, to end up being in top 3! I'm still dumbfounded until now. But thanks my dearest cousin *muachhhh*

I met my cousin and his wife who I haven't seen since 10 years ago in Melbourne. It was not planned. We just happened to be in Melbourne at the same time and I checked in on Facebook. He saw it and arranged to meet up. We ended up meeting for breakfast and dinner and now talk to each other sometimes on whatsapp. What a great coincidence :) For that, I truly grateful...

And last memorable thing this year was the game I am recently hooked on, Royal Chaos. What started from just curiosity, ended up giving me headache and joy and refreshment when I need some distraction from real life. I've got into a great community that's fun and supportive. Most of them are youngsters though, that sometimes make me feel old. But they are all very nice people and we can just talk about random stuffs or bitch about our common enemy XD I remember there's this list about what people should do to enjoy their life, it's to spend time with the elderly and kids. But I think spending time with people a generation younger than you is great too. It makes you see life in lighter way and not to take things seriously ALL the time. But man, I also didn't think that game can have so much dramas and politics too!!!! Sometimes I'm wide awake at 1 in the morning because of the drama or fights we have with the other party -_- But I won't wish to not get involved in this game in the first place.

So that's it for 2018 reflection. I need to prep the dish for tonight's dinner!!!

Bring on 2019 and please be kind but exciting and memorable and HAPPY!!!!!

Happy New Year 2019 guys!!!!!!! *hug hug kiss kiss*

Random blabbering

2 things came in my thought this morning:
1. Our life is full of great books, comics, movies and series. I want to live for a long long time to enjoy them all!!

2. I read a comic where the side character is really poor so that his bro who's still in year 3 is the only one who doesn't have a game in class. His older brother's friend recalled a memory of the same thing happening to the older bro when they were in primary school. But when he wanted to lend his game to him, he said, "I have no interest at the moment. If I want to play a game in the future, I will make it myself". Reading that, I feel proud of myself. I can't make a game, but I can buy games with my own hard earned money yayyy!!! XD

My First Thoughts on Barefoot Investor

I'm reading Barefoot Investor now. Its actually againsts my personal rule of not reading personal help books in an attempt to not brainwash myself. Those books sound really scary you know, seems like they can turn you into something completely different. I blame The Secrets to be exact.

But anyway, my colleague Barbie mentioned it to me. Barbie thought I was the one who recommended it last time, but no, it was my first time hearing it. I said to Barbie, I don't read those kind of books. Which Barbie replied, "That's a pity". This is 1 of the reason why I don't like Barbie. The i-know-everything-and-participate-in-anything act. Why should you pity me? I don't read those doesn't mean I don't do things they tell you to do in those books? I just read the early chapters, and you know what? I've done the first steps years ago. I can skip the first Barefoot Date yayy

I didn't plan to read this book really. But after going into library a couple of times last month and seeing the book for the 2nd time in Fast Loan section, I thought, alright, I will read it. The cheapskate/tightarse/thrifty/wanna-be-rich-and-retire-early part of me is a bit intrigued and want to know if there is something I can take out of it. Even if it makes me richer just by $50, it's still free money right? And it's actually written by an Australian, so it is relevant to me. And it's not thick, I should be able to finish it in a week. And, the way it's written is just like the way I write huahhahaha... Can get something unrelated tangled up to make a point lol XD

The first step is to make zero fee savings account and separate accounts for emergency and daily. Checked. Did that years ago and got all those free money for opening up accounts. Emergency... I do have an account, but it's really empty and I don't usually need it as I'm not the type who splurges or accidentally spends all my money in my daily account.

Second step, setting up high interests accounts. Did that years ago and now with a mortgage, my mortgage interests are higher than the highest savings account interests. So nope, not relevant anymore.

Third, superannuation. He's saying to ditch Self managed funds. But I haven't read all the chapters. We'll see.. I know I have investments going on there which is not bad at all, but I did think to change it to be more risky one. I will keep on reading.

A Condemning Society

The other day I saw a comic made by sporean comic writer that tells a story about a youngster who scolds an elderly in a food court. A passerby records a video of it and uploads it onto social media. As a result, a lot of people see and share it and people starts to condemn and verbally abuse her on social media. Not only that, people also gives her death stare and purposely bumped her on the street. Because of it, she's now terrified to go out.

This morning, I saw another comic made by Indonesian comic writer. The story was about a guy riding a motorcycle without wearing a helmet. A police stops her and wants to issue a fine. The biker slaps the police on the head and says, "You dare? I'm in the army! You can't fine me!". A passerby records it and upload it to social media. The head of the army then catches the guy and hands him over to the police.

When I saw the first comic, I felt sorry for the girl. She's still wrong, but she didn't deserve to be treated like that. Not only online, she was abused in real life by people she didn't know too. And she isn't even a murderer.

The second one though, I think was used appropriately. In Indonesian society, some people still believe they are above the law and can just walk their way out of problem either just saying they have certain position, or by bribing.

Both were punished in the end, however, I believe the biker wouldn't have been abused in real life. I think people treated her that way because she was easier to bully. The biker could easily reports anyone bullying him on the street for going against an officer while she can't?

Another thing is, the biker was handed over to police, that will shut people up. But then again, he was breaking the law in the first place. In the girl's case, it was about manners. She didn't break any law. She can't be handed over to police. The most she can do is apologise, and based on the comments on the comic, she already did. But that's not enough and people still abuse her.

In today's society, or maybe I should say even before, people constantly judge other people. Nowadays is more obvious though. Through social media, people are turning into keyboard warriors and condemn others every single second. I might be considered one of them too, I guess, since I'm talking about them now.

The other day there was a post on facebook about a mum who ear pierced her baby daughter. A lot of women strongly condemned her for doing so by saying she has no right to her body, it's cruelty against children, she's hurting the baby just for fashion, and so on. It was bad. Of course, there were other women who came to her defence and said it's better to be done when she's little so her mum could take care of it, they were earpierced when they were babies too and they are OK with it, it doesn't hurt that much, she won't remember it, and so on.

Some even said they were grateful to have theirs done when they were babies. They saw how their friends had ears pierced during teenagers and saw what they had to go through with the infection etc. I'm also one of those babies, my mum pierced my ears when I was 1 or 2 months old. Even then, she regretted it. Saying she had to care for me myself. Next time she gave birth, she asked the hospital to pierce their ears on Day 2.

But yeah, the opposition group is pretty strong. It was like they were condemning a thief.

Society is really weird nowadays... Few weeks ago, a guy was shot by police for holding a florist hostage with scissors and broken bottle for who knows why. I think he had mental issues. Then, people started critiquing the police for shooting him dead. Even though he already hurt the florist' neck!

I thought people would have learned from Lindt Cafe incident 2 years ago. Back then, the police didn't want to have casualties and didn't barge in until they heard shots, as the result 2 people died. Back then, the police were blamed for holding back. And now they didn't hold back, but are still blamed.

It's a weird world we live in 😕

Similar Different Fate - Part 2

One day 3 of us were shopping at Broadway, then Eva went to buy something at Go-Lo. When she returned, she told me and the other bestie the Go-Lo was looking for people for stock take. My response was, "What's stock take?". Neither of them knew what stock take meant either. But even so, I went and put down my details. Eva didn't, because she was going on holiday soon, but the other one did.

Few days after, I received a phone call telling me I got the job. The other friend didn't get it. It was funny, considering she put down her name right after mine, either I was the last person required, or they thought her one was a prank as we put same birthday. That time, I still didn't know what stock take was 😂

So I went, and turned out it was just a one day job to count the stocks in hand. No interview what so ever as it was just that. I was a bit disappointed, but at least I earned money right? It was a long job, I finished at 10. The manager told us, if we didnt mind, he'd pass our details to the other stores just incase they need people. Other store did call me, and I even managed to get the other friend to come work too.

Probably a week after, I received a call from that manager, saying he couldn't find my forms, did I fill them out? I said yes. He said he'd keep searching and would call me if he couldn't find them. Few days after, his phone call woke me up. Sleepily I picked up, and he asked me if I was looking for a job? I said yes, I was. Then he said he needed some casuals and would I be interested? Oh hell I was! He asked me to come in to chat, and I was officially hired 😊

OK, from then on, I became busy. I didn't work over my 20 hours limit, but enough to get me busy. In addition, I got another 1 morning a week handing free paper job. I followed rules closely to the t and made sure I didn't work more than 20 hours. Therefore, a lot of times I had to drop my shifts. Same with exam period, I'd be asking for a week off to study (though the most I got was few days off 😕 After few days off, my manager would call up saying the other girl was sick, could you please come? So I couldn't say no and went to work).

This other bestie however, would be the one asking for more shifts and didn't ask for days off to study. She'd burn the midnight oil to study rather than taking days off work. There was once she had to fake a sickie on an exam day because she didn't finish her study.

Do you see the pattern between me and her now?

Even after uni, she went straight into job hunting while I was scared as hell and didn't apply for anything until 6 months after graduation. Even that, was forced.

She found a full time job pretty soon after graduation. But she still kept her Coles as second job for weekends and sometimes night shifts.

I continued with Go-Lo and 2 mornings handing free papers, then I got a part-time programming job (3 days a week). I kept that up until I changed job 1.5 years after. This time, it's a full time job. However, I still kept my Go-Lo job (around this time, the missing money incident occurred) for a few months for the weekend, and then moved to a souvenir store.

I honestly only planned to stay for a couple of months in that souvenir store. I joined, just because I was invited by the last manager of Go-Lo and curiosity. However, not long after that, my sisters graduated and couldn't find a job. It was GFC again. I had to keep 2 jobs to cover all of our expenses. My parents could support us, of course. But my dad was having depression, asking for money would just add up to his depression. If he's depressed and asked me all those questions, it would stress me out, so it was easier to just earn as much money as I could.

So yeah, if I think about it, me and my friend have pretty similar journey of life. However, in my case, it was not my choice. I don't know if it was luck, coincidence, or just fate. In her case, she chose to do so. It's in her nature to strive and earn money. Back then in uni, if she didn't get shifts for a week, she'd freak out and chasing her manager. For me, I'd just calculate to see if I can survive from last week's pay and I'd be content. I was sure too that someone would call in sick and I'd be called to work. If not, then I could relax. Mind you, her parents could support her too.

I was born at night, which makes me a night rat. They said night rats fate is tiring. It's the time when they need to go out and find food while everyone else is asleep. It's true in my case. I believe my friend was born during day time, and according to the horoscope, she should be the happy rat, sleeping in after eating all the food she's found.

Hoping For a Better Indonesia

Lately, every news feed I see on Facebook is either about Ahok vs Anies (after Anies won the election), or about conflict of religion. The main purpose of me keeping a blog is for history keeping, like a time capsule, it is written with a hope that when I read it years from now, I could laugh at all the funny stories or be glad that the world is getting better than back then.

Reading all those news, I still can't get my mind to understand the way Anies followers think. Actually, forget that, I don't get how Anies actually thinks. Like yesterday, there was news saying he's reported a guy who claimed his 0% home deposit program is for a chicken coop. I mean, come on...

The other popular news is about Moslem radicalism in Indonesia. There was news about school kids rejecting the student head due to different religion, kids on the street asking their friends'religion and refusing to play with kids who don't have same religion as them, and don't forget about the tactic they used to make people vote for Anies. It was using religion too. Mind you, our country's ideology is diversity, and there are 6 legally recognised religions.

I can't believe I thought Anies was a good guy. I was happy when he was made the minister of education. Oh well, I guess this is what they mean with wolf covered in wool.

The other day, the labourer had demonstration to raise their pay. Guess what their first demand was? To have the you in hall cleared off the flowers that were sent by Jakarta people to say thanks for what Ahok and Jarot did the last few years! What does that have to do with you?! That's clearly jealousy and child's play. Then, they took those flowers and burnt them. Then the rain fell, and they took the other flowers and used them as cover. Huh?? Weren't you so disgusted by them so you burnt them? And then hang on, it rained, so just take some for cover?

I'm speechless 😑

Calon-calon gubernur and wakil gubernur Jakarta 2017-2022

Sampe around minggu lalu, aku ngga tau kl pilkada tuh serentak di seluruh Indonesia. Secara yg diberitain di kompas and facebook semuanya cm pilgub DKI Jakarta. Kali ini aku ikutin lho semua debat cagub DKI. Plus nonton mata najwa, though cm Ahok doank sih, abisss makin dengerin anies ngomong, aku makin pengen tutup kuping. Itu nada ngomong kenapa ya, rasanya gak enak banget di kupingku 😕

Too bad my loyal blog reader gak ada niat buat ikutin ginian. Kl ngga, kita bisa ngegosip deh. 1-1nya temenku di sini yg ngikutin, uda changed 180degree (in other area, not about pilgub. Gaya ngomong dia aja udah gimanaaa gitu, jd males deh) and I can't stand to argue anymore with him, jd ya sudahlah. Cm bisa gangguin temen2 yg di Indo deh....

Aku kmrn bela2in lho spend my Saturday nonton debat cagub DKI 2.5 jam. Pulang gym, aku lgs angkut laptop ke bawah, coba connect ke TV etc with no success which I cbf to check if it's laptop issue, cable issue or TV issue. Jd ntn di laptop aja deh. Terus ambil cemilan and my planner and novel (kalo2 boring and I need more distractions), and duduk manis ntn debat.

Baru si nomer 1 sebutin visi misinya soal penanggulangan narkoba, aku uda langsung teriakin, "Woiiiii gubernur tuh bukan polisi, mana bisa dia tangkepin orang??? Ini org did his research gak sih?? Jurisdiction gubernur tuh apaan aja??".

Iye, dia blg kalo dia bakal firm menanggulangi narkoba. Pengedar akan ditangkep and dihukum tanpa ampun and tanpa pandang bulu. Ya intinya sih dia bolak balik bilang bakal firm. Bakal dihukum berat pengedarnya. Tp ya umm loe kan bukan polisi? Aku uda lama sih gak di Indo, tp aku yakin gubernur gak bisa tangkepin orang. Kl bisa sih, maybe uda banyak kali yg Ahok tangkep. Cm polisi yg bisa nangkep2in orang neng. Which is weird really, considering si nomer 1 jebolan militer, mustinya dia tau donk gini2an?

On the other hand, nomer 3 anti hukum menghukum. Semua musti direhabilitasi. Yah terserahlah. Though I wonder kalo duitnya cukup.

Tapi, kl soal gusur menggusur, si nomer 1 bolak balik bilang gak bakal gusur, cuma geser aja dikit. Umm... Mas, bukannya sungai2nya perlu dilebarin? Gimana gesernya kl sungainya dilebarin? Ada jg maybe musti gusur yg legally punya tanah. Kl misalnya gak dilebarin, bukannya bakal tetep banjir juga?

Belon lagi cawagub nomer 1 tampangnya jg nyebelin bener. Dunno why, dia nyengir aja keliatannya uda nyebelin bener :l is that because she looks licik? Plus kostum nomer 1 bikin gerah aja liatnya. 1 keliatannya panas. Tangan panjang kan soalnya, plus mereka pake bajunya dobel jg deh kayanya. 2. Warnanya gelap gitu. Somehow ngingetin aku sm SWAT. Gak masalah sih, secara itu baju mereka and aku gak usah pake, tp ya, gerah aja gitu liatnya.

Oh, soal bullying di sekolah juga. Nomer 2 kan bilang hukumannya either gak naek kelas ato dikeluarkan. And again the once upon a time mendikbud bilang, gak bisa apa2 dikeluarkan dikeluarkan, apa2 ditakut2i, harusnya dibimbing. Helloooo kl emang anaknya gak bisa dididik gmn? Apa musti korbannya yg musti keluar? Ato korbannya musti brave themselves and see their bullies every single time di sekolah? Terus terang makin lama aku makin gak heran dia dicopot dr menteri.

Itu nomer 1 and 3 bolak balik nyerang nomer 2. And pertanyaan mrk buat each other jg gak banget deh. Either gak jelas pertanyaannya apa, or ya gak penting deh.

Yg paling lucu sih soal cawagub no 1 yg ribut kl Jakarta gak ramah difabel. Dia blg buktinya gak ada PNS Jakarta yg difabel. Which Ahok replied by saying, "Aduh bu Sylvi kemana ajaaaaaaaa??? PNS Jakarta yg difabel ada 1%, dan kita target tingkatkan jd 2%. Ibu Sylvi ini tipe PNS yg gak mau bergaul sama PNS2 rendahan, jd gak tau kl ada yg difabel". Me: *ketawa berguling2 and lgs whatsapp temen ngegosip* hauhaahahahahaahahaaha xD OMG, you should watch it!

Mrk2 ini keluarin datanya kok ga beres sih? Malu tau kalo smp kaya gitu.

Aku jg musti salahin Ahok jg sih. Mustinya dia prep debatnya lengkap, what they've done so far, how is it going, what they need to improve and how they are going to do it. Kl gitu kan lgs skak mat and yg 2 itu gak bisa buka mulut tanya lagi. Though ngeliatin tipe2 mereka sih, mereka bakal tetep tanya sih, hoping gak ada yg nyadar kl itu ida dijawab sebelonnya.

Abis debat pertama, temen istrinya post di facebook or apa gitu I forgot. Basically blg kl debat itu kaya bapak sama 2 anaknya. Yg sulung idealis tp gak praktikal plus sok tau. Yg bungsu masih gak tau mau ngapain, tp sensi. Itu sih kubilang tepat banget perbandingannya. Tp bininya nomer 1 jd marah and ngelabrak temennya itu di sosmed. Rame dehhhh... Apalagi later on dia minta maaf ke seluruh rakyat Indonesia soalnya uda bikin rame. Hmm... 😕 *towel towel*, why ke rakyat Indonesia neng? mustinya kan ke temen loe itu?? Intinya dia gak ngerasa dia salah, tp kl gak Minta maaf tar image dia jelek, jd ya Uda deh, ga usah minta maaf ke org yg bersangkutan, ke rakyat Indo aja, kan at least dpt maaf Dr ribuan org, jd ga usah pusingin soal 1 org tadi deh.

Terus ada lg yg dipromoin cagub nomer 3. Beli rumah tanpa DP katanya. Honestly aku gak gitu dengerin sih, soalnya my first reaction was, emangnya dia bisa bikin bank2 mau pinjemin tanpa DP apa? Anyway berdasarkan info2 dr sosmed yg gak jelas jg bener apa ngga, kayanya yg mau pinjem disuru nabung dl selama 6 bulan. Kl setelah 6 bulan dievaluasi mrk bisa konsisten bayar, nah duit itu dijadiin DP buat beli rumah. Org2 di sosmed ribut, kl itu bukannya sama aja bayar DP? Terus ada yg hitung2, kl rumah 500juta, musti nabung 6 bulan buat dp which is 10%, kan jd 50 juta, cicil 6 bulan jd 8jutaan sebulan, makan apa 6 bulan itu? Terus ada another group yg nangkepnya 6 bulan itu bayar cicilan harga rumah itu sendiri buat 30 taon, dia itungnya for example 800ribu per bulan, which menurut Dia tetep aja mahal and org gak bisa bayar. Tp kl aku sih mikirnya, balik lg ke bank mana yg mau pinjemin duit 30 taon cm dgn 4.8 juta DP? Plus knowing Indo, yg gampang bener pinjem duit ke temen kerja, ipar, adik kakak or sepupunya ipar, temennya temen dll, kubilang sih bakalan banyak yg pinjem kanan kiri buat 6 bulan itu. And once uda dpt pinjemannya, bakalan mandek deh bayar cicilannya.

Anyway it is really interesting and entertaining. Sayang aku gak bisa ikutan milih dr sini 😞

Sacrifices and Taking Things for Granted

My dad is going back home this Saturday. I never have told my parents, but every time they are here, at the last week of the stay I try not to go out and have dinner at home.

I guess if I say it directly to them, they might feel happy. People are always happy when they know other people are making sacrifices for their sake or go out of their way for them.

It reminds me of few years ago when I had my bestie still in Australia. Back then I used to work on the weekends, so I couldn't hang out much. She was always out during weekends with friends. There were times when she went out without asking me to join because she thought I was working, or because she just didn't think of it, or simply because there was no more space in her flatmate's car. Sometimes she went to restaurants I had been craving to go too, and places I also wanted to go.

Every time that happened, I got upset and we had a fight or cold war (Thanks to Facebook, I got to know where she went all those time. Now that I think about it, some of those fights wouldn't have happened if Facebook didn't exist :/) She was stubborn and I was sensitive. The cycle went on and on, even until I quit my weekend job. I still am a sensitive person, but after the last few years I realise that nothing really last forever. So don't waste your time and energy to fight, they are going to leave soon anyway. It is not worth fighting for.

But back then, I wanted to make a point. I guess I wanted myself heard, that she knew that it was making me upset. I didn't want that one day she would say, "I didn't know you were upset. You should have said something". Well.. not that I could keep it to myself anyway, I am after all a very expressive person and can't hide my emotion at all. I guess, I wanted to make sure that I wasn't taken for granted.

Nobody likes to be taken for granted, right?