2016 – How Far did I fare this Year?

1,206 Views

Reflections ain’t something that I write about often in this blog (only appeared twice – 2013 & last year) but since I have time in front of my computer on the last day of 2016, I guess it’s good to take a moment to look back on what I’ve done for the year and sort out my thoughts for the next year.

It has been 4.5 years since I started working full time and as cliche as it seems, time flies. really. Not long ago I was that student with a 2.5-day school week, spending my nights doing assignments, preparing for presentations and projects, sending resumes out looking for internships and full-time job; with the frequent indulgence of dramas and variety shows. Sometimes, I do miss school, especially the ultra long summer vacations but working ain’t too bad after all, at least for this year. After learning to manage your own personal expectations, filtering out what is urgent and important and (to the best of your ability) not bring work home, I think working life is pretty manageable. Thankfully, I haven’t woken up to the day where I dread to go to work.

Looking back on my 2013 reflections, many things have changed – My favourite frozen yoghurt Crumbs has closed down in Hong Kong, $260 via Budget Airlines to Hong Kong is not that much of a good deal anymore (I spent $278 for SIA this September). Some things stay the same – I’m visiting Batam again (2017), I went on a sponsored trip and I am still not showing my face in this blog. Ha.

2016 has been a pretty exciting year for me as there were many “firsts” in my life.

  1. Spent 38 nights away from home (2 belonging to staycation)
    • That’s like 10.38% out of 366 days that i’m away for
    • Longest since my grad trip in 2012
  2. Made my own way to the airport for the first time
    • Yea I know I have been lucky my whole life as I usually have someone sending me to and from the airport everytime I travel since we live pretty near the airport but for the first time this year, in fact twice, I had to worry about oversleeping, worry about not getting a taxi/uber/grab car and miss my flight for whatever reason. There was simply no one else at home when I had to travel. Well, I’m glad to say that the both times where i UberPool/GrabShare was successful and twice I had to share the ride at 6am in the morning.. What are the odds..
  3. Went out of my comfort zone and ‘attended’ a party cruise (Shipsomnia)
    • It was quite an experience as drinking/partying ain’t my cup of tea so I did quite a bit of observation rather than participation.
    • I also played my first table game in a casino (Blackjack) and it was scarily enjoyable.
  4. Attended a Concert and Autograph Session alone (all for a1)
    • I’ve mentioned in my 2015 reflections that I wanted to attempt watching movie alone but sadly it is 31/12/2016 and I’ve not done it yet. Anyway, watching concert alone sounds even more brave right? heh. How could I say no to a1? They were the first boyband that I adored way back in time and the only friend who shared the same interest was all the way in USA. I could have ‘begged’ or paid for a friend to accompany me but I decided to be cool and go alone. Nope I didn’t talk to the person on my left or right and kept to myself and snapchat for the entire concert and I think I screamed/cheered louder than ever (since no one could judge me anyway). I guess I can do it again alone in the future when the need arises for. It’s really not that bad after all..
  5. Watched the idols of my teenage years perform
    • You remember how when you were in school and you’re dying to meet the voices from your favourite music? a1 was the first boyband that I liked and Simple Plan was the last English boyband I ever followed. I was able to watch both bands perform a full concert here in Singapore. 10 years ago, I would have probably thought that this was impossible since Singapore ain’t too popular as a concert spot but #childhooddreamsdocometrue.
    • Apart from a1 and Simple plan, I also successfully ‘snatched’ tickets for Jay Chou’s highly sought after 2nd concert at Sports Hub plus I saw SHINee again at Tokyo Dome. In 2017, Yoga Lin is coming to Singapore for a concert in Esplanade plus I’m going Korea. I guess #celebritydreaming ain’t over for me yet.. (sadly.. T_T)
  6. Attended an overseas wedding for the first time
    • A good friend was getting married and a group of us flew over. It was kind of the first time I was so involved in assisting the planning of a wedding. We were there when she was choosing her gowns (alright for a short while) and we were there to choose the photos. We did a staycation to prepare the decor required which was like peeling fake petals, making pom-poms and hanging them. The overseas wedding was even more intense and I woke up at 430am and underwent a 2 hours make up and hair transformation which made me look so.. different. I even had to do a “walk-in” as part of the entourage and the funniest thing was how my other friend got the flower bouquet by being so lucky and the trip was crazy and i laughed to my tears all the time. This group of friends.. I think we’ll still be laughing together even when we’re grey and old.. We target to reunite on SG100 at Botanic Gardens watching the outdoor concert together with our plus ones (which could possibly be the maid). We shall see..
    • To add on, my second overseas wedding is next year! Will this be a yearly affair for me? heh.
  7. Had my first food tasting invite
    • Never imagined that a travel blogger would be chosen for food tasting since it sounds kind of unrelated but it was a good experience though I struggled a bit. Nevertheless, I hope that this would be the window for more opportunities, collaborations and invitations!
  8. Attended a Media Press Conference (not for my blog, but a friend’s online media site) and asked a question to a Celebrity that I like
    • I had a full 15 – 20 seconds of attention from that celebrity on me. I’m not sharing the name (you can PM me if you’re dead curious) but I had a severe #mylifeiscomplete moment when it happened. I must have used up all my luck this year for this moment and thinking back about that moment can always bring a smile on my face. If I’m ever in a bad mood, just mention this to me. #hyperventilatingfangirlmoment

So.. that sums up my 8 ‘first’ or ‘biggest’ moments in 2016 that I want myself to look back again on 31 December 2017. lol.

Now that I’m ‘done’ with my personal reflections, what plans do I have for my blog?

  • Re-branding and Re-positioning
    • “Follow my Footsteps” is kind of getting neglected and perhaps I should just drop the name totally and focus on “flyhoneystars” for branding. Two years back, I wanted to move away from flyhoneystars as it was too childish but two years later I’m going back because it’s really difficult to build on the “follow my footsteps” name as it is too mouthful and not my blog url. I shall ‘recap’ about this 1 year later and see where this goes..
  • Breaking-even on my domain/hosting fees
    • I ‘almost’ made it this year but nope I’m still slightly short of it. Gonna try harder with all the various affiliates and hopefully I get a share of the pie. They don’t pay a lot but I guess I can work on my SEO and hopefully the volume increases..
    • Continue my nonsense float rental hobby. With the addition of my giant unicorn float and bouncy castle.. I hope that they will contribute more to justify the time I spend on blogging.. heh.
  • Write viral articles – especially on filming locations
    • Out of all the categories that I’ve written, filming location is one consistent interest I had (way back in those Taiwan Dramas from 2003). My filming location articles are doing so well that 6 our of 10 of my Top posts belongs to that category. I guess if I’m good at something I should persist and continue to excel and this makes watching dramas/movies part of my ‘work’ as well =p
    • My K-drama articles are doing so well that I’m dreaming for the day KTO writes to me and invite me for a tour to South Korea to travel and take actual photos of these locations for my blog. I really put in a lot of effort in this ‘research’ and I think they should just get me to write the articles for them. With the short attention span of people these days, you need to start posting when the drama is still airing and not when it is over.. Oh wells,
  • Do a proper blog profile which can be sent out to advertisers and corporates seeking for a clear ROI before sponsorship/collaboration.
    • This has been on my procrastination list since forever and #notetoself to WORK ON IT!!! I’ve been asked a couple of times this year but I had nothing to send out.. =/

Don’t know what 2017 will be but I guess it should be equally eventful as 2016 like how 2015 and 2014 and 2013 has been.. #alrightimtalkingnonsense

If there’s anyone reading this article, thank you for reading because every single view, click and comment gives me ‘energy’ to continue blogging. Also, I do apologize for my poor grammar, sentence structure and choice of words plus pockets of singlish at times. I know it can be extremely difficult if you’re googling translating my website to a different language (like how I do for the non-english sites too).

Now that I’m done with blogging, it’s time to open my futureme.org email sent to myself one year ago. If you haven’t heard of futureme, it is a website that stores and sends email to the recipient (which is myself in this case) at a future date. I’ve been doing this thing since 2008/2009 and it’s funny to look back at those childish moments I had.

^Cheers to a great 2017 and I hope that there will be lesser acts of terrorism, lesser destruction by nature and good health for everyone around me, myself including.

^_^

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *