2022 was really a good year for me. its was the accumulation of all the things that have been postponed due to COVID and more than that. i feel like 2022 was like a transition phase for the next phase in 2023.
so a brief summary, of my recent years of living... 2016-2020 was the painful work-study regime in which i loved and also lost a relationship. the whole memory of that phase was just painful and probably the worst few year of my life. it was an uphill battle to push up my grades to pass with a 4.01 GPA just so i could get a 2nd upp title in which some companies would recognize and give a higher pay. i sacrificed so much and thought after graduating, i could catch back lost time with my family, friends and rugby. but just shortly after graduating, COVID came and the world stood still. i saved up so much leave and money just so i could go Nepal, bring my fam for holiday and stuff but still cant. but 2020-2022 slowed down my pace, to reflect, to work harder and explore other income revenues as my alrdy super low pay took a further paycut. and whats more, after grad, all 'promotion / upgrades' ceased. it just felt like every ounce of patience have gone to waste. but its ok. ok, why am talking about other years but 2022 right. hahahs. there's a brief gist so that 2022 could better be appreciated.
2022. perhaps i should go in chronological order.
Singapore Airshow 2022. Though no career plans were made nor did i go job hunt or anything, i did have a strong feeling that it was going to be my last airshow on the ground with my company. it did not really help that there will always be some ppl taking things for granted when give such an opportunity. but anyway, thats out of my control right. anyways, the memories for this event was largely with the Boeing 777X. its the first time that a 777x landed on changi ground. had the privileged of working on the ac and even with some of the guys from Boeing. manpower was super short handed coz covid severely affected ops back in line too. so coz of that, i managed to contribute more and even did the last departure out of changi for the 777X in the rain. idky that it was quite a moment for me. though its not my fav ac type (Boeing 747 still the Queen), while stand at the apron boundary line, watching it depart, it felt like my aviation path needed to take some form of flight. i still wasn't sure whatsup, neither did i make any plans, but i guess coz i've put so much heart on the line, perhaps i could actually recieve some form of feedback. lol, but ok.
then there was @madame.mafia_craft. shift work always give me alot of time to do other stuff. while i was trying keep busy, i was in the process of healing, learning and recovering. i started doing resin craft. really got aaaaalot of satisfaction from it. i did so much and got good at it that i needed to sell it so that i could fund the materials to keep doing it and also to not hoard my craft ahah. i love every piece but i simply can't keep it all at home. i probably did more than hundreds of it. had my first boothing experience at curbside crafters. didn't profit much but almost breakeven for the materials. at least i really enjoyed the process though to crafter out a high quality piece was quite demanding.
through that process, somehow i really found peace. with all the time, solitude, earning money, doing craft, i enjoyed myself and finally explored the idea of practicing self-love. though i can't define that liberating feeling in totality, it was like a mixture of being me, being humble, and being free.
in March i went back to climbing! thanks to Han and Roy. found back that lost love... and while climbing, han's friend who knew me for a day, introduced his friend back into climbing. to cut the love story short, i actually met a guy who is like a guy version of me. i dont think i'd be going through the details here, but the bulk memory of 2022 was with this guy. had my first SG camping trip with this ranger at lazarus island via st. john's.
it was like an equipment check trip and in May, i went to Melbourne with him to attend his friends' wedding and also meet his close grp of friends in the process, i finally was able to fly to Perth to meet estee for a 2 days. attended my first wedding in the mountains at Bright, Victoria. such a beautiful place.
straight after the wedding, we went hiking up Mt. Bogong, Victoria's highest peak, and on gene's bday. supposedly a ez breezy morng hike, but winter came in early that weekend and this climb became my first snow/ice hike. lol. we weren't prepared for it.. i mean.. gene was in his trail running shoes. haha. but as hikers we did brought along our 'just in case' gears like thermals and headlights and we used up every equipt we had. for a moment, i found myself literally fighting for my life.. i dont think i've ever felt this way with any other mountains. haha ok maybe it's not that extreme la, but sun had arldy set and while crossing that pass known as 'Hells Gap' which was likka ridge with strong blowing winds, i really wondered if i could really make it to the hut. to put things into perspective, the cold that hit Victoria in that weekend was too abrupt and cold that it came out in the news. haha. all's good up there. we didnt summit on that day but we went up the next day. was super cold, but that's were i got myself a bf. i really didnt expect or to actually blunly put it, i didnt want it coz single life for me was great at that time and while i was enjoying it, i didnt expect someone to pop by just like that.
anyways, we also had another camping night in the woods. super cold, but really nice and warm in the morng with aero pressed coffee made by gene and over some indon mee that tasted exceptionally good. after heading down, we went to trish's place for a night, before heading to Great Ocean road where gene wanted to bring me there to camp. was a more atas camping day after 'roughing' it out for the last few days. hahas. i rmbr the morng stroll up this path near the campsite just to cash a glimpse of the crashing waves from a high point, with gene hand's in mine. the golden sun was warm and toasty, the air was clear and the grass was so lushy green. life there and then was too good to be true. i really wanted time to just stop for us but as with all good things, i knew i had to embrace the bad. its not about being pessimist or what, but life is a balance.
soon after, i had this offer to change my Aviation path. i wasn't so sure tbh. i didn't know what i wanted coz i really love my current job. it just that the pay is too low and to simply bluntly put it, the mgmt suck. i really wanted to do more for the ground, pay more attention to welfare, allow avenues for workers to feedback and all that, but after years of trying, it just got harder. i didn't mind if there was no career progression for me since i do enjoy what i was doing anyways. perhaps a higher pay would be good, but even that, i can declare that after working for 8 yrs and at my highest technical grade as a Senior Tech, my basic was 2.4k and the ceiling was 3.6k after 10 yrs. i think at this point, i need to ask myself is this passion sustainable. if i could innovate or improve things on the ground, and make work life better for the guys, ok fair enough. but nothing was moving or even attempting to move. i felt my ideals shifting, my attitudes altering and my focus wavering. i didnt like myself, or the effort i put into living. but if the offer allowed me to have a higher pay, i felt short of reason to say no, especially if i could be on a platform to do more for aviation, had hopefully, more for the ground. so yea. that was that.
July, i WENT TO NEPAL. finallyyyyy. 15 days. by then the covid restrictions were laxed abit. i dun want to blog the experience here coz i think everything in detail is up in my YouTube channel ahhahs
but the mountains in Nepal is the first county that hit my heart and soul deep. they took my breath away, also literally at 4130m. i think its the highest point i've been and stayed for a night. was preempting AMS.. but was thankful that my body was somehow acclimatised by then and only had a small headache in the morng when i woke up. oh yea, managed to hike to Poon Hill coz it was otw also. i think what made this trip special is coz back in 2007 while we're like teenagers, after doing mt kinabalu, dickson and i said that we wanted to climb in Nepal one day, and after 12 yrs, we, or rather i, was financially able to do it. the travelling gap that covid introduced also made this climb more bittersweet. the journey - since 2007, really wasn't easy for me.
so ok, came back sg, and after 4 days, i was on a cruise with mother poon and sis. royal caribbean was having this sale, so we decided to bring mother poon out coz we also havent been travelling and i think cruise was one of the relatively 'safer' option at that point in time. was sucha good break from life. didn't expect to enjoy a cruise and mother poon was happy. at that point in time i was also clearing out leaves coz i made that big decision to move out. so just before i started my new journey, i brought mother poon to melaka.
September, a new chapter unfolded. it started as a 6mths trng prog, so i was mostly on office hours during this period of time. had some time with gene on wkends though he was super busy while on course. we went Ballet Under the Stars, he intro me to Muay thai, we tried yoga tgr for the first time. He also finished his course in Oct. i managed to play Touch again. zoom zoom and it was year end.
so yea, that's my year in a nutshell.
oh yes, i finally got my class 3 this yr, my 4T, and cate1(work stuff) for driving this yr.
what's in for next yr?
i wanna get my class 2 bike. i sold my super4 during covid so i could buy a sniper to do deliveries ahhas.
some days i doubt my career movement. though i feel like it was good to get out, and also get into wherever i am, i felt like i could be better positioned. but anyways, i'm gonna make the best out of it!
hmm. i wanna camp and climb in Yosemite. probably wanna do EBC but i dun think have enough budget and leaves for that. so maybe ebc will be 2024?
i wanna do more bike tours if i can get my cl2.
i wanna bring Mother poon out of Asia man. idk how to do the logistics, but i needa figure out and probably get more confident with driving outside.
as for sports.. i also wanna go back stronger in Touch. i dun think my body is ready coz contact though. probably also wanna do more classpass classes like yoga and spin. i also wanna improve in my climbing. i think for technical skills part it always a must keep improving, but i think i wanna focus more on strength coz some moves i know how to do it but can't execute it haahhs. as for bowling, haah i'm out of the league since i changed job. but i coz of climbing, my 3rd and 4th fingers expanded so much that it couldn't fit into my bowling ball. i just changed the insert and upp i think like 3 or 4 sizes?! ahhahs
wah its been awhile since i've blogged. i actually wanna blog more but i'm more into vlogging. haha i still got a backlog of vids to do man. i probably wanna get a new macbook pro, organize my media life abit and all. but phews... seems likka long list ah. anyways, looking forward to 2023. i dont think it'd get easier than 2022, but i definitely wanna be stronger.
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