2012

It has been a truly beautiful year. One year ago, I subjected myself to the laborious chore of condensing 2011 into a blurb of 500 words. I don't think 500 words will suffice this time round.

Warrior at work

As a student, I yearned to step out of my readings and into the workforce. A year on, I've broken free of the pneumatic cycle of mugging and projects and accumulated fresh battle scars from this strange world I never got to know within the safe haven of a lecture hall. I am truly lucky to be flanked with fellow warriors in my line who have fought more than enough battles to nudge me through when I get into a tight corner.

I have been asked the same question over countless conversations: why didn't you pick a job with more relevance to your degree? After crafting and editing my lines from talking to so many people, the standard answer is, "I like to apply the skills I learn in the course of my study instead of living straight off the book". Most often than not, I would receive weird furrows of eyebrows and exclamations, questioning the link between what they perceive I do at the office everyday and what they perceive I study. But again, if only people truly understood what my job encompasses, perhaps they would be a tad nicer to us. One can dream, can't I?

"Yes I do."

I don't mean to misread anyone, but there are people of my age who crave no-strings-attached, non-committing relationships. This is my first relationship, one I pored over for several weeks before making the decision to delve into something entirely strange yet exciting. From school and now into the working world, we're both changed, matured and learnt to grow with each other as a permanent feature in our lives. There was no doubt that I would say yes when you got down on one knee; there's an endless stream of memories that I'm waiting to create with you in this lifetime. Yes, I do.

The love abode

And this is just the beginning. I've dreamt for so long about the day I'll move into my new home with my loved one and build everything within from scratch. The wallpaper, the lighting, the furniture, the utensils, the cutlery... Most importantly, our very own love abode. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll be able to get it next year, so that the renovation works will be completed by the time we're ready to move in.


Graduation

Apparently I enjoy getting things done in reverse order. Found work, bought flat, got engaged, GRADUATED. The lapse between my last school day and graduation has diluted the excitement, but it was a great day to play catch up with my fellow CNM alumni. Been there, done it.

3 weeks

I hope I'm not the only one who has issues with weekends. They're deplorable in the sense that you spend the entire span of five working days counting down to Saturday and Sunday, but take 48 hours to squander it away.

We're finally down to planning the details of the itinerary of our year-end getaway. It's particularly exciting this time round, because it's going to be just us against the world. I'm a sucker for down-to-the-minute planning, while le Fiance is just fine getting dragged around by me. At this point of time, the initial plan to travel on a generous budget doesn't seem too appropriate, because a greater event with an even larger budget is currently in the works, and I'll find a suitable occasion to share it with those concerned. :)

We took some time out over the weekend to check out the building progress of our little abode in the North-East. It seems like the contractors are wrapping the last of the piling works, as the huge boulders, the piling machines and the deep pits indicating the location of each block seen this July have all disappeared. We'll check back sometime next April to update the building progress. Who knows, we may even be getting our keys one year in advance. *fingers crossed*

Stop and stare. Hard.

I've decided to stop Googling for wedding bands, just like a friend has stopped researching on her wedding gowns because "they are all starting to look the same". I think it's starting to catch on with me, even though I have no idea when I'm going to buy them. Suppose that gives me more time to do research instead of rushing into it within the next year or so. I finally see the pros of balloting late for a house - at least the pressure to get hitched isn't as great since you can't really see the imminent deadline just as yet. Research is good, but too much can be nauseating.

Anyway, we've finally paid our downpayment and signed the Lease of Agreement for our little nest yesterday. It is always comical to deal with our own CSOs - the expression on their faces when they key in our reference number into the system and our particulars pop up is priceless. Anyway, despite needing to fork out every single cent on our own, I'm glad we did so and were able to do so without taking personal loans from our parents nor breaking the bank just to buy our home. Our careful calculations also ensured that we would never need to pay a single cent in cash for our monthly instalments in the future.

Downpayment - checked

Life, accident, critical illness, hospitalisation insurance - checked

Commencement - checked

Joint account - checked

Now it's just a matter of saving and paving a smooth-sailing road to our big day. :) I don't give a damn about people who talk about my longer-than-usual engagement period, because these people probably don't have the luxury of time, or maybe because their marriage cert is a MUST and not a WANT. You get the idea. The latest Cosmo had an article on long engagements, which I could somehow relate to. I don't need the pitying glances nor the condescending remarks - those with their rings on their fingers and noses in the air should realise that they are the ones with a larger margin of error. So stop asking already. When we've decided, I'll bless you with a envelop with my red bomb and an angbao to deposit your arrogance in.

Can't wait

Following the booking of our flat and securing our ideal home loan amount, I'm feeling more comfortable with discussing about our interior design. I consider it a boon that we'll be handed an empty flat with the bare minimum done, because that means that there's greater flexibility in designing our dream lovenest and we don't have to incur unnecessary costs tearing out stuff that has been pre-done. A preliminary discussion with Jack revealed some of the similar concepts we have in mind, so that's kind of like a good start. I've also been putting Pinterest to great use by using it to sieve out design concepts for quaint kitchens and alternative layouts to make the best out of our pinhole kitchen.

Bulbs are cute and easy to replace, but a hassle to clean after cooking up a storm.

And the great leap... into our 50th month.

As my portfolio is almost finalised and Jack's workload piles up, it's getting increasingly difficult to spare up weekday nights for each other. We're both aware that this first few years in the workforce is going to be a crucial period of make-or-break for our career and, with so many life-changing milestones in the making, we can't afford to be lax or throw in the towel.

And thanks to Kenzo for a lovely present. :)

Sparks fly

I realize I watched most of Sam Worthington's films. He may be 36, but he's still quite the looker.

After Clash of the Titans, my interest in gods and demi-gods grew immensely; I was intrigued by the complex relationship web connecting every Greek god to each other. The sequel Wrath of the Titans continued to weave in the story of Perseus' life after the Kraken's slaying with the capture of Zeus by his evil twin Hades in a bid to revive their father Cronos. You can go ahead and read the spoilers here, or simply pop by the cinemas to catch it before it ends its runs here. It'll definitely make more sense if you'd watched the prequel, but it's good on its own too.

... ... ... And we finally booked our lovenest.

It hadn't been our first attempt at trying to secure a flat, despite our circumstances as "insiders". Contrary to what people always assume incorrectly, we do NOT have priority nor special treatment when it comes to buying a house. In fact, this flat came only on the third attempt, almost half a year after our first shot. We decided to wait out after our second try (we were rejected flatly), after some careful calculation by Jack. We knew we wanted to secure a home of our own as soon as possible, since BTOs take up to 4 years to build but, at the same time, we realised that it is only with financial security that we would be able to handle the entire payment of a home on our own, without our parents needing to fork out anything for us. So when I secured my job, we nosedived into a hunt for the next ideal housing project. And we're glad for all the circumstances. More in the next entry. I'm slightly more than being in the state of exhaustion.