The year doesn't feel complete if there is no end-of-year wrap up post on the blog. Not Dayre, but it has to be on the blog. Dayre is great coz it has taken over most of my daily mindless rambling and random thoughts and photos but for things like this, I prefer to hammer it out on the blog. Heh.

Time to process the 365 days that just passed.

2015 was a very happening and important year for the nation - Mr LKY's passing, SG50, SEA Games, GE2015. The biggest event and most important event for me personally would be of course be wedding planning and actually getting married. At first the wedding seemed ages away, but soon it came and went in a flash. I just received the actual day photos from Pixelmusica yesterday and had a good time looking at the events that happened. All I remember about the day was that I was very sleep deprived and my eyes were ultra small. And my MUA did makeup that made my eyes look smaller! :x Sadly not a very pretty bride.

I just moved to my sister's abode over the weekend and I miss my parents' house terribly. 17 years in Sengkang, definitely have developed an attachment to the place. I miss my bed, my bolster and pillow! I miss lying down on the floor in the living room! I am a creature of routine. I don't take to change that well and I dislike having my stuff half here and half there. I like being able to get what I need within reach. Trying to settle in and to get used to the limited bed space and room space. And I think my sleeping hours will cause some conflict with my husband.

In 2015, I tried to continue exploring the world. Travelled to Taipei and Japan in June (and had a $400 sushi meal!), took a short break with Ichee in Bali in July (tried my hand at surfing and sprained my ankle!) and the most recent trip was to 7 European countries for our honeymoon. It was the first time in Europe for the both of us. The theft really changed our impression of certain places. On hindsight, maybe Europe isn't that great a place for a honeymoon coz it was pretty tiring. Or maybe that's just a consequence of getting older haha.

I finally saw the Northern Lights. Paul remembered that I said I wanted to see the lights before I turned 30 and that was why we decided to go to Finland. The lights weren't the strongest, it was very cold and not that impressive actually, just like wispy clouds across the sky. Hahahaha. But ok la it was still an experience.

I turned 30. Big milestone? Haha well that's about 3 decades that I've stayed alive for and hopefully I have another 5 or 6 more good decades to go. We're one-third our way there!

They say 30s is the new 20s right? I hope there's some truth in it. I think my glorious 20s were really quite glorious and fantastic. Had fun, ate a lot, travelled the world, plunged into things without thinking, etc etc. Youth was on my side. Exactly how I think my 20s should be like! LOL.

When I try to peer into my future I see nothing but... being bogged down by family commitments, saggy skin, less fun and excitement, less impromptu gatherings, less friends. *depressing*

Looks like the older I get the more jaded about Life I feel.

Haha dunno why everytime I blog, I write about depressing things. Sounding like a broken record. Moving on!

This year, I got baptised on Easter. I was never a very spiritual person but for reasons unknown even to myself, I decided to take the plunge to attend RCIA hahaha. So now I'm Catholic and it's still a little weird identifying myself as that. I am still floundering around trying to find my little spiritual path. All in good time!

I tried to exercise to lose the flab but ah well, metabolism goes down. I even did a 3-day juice cleanse! Not having solid food for 3 days was really a test of my control.

Slumpy. Poor Slumpy. :( He's more than just an inanimate stuffed toy to us. We will always remember this as the year we lost Slumpy.

At the same time, welcomed Floppy to our small beary happy family. Was contemplating naming him Slumpy the Second but I think that's too big a pair of bear shoes for him to fill!

Work-wise, no change. Still unmotivated. Dislike some of the office politicking and mannerisms of certain people. Have been toying with the idea of quitting and finding another job recently. Will 2016 be the year I change my job again?

Overall, 2015 was ok. I'm hardpressed to think of other significant events that may have occurred this year. It's good that it was peaceful coz sometimes 平淡过日子也是一种幸福。

Every year I say I want to do something new for the next year or go to a new country (Maldives maybe?). I still want to go skydiving la. That's an unfulfilled wish. Maybe 2016 Dec if we have the cash, or 2017/8. Better do all these happening things first before we get bogged down by other things!

May 2016 be happy, skinny and fulfilling for everyone!

Feeling very demotivated at work because... gah work.

Feeling quite stressed about work too because I am terrible at being middle management! I just want to be a small-time staff and do whatever my boss tells me to... everyday come at 9am and knock off at 6pm and don't bother about anything else... but I think I'm too young to just settle into that kind of job? I still have 37 more years to retirement (depressing thought). And I think it would be a waste of my education? But then again... sometimes I feel so incompetent and stupid that I think my education has gone to waste regardless.

And also I need the salary... it is likely that a job like that will only pay $2.5K at most. Which is really not sufficient in this day and age.

Like everyone I see is so driven in their respective careers... haha I don't think I even know anyone of my age that is so un-driven. Like me.

Was looking at the Squishrollslump blog and feeling a bit sad because... Slumpy :(
We lost Slumpy and that must have been one of the saddest and most depressing days this year.

We were cold, hungry and depressed and I was just tearing at the thought of Slumpy for the next few days of our honeymoon...

We trudged back to Venice Mestre station at 9pm at night and only returned at 12am with no Slumpy.

And the oft-repeated story was that Paul's bagpack was stolen on the train from Milan to Venice.

On hindsight of course, we could have been more careful... blah blah... especially since so many people warned us about safety and security and Europe. I don't know why we chose to place the bagpack on the top rack on that day... maybe we just came from Switzerland and everything was so much safer there, and maybe we were complacent... on our first foray into Italy, we didn't expect such a thing to happen to us. It's always the "invincible" effect - you will never think that bad things will happen to you BUT THEY WILL.

And maybe they saw that we were 2 distracted Asians watching Running Man on a tablet and were easy targets.

Our hearts totally sank when we realized that the bagpack was gone. It was a terrible terrible feeling. Money, train tickets, personal possessions, and most importantly, Slumpy our beloved bear was in that bag. It was just the 3rd day of our 23 day honeymoon.

We couldn't enjoy Venice properly after that. Such a pity because it's a very nice place.

Thankfully we still have our passports, some other cash, hotel vouchers, Squishy and Rolly (who were in my bagpack) and each other to depend on.

The blow is greater to Paul because Slumpy has greater sentimental value to him than anyone else. When we got back to Singapore, we tried to search Precious Thots stores to find the same kind of teddy bear but it seems like they have stopped production for it. :(

But some good news today coz Paul found some of the teddies at ARC! Going after work to take a look at them. It won't be able to replace Slumpy because he is irreplaceable and the feeling will be different but I hope the new bear can provide us with some kind of comfort.

More about our Europe adventure next time! I haven't even properly sorted through my photos.