2012, a Year in Review

January put me back in Kelowna for my final semester at the University of British Columbia. Within a few days I was experiencing a temperature difference of 50 degrees Celsius compared to Singapore, but it was good to be back among old friends.

In February I rediscovered the joy of being a coffee shop regular. Out here in Banff you can often find me in Starbucks, but back in Kelowna I staked out the Blenz downtown a few times every week. I would write papers there, chapters for Protagonize, meet up with friends, and sometimes just pop in to say Hi to the baristas I knew. Seriously.

With the arrival of "spring" in March, I did some online cleaning. This blog was completely redone, as was my Tumblr. Since then I've changed the background of my blog again, and have made even more changes to my Tumblr account. I now run two "tumblogs:" one of random things that catch my interest, and the other full of quotes and pictures of cities. Check it out!

In April I finished my time with UBC Okanagan and prepared to go a year without school. So far, so good, but I must say I miss the university life. To give you a taste of what I enjoyed in Kelowna, I shared a video promoting UBC Okanagan.

May proved that summer starts early in the Okanagan, Canada's only desert. I made my first summer playlist of 2012 and let you in on one of the musicians who made plenty of appearances on that list. Writing this now, in the winter, I long for another summer playlist but know that only wintery music can satisfy me. I'm an odd one like that.

I turned 23 in June and celebrated on the Island with a Janelle Monae concert, visit to the petting zoo, and gallivanting about Vancouver. I also found out I'd be writing bi-monthly blog posts for the Grid, which kept me engaged with urban issues in Kelowna. It was a tentative application, but in hindsight I'm very glad to have participated in that internship.

In July I was more than happy to enjoy my first summer in the Okanagan. Kelowna is a beach town, so I spent quite a bit of time at the edge of the water. I played beach volleyball, walked the boardwalk, fell asleep on the warm sand, and probably ate too much ice cream.

On impulse, I decided to move to Banff in August. I quickly fell in love with the mountain setting, and I'm still awed daily by the sight of Mt Rundle and Cascade Mountain. Everything has worked out well for me since arriving: I have good room mates and cheap rent, a well paid job I enjoy, a volunteer position with the Town of Banff, and all the fresh mountain air I could ever need. I know that I'm only going to be spending a year in Banff, but I know that I'll miss it once I leave.

September brought a small, but meaningful, milestone. I received my first ever public library card! Since September I've taken out a few books to read, some CDs, a Japanese film adaptation of "King Lear," and some books for story research. Yup, I definitely enjoy having a library card!

In October I became a little bit more Canadian by learning to curl. It's definitely a lot more fun to do than to watch, though I never got a chance to sweep. Unfortunately I haven't had a second try in the hacks since then, but I've continued to add winter achievements to my Canada resume.

In November I hitched a ride with a friend all the way to Calgary to see "Skyfall" in IMAX 3D. Yes, this is enough of an event to merit a post in my Year in Review.

I stopped blogging completely in December, with the exception of a single Music Monday post at the end of the year. However, I didn't blog because I was doing too much to sit down and write about it! I work retail, so everything was a lead up to Christmas. Luckily, I was able to nab a few days off before the big event to go snowshoeing with some friends. We staying in a log hut overnight, had steak for dinner, played lots of UNO. It was a good time!

And that's it for my Year in Review. 'Twas a good one, hope 2013 brings even more excitement and growth!

Twenty-eleven, in Review

Another year has passed by, so it's time for another annual review! Here's a look back at what I've done over the last twelve months, or rather where I've travelled to, 'cause I've spent a lot of time up in the air since January 1st, 2011!

January was rather uneventful, but I managed to finish up my most recent tattoo. Soon after I blogged about a sort of realization I came to, about my self esteem and self perception. Not really heavy stuff, but personal stuff. Suffice to say I'm at a much better place now than I was a year or two back.

February marked the beginning of my worldly travels for the year, with a quick jaunt down to Mexico for reading week with a few friends. We may have only been down there a scant three days, but we stretched those hours to the maximum extent and had an absolute blast. Some people thought we were foolish for spending so much on so short a trip, but I can't say I have any regrets about going - even the unscheduled stay in Texas! I can still remember those buffalo hot wings. Mmmm.

A few weeks into March I participated in the Cut for the Cure, a UBCO fundraising initiative (started by some friends of mine a few years back) for the purpose of cancer research. This time around I actually shaved my head, which wasn't as terrible as I imagined it would be. In fact, I think I managed to pull off the look and since my fear of having an odd-shaped skull didn't materialize. Huzzah! I may or may not shave the ol' noggin again this year.

Nothing happened in April, apparently. No blog posts, no trips: only one exam and a few papers.

After moving back to Victoria in May, I barely had enough time to unpack before jumping a plane to Turkey. I was there for two weeks with my family, and had an absolutely amazing time. I still miss Turkish food (especially Turkish breakfast, those Mediterraneans know what's what) and long to go back one day.

June was my only full month at home for the summer, and for the most part it was fairly laid back. I met up with lots of friends for coffee, put in some time at the Gap, and celebrated a very low-key 22nd birthday.

However, I also went to Vancouver for a big concert, Janelle Monáe and Bruno Mars. Mars was good, but I was there for Janelle. Boy, did she deliver! Easily one of the highlights of my concert-going experiences.
 
July took me and two bags across the Pacific Ocean to Singapore, my new home for the next five-ish months. I had been to the city state ten years earlier, but I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Nevertheless, I fell in love with the city almost immediately, and count the journey as one of the most important parts of my university education. 

I met a tonne of rad people out in the tropics, some of whom I hope to see again soon. Despite being so far away from home, I still managed to fall in with a Vancouver crowd (figures), so I know I'll be seeing them again in the near future.

In August I did the first bit of my Southeast Asia travelling, a short ferry from Singapore to Indonesia. It's one of those trips that, while it was difficult to enjoy it at the time, will always be remembered with much laughing and inside jokes. Like, "We are just so cool."

The month also marked the beginning of my classes at NUS, my first Singaporean club experience, National Day celebrations, and a music festival. Not bad, eh?

September took me to the island of Borneo, to Sarawk province and Brunei Darussalam. Although I went alone, I joined up with some other backpackers to see the various sights in Miri, Mulu, and Bandar Seri Begawan. The jungles and mountains were a welcome change from urban Singapore (even though the meaning of "urban" in Singapore is a whole lot more green than in North America). 

When I came back from Borneo I attended the F1 Grand Prix and saw Linkin Park in concert. Another full month.

Compared to other months, October was a little more quiet. I took a relaxing vacation to the tropical island of Tioman in Malaysia, where I took full advantage of the sun to get my tan on. Long story short I fell asleep near the equator and got a sunburn. Surprise, surprise.

I also checked off one of the big Singapore Bucket List items: swimming in the Marina Bay Sands infinity pool. It was rad. Mad rad, even. 

By the time November rolled around I still wasn't tired of flying around the world, so I went to Macau and Hong Kong. Macau exceeded my expectations, Hong Kong didn't live up to them. I ate lots of food, sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes downright strange; went to a few theme parks; toured each city by foot to a point that I forgot what exhaustion was; and took far too many pictures in Disneyland.
 
Well, by December I really was tired of all the travel, but I still needed to see so much. Somehow I managed to fit a week in the Philippines, two days in Siem Reap, an afternoon in Kuala Lumpur, a day in Singapore, and countless hours in airports and airplanes into the sixteen days before I went back to Canada. It was quite the whirlwind, and I'm still not quite sure how I survived it. A fine end to a great year, I must say.


photos by: vcateyesv, me, me, kanikey, Janelle Monáe, me, me, me, me, Ed Coyle, Ezyan Y.

my Year in Review

First off, this idea (and title?) was stolen from a friend of mine. I like to swipe things like that. Here's what I got up to the last 12 months.

Is there an equivalent to Wednesdays in university degrees? As of January, I was officially at the hump-day of my degree program: 5 terms down, 5 to go. I'm not sure whether I was relieved or even more stressed because of it.

February brought Olympic good times as I spent part of my reading break up in Whistler with some friends. Mittens were worn, events were watched, beers were consumes, and I was hassled over and over about where I managed to pick up my Team Canada hoodie.

Did anything happen in March? Anything at all? The only thing I can think of is that I ate copious amounts of phở, but I do that every month. Well, did that until the phở place became blacklisted. I'm not bitter. Not bitter at all.

This picture isn't exactly accurate, but in April the hard drive in my laptop decided to die (finally?) after four years of service. However, it chose to die in the middle of exams and term papers, and in Kel where my XP boot disks were not. Long story short, I'm now an Ubuntu convert with extreme loyalty to Western Digital.

Even though my school year had only just ended, in May I began looking at the opportunities that I would have this year. And what should catch my eye but an exchange program to NUS. I've been obsessing over it since.

The Canadian group Thunderheist broke up in June, and I had the privilege of attending their last show in Vancouver. Honestly, it was one of the best performances I have seen, and I am so sad that they won't be touring or even making music anymore. Oh, and I turned 21. Minor detail.

Although I go to school in the Okanagan, I had never been there in the summer, when it is at the peak of awesome. In July I flew out to Kel and went camping with a bunch of friends and was finally able to experience an Okanagan summer. Rad.

August brought many of my RA friends back together, after four extremely long months apart (besides the ones I saw in July, heh). More rad people, more rad camping, and rad memories to boot. Mad rad.

I got my first tattoo shortly after I turned 19, and a week later I decided that I hated it. After many years mulling designs, I settled on a Russian firebird to cover the terrible tattoo up. I started the tattoo in September, accomplishing 3.5 hours of work in a single sitting.

October, of course, brought Halloween. I had a posse. Initially, I was a dragon. Then I was a dinosaur. By the end of the weekend, I was the Ogopogo. There were no costume changes. I'm just that awesome. We're just that awesome.

The most terrible month in the history of terrible months was November 2010. I had a very brief post about it, sharing the musicians who helped me through it all. I'm still not quite over what happened that month, but hopefully this new year will bring some healing.

I was finished with exams quite early in the month, so December became the month of movies. In theatres I saw Burlesque, Tron:Legacy, and Black Swan. Many others were screened from the comfort of my living room, or as movie marathons at friends' places. I really needed the down time after this year.




Garfield (c) Jim Davis, Whistler photo by me, phở photo by m0nyet, Thunderheist photo by wagepeace, Okanagan photo by trainboysd40, laser tag photo by a friend, tattoo design by laludia, costume photo by a friend, Chris Corner portrait by lora8, Black Swan poster (c) Fox Searchlight Pictures