Wrapping Up Year 2020 - An Unprecedented Year (Part 2)

 6. Cooking

Everyone can become a master chef during lockdown. I've always wanted to improve my cooking skills and cook delicious dishes for my family. I perceive cooking as an important life skill alongside driving. Therefore, I've jumped on the bandwagon of cooking during the lockdown. I find cooking surprisingly therapeutic and satisfying. Because of cooking, my lockdown life is beyond watching dramas and wasting time on social media. 

To avoid boredom, I've been trying out different recipes, whilst improving my fundamental cooking techniques. In fact, research has proved that people who spend time on creative goals live happier, and cooking something new is counted as an act of creativity! The theory of "practice makes perfect" applies to cooking too. After months of practicing during lockdown, I can now prepare my lunch efficiently while working from home without resulting in any disruption to my work. Some might find cooking during working days a daunting task, but I treat the routine of lunch preparation as a reminder to take a break from my laptop. Furthermore, regular preparation of home cooked meals has increased my awareness on consuming healthy food. You are what you eat.

7. Baking

Unlike cooking, it's harder for a beginner to start baking. Baking requires strict adherence to a correct recipe and different set of equipments and tools from cooking. The risk of failure is higher for baking because it is dependent on a lot more variables than cooking, such as measurement, heating time, temperature and ingredients. Most importantly, cooking is essential but baking isn't. Having cake as teatime increases calories consumption!

I started using air fryer to bake a proper cake after encouraged by my friend. She was persuading me how easy baking burnt cheesecake is and the chance of failing is extremely low even for first time baker. My first attempt turned out to be a successful one, which I would like to attribute the success to my chef boyfriend who guided me well (at the same time, he teased me together with my brother... Well...). The positive comments had built my confidence to bake, yet I realized the limitations of baking by using air fryer. The end product of an air fryer couldn't achieve the texture of end product baked using oven. Hence, I am planning to get an oven this year!

8. Playing Mahjong 

Since young, my parents always brought me along when they visited my relative's home to play mahjong. I remember vividly that I used to help them arranging the mahjong and counting monies (I'm well trained to count monies since a kid). Sadly, my father doesn't allow me to play mahjong and sets the rules that I can only play after I start working (I'm lazy to challenge the illogical reason behind this). 

Finally last year, my relatives and mum welcomed me to join them and play mahjong! Before this, I had secretly played mahjong with my friends, yet the experience of playing mahjong with my parents is totally different. Mahjong actually brings me and my family (and my bf's family) closer! My parents were more chilled and cheerful while playing mahjong, and I'm more than happy to spend time bringing joy to them, and also to my aunt who had lost her husband while all her kids are working in Singapore now. 

9. Part Time Job 

My firm has given us a one week break by end of the year, and I decided to sign myself up for a part time job. I had worked as part time sales promoter few years before, and I am attracted to the job now because it requires low commitment and guarantees fast money. I'm paid a reasonable daily basic salary with commission and incentives. The con of this job is the pressure to hit sales target, especially during this pandemic where the foot traffic to shopping mall has reduced.

Apart from fearing the possibility of getting infected with COVID-19, the part time job experience for few days had added spice to my life. Travel restrictions and working from home had resulted in an unalterable and boring life even though my schedule is full with tasks and pastimes. I don't mind to stick to my daily routine, but I would yearn for something outside the norm to happen occasionally. I had taken the opportunity to meet some of my friends who stay nearby the mall, whilst having fun to chat with another part timer. I also spent time to observe the world with my eyes, not through the social media. I understand that these small pleasures would expose me and my family to the risk of infecting COVID-19, hence I had shortened my part time working days to only 4 days, although it means lesser side income.

10. Blogging

When I started blogging 10 years ago, I never thought of the purpose of blogging. I created a blog just to follow the trend, but now I don't think my friends still update their blogs. I didn't intend to write any posts to attract traffic or readers. This blog is more like a personal platform to express my emotions and journal my life. 

After working, I had decided to make my blog as a platform to practice writing and articulate my thoughts. The girl who used to write stupid blog posts and throw shade at someone had grown up. She no longer has to submit english essays to her teacher (Nightmare! I really hate English!), but there is a need for her to improve her English continuously. 

In short, my blog posts is highly to be a summary or reflection of each stage of my life, so the length of the post would be longer and more time consuming. Now, if I feel like sharing any stupid or emotional thoughts, I could've reached out to my boyfriend or friends. Besides, I have started writing my feelings or interesting things that worth remembering in my journal now. 

Although I have changed my blogging style, I would remain the tradition of writing an annual review of my life, as like this post. 2020 has been unprecedented and worrying, which I believe same would happen to 2021, but life goes on. Besides building resilience and embracing the new norm, we couldn't do much to stop COVID-19 from spreading, as it isn't within our control. 

Hence, I have been reminding myself to put more time and energy into things we can control, such as lifestyle, mindset and routine. 2021 has started 2 weeks and I had started a new habit to drink honey and eat vitamin C every morning. Hopefully when I'm writing my annual review for 2021, I have developed more healthy habits with increased happiness in my life!

"The challenge is not to be perfect, is to be whole."

Wrapping Up Year 2020 - An Unprecedented Year (Part 1)

It's unbelievable that how quickly 2020 has flown by. In just few months, much of our way of life has changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like it or not, mask-wearing, social distancing and travel restrictions have become an inevitable part of our daily life. Everyone keep saying that 2020 was the worst year (Judging from the way 2021 started, 2021 might be worse than 2020), however the eventful year shouldn't be an excuse to stop enjoying life and improving ourselves. Upon a late reflection on my year of 2020, I observe a handful of changes and milestones during the year which are worth remembering.

1. Graduation

I graduated from university and earned my Bachelor's degree in the midst of pandemic. The lockdown happened after the day I played sports with my classmates. We neither get a chance to say a proper goodbye, nor embrace the end of student life memorably. Nevertheless, I am grateful that the pandemic only happened at the very end of my university life. Throughout these three-years of my degree, my classmates and I had built friendship and created precious bittersweet memories together. Although I favor the flexibility of online learning, the human interactions in traditional classes are irreplaceable, especially the "lepak" and "makan" sessions after classes which made my university life more complete. Many are disappointed at their graduation without the ceremony and celebration, but I find that making the most of my time at university places greater significance over attending the ceremony. Graduation does not mean cutting ties with my university mates. All of us would move on and pursue our new life, but our memories never fade, true friendship never end. 

2. Job Hunting

Graduating is both scary and exciting. On one hand, it's a major milestone signifying achievements, hard work and the start of a new chapter. On the flip side, graduating is equivalent to the beginning of adulthood which is filled with uncertainties and responsibilities. Graduating in the pandemic-riddled world increase the difficulties faced by the class of 2020 in their job hunting process - changing business climate, fragile economy, political instability and tough job market. 

I am fortunate to graduate at the point of time where the lockdown was gradually lifted and the government had rolled out strategies to boost economy recovery. Hence, I had successfully secured a job in one of the Big 4 accounting firms within one month after my graduation. Unfortunately, this first job of mine did not meet my expectations in the aspects of job responsibilities, career prospects and work environment. My challenging job hunting journey continued until I received offer for my current job. Job switching was again filled with unpredictability, seeing the third wave of COVID-19 outbreak began. My anxiety only ended when I finally collected my company laptop!

3. Working

The transition from a student to a working adult is a big deal as it is not only about adapting to work life, but also surviving the "real world". Work is different from school - in workforce, failing to meet your job responsibilities spells more serious and immediate consequences. Our boss is not obliged to pay us just because we are hired. Instead we only deserve the paycheck and promotions by becoming the value contributor to the company.

Thankfully, my experience in extra curricular activities, part time job and internship had contributed to my smooth transition from collegiate life to working professional life. Even the awful experience and painful life lesson learnt from my first job had prepared me to handle my current job responsibilities better. As an entry-level staff, my job performance has met the expectations, but I know that I have to always keep improving and upskilling. There is still long way to go - I am a work in progress.

4. Driving

The most exciting thing happened during my adulthood is buying a new car and started driving! Despite getting my driving license few years ago, I didn't drive for years as I didn't have a car and my plea to have a car had fallen on deaf ears. I opine that driving signifies independence, freedom and convenience, which is incomparable to the options of calling grab and taking public transportation. Especially now with pandemic, I feel more comfortable to have car as my personal space, rather than sharing public space. My parents can now care less about one thing, in exchange I could run errands for them and drive my siblings. 

Although owning new car comes with monthly commitment and car related expenses, I find the benefits of gaining a lifelong skill outweighing the costs. My parents have started to view me more of a responsible young adult, rather than a kid who's always trying hard to fit into their schedule for a ride. I can enjoy impromptu hangout with friends or travel without worrying much about the Grab fare and time arrangements. Besides, I have learned to plan our expenses properly to ensure that I could meet my monthly commitment while achieve other financial goals.

5. Becoming ACCA Affiliate 

Honestly, the excitement of passing all ACCA examinations on first attempt and becoming ACCA affiliate didn't last long. I am more relieved at the fact that I don't have to waste money to resit any papers. The idea of no longer have to deal with exam pressure is more thrilling! Besides, getting the affiliate title means an increase in annual subscription fees. Luckily, one of the perks of working in Big 4 accounting firms is the eligiblity to claim annual subscription fees for our professional membership. 

As I have ventured into a non-accounting pathway, I've been reflecting on my choice of gaining an ACCA membership, which has cost a fortune. Back then, I was given a misconception that having a professional qualification would be equivalent to a high pay job, which turned out to be partially untrue. My pay is on par with the market rate, but some of my peers in other industries without professional qualifications are making more money.

Nevertheless, I should view my professional qualification beyond the monetary returns. Gaining knowledge is what makes my professional qualification valuable, alongside with my work experience and other must-have skills. Instead of being short-termism, I should look into the long term potential career progression and increment. The job market is getting increasingly competitive and earning the title of ACCA Affiliate is no longer sufficient. Lifelong learning and upskilling is crucial.