Revisiting 40 Before 40

It's been almost a year since I last posted here. The absence wasn't intentional; my personal DELLilah finally exhaled its last breath and I had to save up to get another one.

Only this time it's not a DELLilah but a HP, specifically HP Pavilion X360 Convertible.

Sounds fancy, I know. It's nowhere near that though.

But let me save my review of my new Athenator (lol yeah that's the name of the new device) for another day. Oh and I also recently got a Dell Latitude 3470 for work but I hate the keyboard, amongst other things. But that's also a story for another day.

Anyway, I enjoyed reading my 40 Before 40 post, not because it was well-written, but because I was surprised to find that in almost a year since I penned that post, I actually managed to achieve some of the things I wanted:

Work (5)

1. Get promoted. - nope

2. Get seconded to a foreign country, hopefully in Europe. - nope

3. Get sponsored by the organisation to do my PhD. - nope

4. Get on a helicopter. - nope

5. Cycle to work (not in Malaysia, of course..I don't want to end up as roadkill sheesh). - nope

Skills (8)

1. Learn how to swim (and not drown in the process!). - nope

2. Master Photoshop (I only know Gimpshop hahaha). - nope

3. Learn how to edit videos. - YES! I learned this in July this year during a course in Singapore.

4. Get my PhD. - nope

5. Master a foreign language. - nope

6. Get a diving licence. - nope

7. Study/attend a course overseas. - YES! Did this in July 2016 in Singapore.

8. Learn basic car maintenance and repairs...like how to change the engine oil. - nope

Finance (4)

1. Pay off credit card debt (and stop using the card for shopping!) - nope

2. Sell my house. - nope

3. Pay off car loan. - nope

4. Pay off study loan. - nope

Travel (15)

1. Visit Singapore Zoo. - YES! Did this in July 2016; a lovely coursemate works at the zoo and kindly gave me a staff discount voucher :)

2. Travel to a foreign country alone. - YES! Singapore, July 2016 :)

3. Visit Bali. - nope

4. Write travel pieces. - nope

5. Visit Iceland. - nope

6. Visit Italy. - nope

7. Visit Sweden. - nope

8. Visit the Netherlands. - nope

9. Visit Sri Lanka again. - nope

10. Visit the UK. - nope

11. Experience winter. - nope

12. Experience autumn. - nope

13. Visit Labuan...just for the heck of it. - YES! Did it with the fam in September 2016 :)

14. Travel to space (hahaha so ambitious but hey, why not?). - nope hahahaha

15. Visit Hawaii. - nope

Nest (5)

1. Rent a little apartment. - YES! Moved to an apartment on my birthday this year ;)

2. Have a pet. - YES! Rescued a stray male cat my sister christened "Ayau" and recently got him neutered during SPCA KK's cat neutering campaign.

3. Get a house plant and try not to murder it. - YES! Took a cutting from a plant at work lol. It actually only survives on water. No idea what it's called though. Must try to find out from my colleagues.

4. Have a garden/collection of potted herbs. - nope

5. Have at least one IKEA furniture (currently there are no IKEA stores in East Malaysia wtf and I sold off most of my IKEA stuff when I moved to this wretched place KK). - nope, sadly

Miscellaneous goals (3)

1. Volunteer at SPCA. - nope, but I have become a donor a few times

2. Run 10 mins/km. - nope hahahahaha

3. Get a gym membership and actually use it. - nopitty nope nope hahahaha 

So I've achieved 8 out of the 40 goals I listed in less than a year. So looking forward to what the next year holds. 

Bring it on, 2017! *curls biceps*

Revisiting 40 Before 40

It's been almost a year since I last posted here. The absence wasn't intentional; my personal DELLilah finally exhaled its last breath and I had to save up to get another one.

Only this time it's not a DELLilah but a HP, specifically HP Pavilion X360 Convertible.

Sounds fancy, I know. It's nowhere near that though.

But let me save my review of my new Athenator (lol yeah that's the name of the new device) for another day. Oh and I also recently got a Dell Latitude 3470 for work but I hate the keyboard, amongst other things. But that's also a story for another day.

Anyway, I enjoyed reading my 40 Before 40 post, not because it was well-written, but because I was surprised to find that in almost a year since I penned that post, I actually managed to achieve some of the things I wanted:

Work (5)

1. Get promoted. - nope

2. Get seconded to a foreign country, hopefully in Europe. - nope

3. Get sponsored by the organisation to do my PhD. - nope

4. Get on a helicopter. - nope

5. Cycle to work (not in Malaysia, of course..I don't want to end up as roadkill sheesh). - nope

Skills (8)

1. Learn how to swim (and not drown in the process!). - nope

2. Master Photoshop (I only know Gimpshop hahaha). - nope

3. Learn how to edit videos. - YES! I learned this in July this year during a course in Singapore.

4. Get my PhD. - nope

5. Master a foreign language. - nope

6. Get a diving licence. - nope

7. Study/attend a course overseas. - YES! Did this in July 2016 in Singapore.

8. Learn basic car maintenance and repairs...like how to change the engine oil. - nope

Finance (4)

1. Pay off credit card debt (and stop using the card for shopping!) - nope

2. Sell my house. - nope

3. Pay off car loan. - nope

4. Pay off study loan. - nope

Travel (15)

1. Visit Singapore Zoo. - YES! Did this in July 2016; a lovely coursemate works at the zoo and kindly gave me a staff discount voucher :)

2. Travel to a foreign country alone. - YES! Singapore, July 2016 :)

3. Visit Bali. - nope

4. Write travel pieces. - nope

5. Visit Iceland. - nope

6. Visit Italy. - nope

7. Visit Sweden. - nope

8. Visit the Netherlands. - nope

9. Visit Sri Lanka again. - nope

10. Visit the UK. - nope

11. Experience winter. - nope

12. Experience autumn. - nope

13. Visit Labuan...just for the heck of it. - YES! Did it with the fam in September 2016 :)

14. Travel to space (hahaha so ambitious but hey, why not?). - nope hahahaha

15. Visit Hawaii. - nope

Nest (5)

1. Rent a little apartment. - YES! Moved to an apartment on my birthday this year ;)

2. Have a pet. - YES! Rescued a stray male cat my sister christened "Ayau" and recently got him neutered during SPCA KK's cat neutering campaign.

3. Get a house plant and try not to murder it. - YES! Took a cutting from a plant at work lol. It actually only survives on water. No idea what it's called though. Must try to find out from my colleagues.

4. Have a garden/collection of potted herbs. - nope

5. Have at least one IKEA furniture (currently there are no IKEA stores in East Malaysia wtf and I sold off most of my IKEA stuff when I moved to this wretched place KK). - nope, sadly

Miscellaneous goals (3)

1. Volunteer at SPCA. - nope, but I have become a donor a few times

2. Run 10 mins/km. - nope hahahahaha

3. Get a gym membership and actually use it. - nopitty nope nope hahahaha 

So I've achieved 8 out of the 40 goals I listed in less than a year. So looking forward to what the next year holds. 

Bring it on, 2017! *curls biceps*

40 Before 40

Wow..it's almost December, eh? Time really flies.

Last night I went on a second and last date with an out-of-towner (who was also the second person I went on a date with in all of 2015 - because single, straight and interesting men are like invisible ninjas in KK). Anyway, one of the things we spoke about was bucket lists. 

You know, a list of things to do before we kick the bucket.

I told him that I did a 30 Before 30 list the year I turned 29, and managed to achieve 18 goals out of 30. To be honest, none of them were really that ambitious, because I know that a goal has to be realistic.

Earlier this year, I also wrote about some goals...none of which I have accomplished yet hahaha.

Anyway, here is my attempt at 40 Before 40 bucket list, which I aim to review every birthday month and also at year's end. I might tweak things along the way, so my current state of mind as I write this is "oh what the hell just write that shit down and figure it out later" hahahaha!

Work (5)

1. Get promoted.

2. Get seconded to a foreign country, hopefully in Europe.

3. Get sponsored by the organisation to do my PhD.

4. Get on a helicopter.

5. Cycle to work (not in Malaysia, of course..I don't want to end up as roadkill sheesh).

Skills (8)

1. Learn how to swim (and not drown in the process!).

2. Master Photoshop (I only know Gimpshop hahaha).

3. Learn how to edit videos.

4. Get my PhD.

5. Master a foreign language.

6. Get a diving licence.

7. Study/attend a course overseas.

8. Learn basic car maintenance and repairs...like how to change the engine oil.

Finance (4)

1. Pay off credit card debt (and stop using the card for shopping!)

2. Sell my house.

3. Pay off car loan.

4. Pay off study loan.

Travel (15)

1. Visit Singapore Zoo.

2. Travel to a foreign country alone.

3. Visit Bali.

4. Write travel pieces.

5. Visit Iceland.

6. Visit Italy.

7. Visit Sweden.

8. Visit the Netherlands.

9. Visit Sri Lanka again.

10. Visit the UK.

11. Experience winter.

12. Experience autumn.

13. Visit Labuan...just for the heck of it.

14. Travel to space (hahaha so ambitious but hey, why not?).

15. Visit Hawaii.

Nest (5)

1. Rent a little apartment.

2. Have a pet.

3. Get a house plant and try not to murder it.

4. Have a garden/collection of potted herbs.

5. Have at least one IKEA furniture (currently there are no IKEA stores in East Malaysia wtf and I sold off most of my IKEA stuff when I moved to this wretched place KK).

Miscellaneous goals (3)

1. Volunteer at SPCA.

2. Run 10 mins/km.

3. Get a gym membership and actually use it. 

Well that's it folks...40 stuff to do within the next eight years. Oh and yes I didn't bother putting marriage or children in the menu because I've been dating since I was 20 and 12 years later I am still single so trying to find a life partner is a useless and frustrating endeavour, really. 

Besides, I already have a niece and a nephew (my nephew actually is a spitting image of me), so those are (sort of) my kids too hahaha.

As for my date, he was an awesome guy, so I know he won't have any problems getting a date any time he wants to. Wish there are more men like him in KK, because KK is currently where single dateless women become crazy cat ladies you embrace being a single and independent woman ;)