August 2019

Month of August no longer see me traveling annually back to Penang to celebrate my Dad's birthday with him any more. For this August, it seems that I spend a lot on my laptop watching online entertainment. We have a HD Smart TV at home, but for some reason, we're always watching shit on our handphone, tablet, PC etc. 

For the month of August, the first two highlight on the list are actually entertainment watched over the internet. Guess this shows how much I really need a life outside of my home, haha.

For the very first time, I was hyped up over Youtube Live Stream. I actually tuned in live to two concert that One OK Rock releases on Youtube before it came out on Blue Ray DVD. Both shows were amazing. I absolutely enjoyed the first Japan Dome Tour concert, watching it with my headphone on my mac and didn't move from my position once the concert started. For the second Orchestra concert, I didn't enjoyed it so much cause I find myself observing whether Taka lip sync at all through out the concern because his vocal was simply just too perfect for a live concert! This is one group that I will always watch live! I did eventually found those DVD in Japan, but it was so expensive that I couldn't bring my self to buy it :(

My husband re-contracted something in August, and he informed me that we now have HBO GO! After watching Good Omens on Amazon Go 30days free trial, I was psych when he told me the news. I spend a few good weekends and weekdays watching movies and documentaries and mainly Westworld. It has been 4 months since now, and for some reason, I never did finished the last episode of Westworld Season 1. I never did continue watching Games of Thrones. I have this idea to watch all the Harry Porter Series. But nothing happened. I recently watched around 3 movies in December, and that's about it. Guess I'm just not much of a TV junkie. 

Last of the highlight was a team boding activity we had which made me realise how much our colleagues hate each other. We went for a paintball outing, or painball as we all found out just how painful it could be. I still have the mark on my right thigh to this day! We played two rounds, and I am happy to say I won both rounds. I was an excellent snipper. I love shooting at target, but I tried my best not to be hit cause it's so damn painful! Plus, memories of falling on the ground was still fresh from my last year's Laser Tag team bonding activity. I love war games. I love strategy games. I just wish it wasn't so darn painful. I prefer Laser Tag for sure!

July 2019

July was another busy month full of travelling. I was away 1.5 weeks conducting UAT in Brazil. I will write more about it below and also in it's own dedicated post. So let me just get started on the summary of the month.

Above list is actually based on what is the most highlighted event, and no actually in actual sequence of event. So I've decided to share the photos below based on sequence of event instead since it's easier for me. Don't mind me and my non-standardisation. It would just seems weird to split out Brazil and South Africa into two parts when it's actually in a single trip. 

Anyway.... for some reason until now, my husband told me his friend can get us free stay at Hard Rock Hotel at Sentosa. Free with just the room though, and check in Sunday and check out on Tuesday. Since it was free, I decided to take a day off for this. It was a nice short staycation, so much better than Bay Hotel for our 10th anniversary or something. We even went to another W Hotel for buffet lunch. And since it was a weekday, I got a 1-4-1 offer too! 

After the staycation, I was off to Brazil for 1.5 weeks of UAT. This time I travelled with my boss, hence the business class ticket on SQ, and we even stayed in Marriot Apartment! Although it was a stressful business trip for me, I did work my butt off for this whole trip! The photo above is of Rio De Janeiro, and not Sao Paulo where I work. We flew past it on our way home, and I thought it was so beautiful that I took a snap shot of it. My boss wanted to visit there during our weekend there, but we heard so much about how unsafe it was that he decided to forgo his trip and spend it in Sao Paolo with me instead. I forgo my Iguazu Fall trip too. It was too expensive, and too rush a trip. Sigh. 

The other highlight of the trip was our stopover in Johannesburg, South Africa. The airport was amazing there as compared to Addis Ababa at Ethiopia. And I was such a fan girl of Nelson Mandela that I kept taking photos of his merchandise. Needless to say, I also bought some of his mercehndize home, hahaha. It was an unforgettable trip, and I am glad I went for it. It was a trip of a lifetime. When I was back, I earned enough point to be upgraded to Krisflyer Gold Class! Need to fully utilise this privilege which I would probably not get again. It expires August 2020. 

June 2019

I'm actually writing April, May, and June's post on Christmas Day 2019, and I thought all of them would be the same, but boy was I so wrong! Every single one is different! And June is no different, cause I don't even know how to find any photo to mark the highlight for the month of June.  So I actually decided not to, with the exception of the last highlight. I will use my words to explain the first two points instead. 

For the first highlight, I finally made an appointment to go for a full body screening. I've always wanted to do that after I've turned 40, and have been putting it off since. Now, at age 42, I decided to go for it since it was covered by the company. I went to Raffles Hospital for my checkup, and it actually only took 2 hours or so. I even did a Pap Smear and Mammogram which I was expecting, but to my surprise, the doctor also did an rectal check on me! Is that what anal sex feels like! Totally shocked! Except for the usual cholesterol issue, slight overweight, and a slightly dense mammogram, I was totally fine. I was supposed to do a follow up on my mammogram in December again, but I skip it cause after being stress about it, my period actually skipped a month, and after that I was kinda fine with no issue. So I think I can wait another 5 years or so to do another follow up. 

The second highlight is actually a milestone for me. And that is achieving financial independence in the sense that I now have sufficient fund to last me till retirement and after (baring no financial emergency that is unforeseen and will wipe out my fortune). I've also managed to hit a 7 digit net worth in June. I was happy about the achievement, but I though it would just be temporary and didn't want to get too happy about it unless it maintain it's status for at least 6 months. Well, I am blogging this 6 months later, and I am happy to confirm that the status has maintained and improved along the way :)  I feel less pressured to work these days, and take life a lot more easy. You can expect lot's of change coming up in 2020.

Lastly, I had an awesome time dancing at East Coast Park by the beach with my favourite zumba instructor. He did ask me to dance with him for this event, but I told him I was busy (which was kinda true at that time). But I still turn up to support him, and got this nice photo together :) He always makes me happy whenever I attend his class, but I hardly ever talk to him. That's just me. Socially awkward and totally antisocial. It's amazing I still dance after all these years. But it is one thing that makes me the most happy on a daily basis. Keep on dancing Cordy! Dance and be free :)

May 2019

Just as I was catching up on my monthly summary, I have to come across a month with 5 highlighted moments.... I mean, it's a good thing of course. May was such a busy month! Almost madness. And I guess I should be grateful for having so many interesting thing happening to me in a single month alone!

Above are the 5 highlights of May, and there will be no personal photos for this post as I find that keeping things mysterious is much more fun. It will also motivate me to blog the details faster if I want to share my photos on this blog. Photos that made it here are actually the ones that get remembered and view the most. The rest just dies in my hard drive or NAS. 

Guess which play I went to watch, AGAIN. This time I even got VIP seats! Hence the free mask and free program given. Went with my weird movie buddy to watch this legendary play. No matter how many times I watch it, I am always moved to tears by it. I don't know whether it's because of my link to it in my past, or the play is just too awesome. We sat in the 2nd row of the theatre! And it was an amazing experience being so close to the stage. Especially for this play what with all the costume and props and candalier just above our head! Bravo Bravo Bravo. 

As mentioned in April's post, I had a short 4 day trip to India. It was a rather last minute trip, for goodness know what reason. But since it was to a new part of India I've never been to, of course I look forward to it. This time it was to Bangalore. I even travel alone there and reach in the middle of the night! I spend 4 days there visiting my company's office as well as vendor's office. Since it was with my boss, and it wasn't a serious trip, I had quite a good time there, with good food and shopping. One day.... after all my India's post, I will post about Bangalore too! 

After a month staying in Singapore with me, I send my Mum back to Penang. It was another one of those Saturday reach, Sunday leave trip. And again I met up with my friend Pei Shi for some cafe hopping. This time we went a bit overboard and visited to many cafe that we were really tired by the end of it. So I decided to end our misery and went to the airport earlier just to sit down and be alone with my thoughts after a long day of drinking too much caffeine and sweet cakes!

After coming back to Singapore, it was UAT period for my project. Since the project was Brazil based, I had to follow the user's timezone and so I worked from 2pm to 11pm and had the morning free. I went out almost daily, to all the places that would have been crowded on weekend. I went for a walk around CBD area and met up with my friends for lunch. Above was one of my favourite shot of the Helix Bridge at Marina Bay Sand. I also went to catch a movie at Jewel, went to the gym and did some personal banking etc. Love every minute of my free day time!

Lastly, we also managed to find time to spend a weekend in Johor Bahru at our favourite hotel, eating our favourite Ramadan buffet for Hari Raya. My husband actually drove in, and the ride back was rather stressful. It has become an annual affair now, and apart from the traffic, it's really relaxing to be back in Malaysia always. 

April 2019

Wow, it has almost been 8 month since I last update. And as 2019 comes to a close, I am now franticly trying to at least post out all my monthly summary of 2019 before the year ends. Good luck to me! As of today, I am lagging behind 2 months, but I am catching up, so bare with me as we do a last daily dash to end 2019. So let's continue from month of April 2019.

My top three moments are listed as above, and for this post only, all three moments will have photos of me in it! As one ages, one is no longer shy to show one's face since everyone dies in the end, so there really isn't much to it (although you still won't find a photo of me on my Facebook profile pic, like EVER!).

I decided to go back to Penang for the weekend to bring my mum to Singapore to have a break after handling all the stuff for my Dad's funeral. I though she needed a change of scenery anyway. While I was back, even though it was a rather short stay where I rush back on Saturday, and come back on Sunday night, I still managed to meet up with my old friend Pei Shi for some cafe hopping. We actually did quite a lot of cafe hopping in 2019 as I was back in Penang more often to accompany my mum to Singapore and back again. Above is us having "lunch" at one of the fusion cafe in Beach Street Georgetown. 

The other big event was the opening of Jewel at Changi. Since it was so near my home, I think we went there on a weekly basis after it opened. But to avoid the crowd, I always go on unearthly hours like morning 7am, or late at night, or during weekdays when I am working at home on Brazilian timezone. Above is me and my husband with the famous man-made waterfall. You can expect more detail post of Jewel in the near future. I always say that, and then find myself posting events from way back when..... it's just that, there's so much to post! 

Lastly, I managed to spend a month with my Mum in Singapore. She didn't like it much, but it was nice having her around. In the middle of her trip, I actually left her alone as I went on a short business trip to India. It's a pity she can't wake up early, and she can't walk much. Singapore is a nice place to visit actually, but you do need to be able to walk a lot. I'm not sure if she can come visit me again. Guess I'll just go back to Penang more often. Yay more cafe hopping for me!