2015 Highlights

Untuk kenang-kenangan

January
25: Completed the Sports Toto - FTKLAA 6km (more like 7.6 actually) cross country (which goes off-road) run in 1hour 38mins. Nope didn't practice. Yup, walked most of it. Yes, it was on a whim, egged on by my old man.

Life achievement unlocked. Completed the Sports Toto-FTKLAA 6km (more like 7.6 actually) cross country (which goes...
Posted by Ee Laine on Saturday, 24 January 2015

Feb
He took us to a semi-impromptu trip back to Langkawi, and  proposed!!! <3

Mar & April
All wat-ed out at Siem Reap....

....  and completed 17km bike tour. Still can't believe that we actually did this.

Ohai! Still smiling at a rest stop of our cycling tour of angkor. Can you believe that we paid usd75 to wake up at 4.30am to do this under the hot sun until 2pm? I still can't believe it either. Not For the faint hearted or unfit. Also not recommended if you've just learnt how to cycle, like me. Lol. But nevertheless, our group of mid-30s to late-60s completed the tour in 1 piece. All 17 bloody kms under the hot sun of it. Great experience but once and never again. Life achievement unlocked. #kwailanuncletours #siemreap #cambodia

A photo posted by Fireangel (@fireangel80) on Mar 29, 2015 at 11:55pm PDT

May
10-11: 1st glamping experience ever. There are definitely better sites out there, so don't go to this one. We got this from Groupon and were the only visitors there that weekend. This site was more like a construction site turned into a glamping ground. But it was a different experience. Would do again, but someplace else that's in an actual forest.

27-30: Played "tour guide" at the Valley of the Deer event by Glenfiddich @ Carcosa Seri Negara. Tough work, but fun & made new friends.

The Head Cooper of #glenfiddich. Ian McDonald has been coopering for 46 years since he was 15!!! Another major camwhoring opportunity that had to be taken at the #valleyofthedeer #whisky #singlemaltwhisky #angeltini

A photo posted by Fireangel (@fireangel80) on May 30, 2015 at 7:53am PDT

June
1st visit to Labuan (booze galore! 100% will return just to buy more booze) & my 1st snorkeling (scary at first, but FUN!) session @ KK!

July
30: Proud 3rd time auntie! Hello baby! Welcome to the world!

August
2: This year's present was a legally binding husband & the first thing he did was to give me one of the most beautiful birthday dinners I can remember. <3

September
Goodbye ah ma You're in a better place now. My love to yeh yeh. Please tell him that I miss him a lot.

It was also the worst haze we've seen. We had a super hazy mid-autumn festival celebration. I had everything all planned - paper lanterns bought, extra candles ready, lots of lights to light up the garden. But it was so hazy, we all stayed indoors. No lanterns were lit this year. :(

October
Annual Bangkok trip where we shop and shop and shop and ate and drank. But the RM was so shit, it wasn't really all that cheap. RM1 used to be about 10Bht. when we went, it was around 8Bht. :( But for some strange reason, the sale at Forever 21 and H&M were super worth it and I spent so many hours there. Some of the items were so well priced, they were actually on par with Platinum / Chatuchak. We also finally to try all the boat noodles along the river which was MEH.

November
21-22: Slightly impromptu trip to visit his old friend who has moved to Ipoh. Lots of food to eat and booze to drink. Made memorable by a generous easy going host. Also climbed the famous Sam Poh Tong temple, said to be Perak's oldest Chinese cave temples. Climb over 240 steps to see the surrounding scenery of... the industrial park. Sigh. Darn you progress.

28-29: Singapore Whisky Live 2015. This is one off the bucket list. Have been hankering to make a visit to this eversince I can remember, and now I have. It was really something to remember. More whiskies (whiskeys) and spirits than time and my liver permitted to try.  The bus trip was quite terrible,. though. With the school holiday crowd in full force, we were stuck at the Singapore immigration for over and hour. And that jam. And the monsoon rain. Took us a good 8 hours from Singapore to KL.  I'll take the bus again - but lesson learnt here is not to take it during peak holiday periods.

Full day whisky and spirits sampling to begin in 3...2...1.... Free shuttle services to event every 15 minutes. Exit D of Harbourfront. #whisky #whiskey #WhiskyLive #WhiskyLiveSg #singapore #angeltini

A photo posted by Fireangel (@fireangel80) on Nov 27, 2015 at 11:37pm PST

Also made my virgin visit to the ever-famous whisky geek hangout - Auld Alliance. Speechless. I have no words.

Paying homage to the legendary Auld Alliance. I can't even........ This is the Tullibardine 1488 whisky ale. The only "beer" available in the premise and rightly so. At sgd14, it's just freaking..... Omg, Get me a case! But Omg rm vs sgd! #whisky #whiskey #ale #whiskybar #auldalliance #singapore #bar #angeltini

A photo posted by Fireangel (@fireangel80) on Nov 28, 2015 at 8:10am PST

Started my 1st class of this creative course by Sharon Bakar which was recommended by Suanie. Sort of like an self-improvement thing.

December
He got us tickets to watch Men in Tutu doing Nutcracker for Christmas! It's easy to forget that they are men. En pointe. It was quite an entertaining good effort.

And we say goodbye to Downton Abbey. I didn't quite enjoy it at first, but after Season 3 I couldn't stop. Goodbye Mr Carson. Goodbye Cora. Goodbye Bates Goodbya Anna. Goodbye upstairs and downstairs crew of Downton Abbey. Thank you for entertaining me.

And that's a wrap.

Happy 2016!

This calls for a new year resolution. Better late than never eh? Well, I find that I've been playing catch up a lot last year. Time moves on so quickly that I'm almost usually... behind. It's like I'm playing catch up. Time sprints on faster and faster at an increased momentum while I'm trying to desperately keep up...... but I end up trailing farther and farther away because all I can do is jog. It's 5 Jan 2016 and it feels like it should be mid 2015.

I treat resolutions as merely guidelines but it's at least something to try to look forward to, rather than going through the year feeling like I've ran around a hamster's wheel but achieving nothing.

So here goes:

1. Continue to do something memorable at least once a month.
Coz if one thing I definitely believe in, is in collecting experience (money too, but money is meant to go towards helping me collect experience. Like in Diablo, where you go around killing monsters, getting gold coins to improve your stash to get on to the next level to kill the next big boss to gain more experience..... what am I saying?)

2. Enrol for at least ONE self-improvement course
This one is new. I'm inspired by what I did last year with the writing course because it feels like I'm actually investing in myself. Now to go look for something else to pick up.

3. Do 1 form of charity.
Not just money. But, more like effort.

4. Move in together & settle in properly 
Ie, all stuff in boxes and in bags to be unpacked by end of yea 2016.
Big girl liao. Married liao, move in liao. Now to make a home of it, for the both of us.
This is going to take a LOT of work and self discipline. :/

5. Actively save to get a new place. 
36 years old this year already and nought a property to my name.

6. Read a book a month.
ARGH. I HAVE BEEN REALLY BAD AT KEEPING TO THIS. I think last year, I barely did more than 3. :/ Logically how hard is it to read ONE book ONE MONTH? You know what my problem is? I'm too hooked on to my phone. I browse through it for at LEAST an hour each day before I sleep, which I'm sure it affects my getting to sleep but I can't stop! ladies and gentleman, I am a handphone data addict.

7. Do more craft.
Totally tanked this one last year. Will try it again this year. I even collected all those crafty thingies and even got a Selphy as a present which I've barely used. Maybe once I get my clutter organised at the new place I'll get right to it. :/ Here is something significant - for 2016, I will make a scrap book of my wedding dinner.

8. Get uninterrupted monthly side income of RM1-2k
The best way is probably to rent out a place.. which I don't have. Meanwhile, something else will need to come along.

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How I fared with last year's:

1. Put phone away when driving - somewhat ok. Using phone mostly on Waze. And only check my phone when the light is red or in a traffic jam. Does that count?

2. Work towards find a way to make additional RM1-2k side income monthly - something came along and I found myself being able to earn about 1k every couple of months. But it's not a feasible long term solution. Need to rethink this in 2016.

3. Do one memorable or new thing each month  - MET (mostly! maybe a couple of copping out but mostly MET!). 2015 in review coming up.

4. Find one thing to be thankful or positive about each day - keep a journal : Tanked. Kept the journal for about a month.. then went back to nursing my phone addiction before I sleep.

5. Commit to one blogpost on angeltini.com per week - MET. Though I'm not sure where am I going with this. :/

6. Do more crafts- I've decorated a couple of home printed photos to give away... and that's about it. Fail. :/