On New Year's eve, I had a few friends over for a quiet New Year's celebration. Nothing big or fancy just a simple dinner with lots of drinks and chats. We also spent some time reflecting on how 2012 has been to us and all of us agreed that it was a good year. Here are my highlights for 2012.
In January, I left my very first job in New Zealand as a part time retail assistant after working there for over a year. Sure, it was just a shoe store but it was also my first working experience overseas so in some ways, it meant quite a lot to me.
Team Rockport
Despite working there only as a part timer, I also managed to save up a little bit of money which I was able to buy a return flight ticket back home for both Calla & I. No idea how I did it but I did so it was really an accomplishment.
Calla finally meeting my family and spending her first Chinese New Year.
And then there was the Jakarta/Bali trip for one of my friend's wedding which was one of the highlights of my 2012. Ironically, despite being born and raised in Brunei, this was also my first trip to Jakarta and Bali. And it's only 2 hours flight away! After this trip, I've concluded that shopping in Malaysia is definitely overrated. Haha!
Bali 2012.
Catching the sunset at Rock Bar Bali, Ayana Resort & Spa.
After a great start to 2012, it was then down to serious business. I was an unemployed graduate with only a part time working experience. I would spend hours and hours on the computer just looking for jobs online and applying for whatever positions I felt was suitable. Sure, it was quite fun for the first few days thinking your next job could possibly be your next dream job but after a few rejection letters and no interviews, the whole process can really dampen your spirit.
It took me approximately about a month of job hunting that I finally managed to secure an interview with a local events/video production company. I can still remember the moment where I read the email from my current employer with a reply saying to 'come in for a quick chat'. After two interviews, I finally secured my first full time job as a video production assistant at Madant Productions.
It was quite a hard transition for me as I came in during a busy period for the company. Everyone was busy doing something while I, the newbie was trying to be as helpful as I could. And just as everyone agrees, once you start working as a full timer, time definitely flies. It's been a little over 8 months with the company and work has taken me to a few places around New Zealand. I've also had the privilege to meet a few local and international celebrities.
With Australia's celebrity chef, Tobie Puttock in Queenstown.
With US X-Factor (1st season) third place winner, Chris Rene.
Working on the set of Hobbiton where I was filming an international press junket for The Hobbit premiere.
I had James Nesbitt and Graham McTavish on my pod!
There were definitely more stuffs happening at work but those were just the main ones off the top of my head. Another highlight of 2012 is seeing Calla do her first Adidas 10k race here. This was definitely a big milestone for her as she accomplished her fitness goal. As for me, I'm just glad I was there for moral support.
And then just only last month, both Calla & I visited Queenstown for the first time and spent an amazing 3 nights in one of the most beautiful places in the world. And not too long after that, she went back home to Michigan to surprise her family for Thanksgiving and spent her Christmas and New Year's there while I'm left behind in New Zealand all by my lonesome. Although 2012 did not end with a bang (no pun intended), I personally felt that a quiet celebration to welcome 2013 was more appropriate rather than the usual partying and dancing celebration.
So what's next? What's 2013 going to bring? As of now, I haven't made any big resolutions for the year yet but I can foresee that it will definitely be another exciting year. Here's to a brand new year. May 2013 bring everybody great health, happiness and success in everything.
If you have an iTunes account and have any bank cards associated with it, you might wanna beware. I normally check my bank accounts every now and then just to be sure that there's nothing fishy going on in there and of course at the same time, just like many of you *secretly* hoping that someone might accidentally transfer $1 million to my account as well. I've had a few cases of credit card frauds happening and so far, banks have been very cooperative with disputing transactions and issuing me a new card (especially my local bank, SCB Brunei. Well done!). So today, i checked one of my overseas bank account and found out that i've been charged over USD $200 for some random iTunes purchases. Initially, i thought maybe iTunes have accidentally charged me for some of the stuffs i've been downloading but upon cross referencing with my iTunes receipt, there are discrepancies with the dates and the amount because they're all...free. Well, i am Asian by blood so i don'…
I've heard a lot about how beautiful this little town is but nothing could ever prepared my eyes for what I'm about to see. I've spent three years in New Zealand and this was my first trip ever heading down to the south island of New Zealand. Okay, my second one actually. I did make a trip down to Queenstown two months ago but it was solely for work purposes so I did not really get to enjoy what this beautiful town had to offer. I would say one of the most spectacular moment is when you're flying in to Queenstown on the plane. One glimpse outside the plane's window and the view itself is absolutely breathtaking.
For this trip, I managed to score a reasonable accommodation deal via Travelbug. They had a "secret deal" where the the hotel was not revealed but claimed it as a 4.5 star rated hotel for $130 a night. Since I had no luck on most of the one day deal travel websites, I went with it and ended up with two nights at The Millenium Queenstown. Location…
This was probably something that no one saw it coming earlier, but when Brunei went ahead with the implementation of the Syariah law earlier this month, we've been getting a lot of international coverage. And it started off with LBGT supporters calling for the boycotting of the Beverly Hills Hotel in LA. From there onwards, it pretty much snowballed to a bunch of rich and famous people jumping in the boycotting bandwagon of assets owned by the Brunei Investment Agency around the world, particularly hotels under the Dorchester Collection.
Perhaps the video that surprised me the most was this video of Japanese protesters outside the Ambassador's Residence of Brunei in Tokyo, Japan.
Having born and raised in Brunei, any form of protests in this country is considered very illegal. Mainly also due to the fact that we are still under a Martial Law since 1962. So to actually see people silent protesting outside an official Brunei premise, albeit it being in a foreign soil, is still …
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