I am twenty three years old now!!!!
All these while when I was asked how old I am, I tend to (subconsciously) answer, "Oh I'm twenty one!" No I am not living in denial, let me assure you that. It's just that I really strop remembering my age. Really!
Anyway, the past one year has been one of the best years in my life (yet), so today, as the title suggests, I'll share with you twenty two of the best things I did for myself when I was twenty-two!
#1. Don the hijab
Okay let's start with the obvious, shall we? This is the time of my life that I *finally* decided to ditch all my sleeveless tops and short skirts that I used to adore so much. Said bye-bye to the tons of earrings, hair accessories, sexy bikinis and hello to long sleeved tops and pants and shawls of different shades of colour..
I remember as a child I used to hate celebrating Hari Raya because my mom would force me to don the hijab just because my cousins do so. Last year was the first Aidilfitri that I covered myself from head to toe, willingly may I add :p
I am still taking baby steps to reinvent myself and all I can say is it is an upstream journey. At times it gets totally frustrating when I find myself in the same pit over and over again. Just like everyone else, I have my own demons to deal with, you know?
#2. Best birthday surprise
My Bffs surprised me at midnight in my room while I was sleeping. Look at the cute cake, how can I not love it? And them bffs too! Just look at what they did for me that night!
I guess the best part of my birthday is knowing that there are lots of people who are really eager to celebrate it with me, especially the same old people who have watched me grow since the last decade. Can't believe we've been friends for THAT long, and still be so close together now.
When I was younger, I used to have a long list of wants as my birthday presents. As I grow older, the list gets shorter, because I realized no amount of money in this world is enough to buy most of the things I wanted so dearly ; love, happiness, family and friends.
The best gifts in life don’t always come in hefty price tags, in a huge box wrapped with fancy wrapping paper. The fact that I am sharing the strongest possible kind of friendship with all four of you is one of the most significant gifts for me. ♥
Anyway after the surprise, we got into Hariz's van and had another surprise for Lysa, who celebrates her birthday four days after mine. We then had supper at Al-Azhar, did some of our own Running Man mission after that at West Coast Park. I remember reaching home at five in the morning and turned into a zombie for the rest of the day at work, LOL.
#3. Broke up with Z
I've always kept things low about my recent break-up. I think I must be doing a great job on that because last few days, I met up with a friend and she was still asking me about us, lol. & the reaction I received was the exact same one my family and friends gave me when I broke the news that we're over.
"Aiyah, so wasted!! You've been together for so long, why breakup now??"
Honestly, I never have the answer to that question. I really don't. No, there's no cheating involved. No third parties in the picture either. Ever since he presented me with THE bling-bling two years ago, we have both been really excited to make it official. Somehow, as THE day draws near, things just don't seem the same. I started my career, sort of see life in a different light and gradually, I realized that I have my own definition of living my life, and he had his, and never the twain shall meet.
Weirdly enough, I wasn't overwhelmed with all the negative emotions after the breakup as I thought I would. Instead of whimpering around, telling everyone how much of an a*s I might think of Z at times, stalking his online activities and tracking down every single girl he talks to, I got rid of every bit of disdain I hold towards him and surrounded myself with my awesome people who never fail to inject the positive vibes in me.
I'm glad that I crawled out of post-breakup (not so) blues by focusing on the one & only person I should be dating with before I do so with any other guys out there, who is none other than yours truly.
#4. Joined the Nike She Runs
2013 was the year that I was totally obsessed with running! Yes, obsessed is the word! I bet that is something that the 16 year-old version of me would never have thought in a million years. Massive thanks to our Hariz oppa for being our motivator, for the long lecture he gave us on eating healthy and keeping fit during one of our random night-out at Siloso Beach. Next thing we knew, both Lysa and I were addicted to running. Suddenly the fact that we never (yup, NEVER in that four years in high school, lol) passed our 2.4km run into such a big joke.
Now, 2.4km is totally no sweat. 5 km, or even 10? Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
#5. Graduated from NIE
Enough said :)
Also, I was transferred to a new school, after a year in one of the CHIJ.
#6. Booked an impromptu flight to Bali
It was definitely one of the hastiest and craziest decisions ever made by me! I paid a whooping amount of $1.4K for the flight tickets because it was booked less than 12 hours before flying off. There's too much spontaneity for this trip right from the start, that resulted in the best "how did I get myself into this situation" stories.
My brother accompanied me (no choice but to bring him along because mummy was worried sick about my solo trip plan) with no itinerary, maps or any sense of direction. I wandered, got lost, cheated by the locals and was attacked by bunch of monkeys and worst of all, had zero Rupiahs with me to pay for the airport tax when returning home.
Despite the series of unfortunate events, of course there're other things that made me fall in love with Bali. I can't wait to visit it again ♥
#7. Had the most romantic candle-light dinner by the beach
If you're in Bali, Jimbaran is one place you should never ever miss out. ...
Lovely ambiance (by the beach yo!) and the staff are super friendly. You even get to request for live songs and best of all? Super cheap!
Blogged about it HERE.
#8. First flea market
I posted a long entry about the dos and don'ts HERE.
#9. Met Lee Kwang Soo
I'm not a fan of Kpop and its drama/variety shows, but that was before I was introduced to Running Man and the first member that attracted my attention was Lee Kwang Soo! Last August he was in Singapore for his first ever meet and greet session so when I got to know his flight details, I joined the hundreds of fans at the airport who waited for almost 4 hours just to catch a glimpse of our darling girin oppa!
Waited for 4 hours but only get to see him for 4 mins? Never mind, still worth it!!
#10. Shopping madness at Bangkok
A few days after getting back from Bali, I found myself in the city of smiles and a shopping heaven - Bangkok!
My shopping hauls after a few hours in Platinum Mall only.....
My luggage was almost forty freaking kg when we weighed it at the airport. The same luggage is still in my room, with everything still in it, simply because my wardrobe is too full to accommodate them all.
Blogged about the shopping paradise HERE.
#11. Visited Madamme Tussauds at Siam
Do you know, there are 14 Madamme Tussauds in the world, and Bangkok is one of them?
With my favorite wax model out of all!!! The reason I wanted to come here in the first place. Nickhun oppa!
Blogged about it HERE.
#12. Dinner Cruise at Chao Phaya
Another wonderful experience added to my list of best dining experience in my whole entire life! The food spread was simply fabulous, and the best thing is that you can feast your eyes on the marvelous sight of city lights while cruising down the Chao Phaya river. After our tum tums were filled to the brim, we had an awesome time dancing to the upbeat music.
Blogged about it HERE.
#13. Birthday Party for my dongsaeng ^^
My little sister turned sweet sixteen while my brother hits his twenties, so it was pretty much a huge deal for me. I thought of throwing a huge birthday party but the two of them (whose birthdays are just one day apart), politely declined. Still, being the best big sister that I always am, I booked a suite at Movenpick Heritage (surprise #1) for my family and invited my cousins as well (surprise #2).
Surprise #3 was tickets to Universal Studios for Halloween Horror III!
Can you not grow up so fast my darling two, pretty please?
#14. Planned Hariz's best birthday surprise
This was one of the best birthday surprise I've ever planned for anyone! As everyone would have known by now, I absolutely looooooove planning any kind of surprises, so when it comes to my best friends' birthday, how can I not throw the best birthday surprise ever!
We booked a room at one of my favorite hotel ever,Movenpick Heritage, where we got ourselves a free upgrade to a suite thanks to a dear friend who was working there. So we spent the first night at Universal Studios(for the first time I took both Galactica ride and almost died urgh!) , after that we surprised him with candles, balloons and a cookie cake in the hotel.
Then we gave a Running Man card , each with missions that he has to complete the next day, which I've posted about HERE, along with this video.
#15. Met the Running Man members
This is undoubtedly the best day of 2013, ever!
I wrote a super long entry about meeting my darling oppa(s) and eunnie HERE.
And I have only my dearest Noriz to thank for. Can you believe she actually queued for the tickets a day before the tickets sale?! And because of this, we managed to get the best seat in the house, plus, I get to ........
#16. Shake Kang Gary's Hand
THIS!!!!!
Only CAT A ticket holders get to have a meet and greet session with the members and I shook Gary oppa's hand! Not forgetting he said "안녕 니나" to me!! Pengsan lor.
And of cos, I got his autograph as well!! I was a teeny weeny disappointed because I wanted Kookie's badly but it's okay!! Getting to see him SO CLOSE to me is enough to make me go gaga. How close you may ask?
THAT CLOSE LORRRRR!!
#17. Performed for Childrens' Day
Exactly ten years ago, I performed on stage for the first time for Teachers' Day(I can still remember the song we used and the quirky dance moves!). A decade has passed and here I am today, performing on stage once again but this time, it’s for Children's Day.
How fast time flies!!For the past ten years, I've sat for two of the most major examinations in my life aka PSLE and O’levels, did well for both and got into a Poly with a course that I am so in love with, spent three years there before graduating with a Diploma and started teaching right after that, also I've been in and out of love twice, travelled to many different countries and here I am thinking as I’m typing all these… “Wow all that in ten years? Seems like it was only feeeewwww years back!”
Now I'm starting to wonder how different my life could possibly be ten years from now.
#18. Experienced the magical Disneyland
I swear I've been wanting to come here ever since I first knew about its existence when I was a little girl. To be standing at the entrance of the happiest place on Earth is truly a dream come true!!! Despite the bad weather and long queue at every ride, it didn't dampen our mood, not even a bit.
And the fireworks!! How can one visits Disneyland without witnessing the fireworks! It was so magical that I cried at the end...LOL
I wanna go to every single Disneyland in the world!!!!!! *inserts that to my wishlist*
#19. Skyjump at Macau Tower
Okay I change my mind.
Meeting my darling Running Man opps(s) and Jihyo eunnie wasn't the best day of 2013.
Jumping of the Macau Tower, is!!!
Best fifteen seconds of my life :D
#20. Walked around the outer rim of Macau Tower
I honestly I find this walk mentally torturing! I would jump off the tower instead of doing the Skywalkx, anytime!
Blogged about it HERE.
#21. The impromptu KL Trip
Initially I was thinking of going solo, but I saw my babe Mas tweeting about going to the same place at the same time so I asked her along. & I'm glad I did!!! I never really liked KL that much but now I must say that I will try to come here often for the sake of their vast choices of (halal) eateries.
I mean look at all the glorious food I had for my two nights stay~~
Later on, I had a hard time accepting the fact that I've gained so much weight during that short period of time.
#22. Batam with Zee and friends
My babe Zee got married last year but I am so glad that it didn't change our friendship even a bit. We had a pretty impromptu three days two nights trip to Batam and her colleagues tagged along at the very last minute. It was my first time Batam solely for shopping and karaoke. Heck, we went for karaoke on both nights and sang till morning!
Blogged all about it HERE.
*****
So many things to look forward to this year - with travelling being on top of the list.(In fact, I'm flying off for my next trip in four days' time wheeee!!!) One year from now, I shall write a similar entry titled twenty three highlights of my life when I was 23. For now, keep calm and keep on creating them good memories!
xoxo
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