April 2019: Highlights

So I’m officially no longer on track with my one post a month goal 😢

Overall, April has been a slow month for most areas of my life since I’ve been focusing all my energy on work. Well, things aren’t always meant to be as exciting and fast-paced, and that’s alright! We all need to chill out and choose which areas to prioritize!

So, here are some April highlights for me:

Work

• Got to participate and speak up in a team meeting. This might not sound like a big deal to most people, but this is a major step up for me because I don’t usually do this. I’m more of a listener than a talker.
• A workaround that I proposed a few months earlier is finally on its way to implementation! I finally feel useful in the team!
• Experienced working from home for the first time. It wasn’t a completely pleasant experience (remote desktops suck lol), but I’m glad we have this option.
• GOT MY COMPANY ID AFTER 4 MONTHS! 😂 Is it just me, or is it really hard to look good in ID photos?

Personal

• UK visa approved! 🇬🇧 Yep, that’s where I’m going in June! 😉
• The kitten we found passed away 😢
• Went out with J 3 times in April! 3 TIMES! Wow, it feels like we’ve broken a record 😂
• Tackling the Komono category of the KonMari method bit by bit! It’s so hard having to deal with such a large category, but I’ve found that breaking it down into subcategories helps.
• Finally found a to-do list app that works for me ❤️

101 Things progress

To those who don’t know, I’m doing the 101 Things in 1001 Days challenge. Here’s how I’m doing on some of those goals:

• #44: My vibrato is starting to show without me having to force it (which is how it should be). But sometimes it scares me and it shows up at the weirdest parts of a song, so I’m still having a hard time to control it without straining.
• #45: Finished digitizing more than half of our old family albums!
• #47: Successfully migrated all of my photos to Google Drive/Photos!
• #55: Went on an unfollow spree. Twitter is starting to annoy me as much as Facebook did, but luckily it’s easier to unfollow people on Twitter.
• #86: Started my MCU marathon (and now on my 6th movie, Thor!)
• #99: Still trying to reach that note… I actually managed to sing it once without straining, but somehow I couldn’t reproduce the clarity of that sound.

Others

• Watched Avengers: Endgame. OH MY HEART. That’s all I’m gonna say. ❤️💔
• My dad pointed out that I grew taller… and turns out he was right! How did this happen 😱
• I got my parents a Chromecast because I wanted to make it easier for them to watch Netflix and YouTube, but they don’t care about the Chromecast one bit. It’s official: I suck at giving gifts 😆

Things I’m looking forward to

1. Finishing the Komono category…

…and moving on with my life.

I know that tidying is a long process, but it feels 2x longer and more frustrating when dealing with the Komono category. That’s why I really just want to get this over with and move on to sentimental items + other things that need my attention.

2. Increased work responsibilities

A colleague of mine is resigning in May, and I’m going to take over some of her tasks, like training the new hires.

Now, I’d be lying if I said I’m not nervous. Of course I am a bit nervous. I’m not even a regular employee yet, but here I am showing the newbies the ropes. But of course, despite the nerves, I’m excited to pass on my knowledge to the new hires. I know that my bosses have faith in me and my capabilities because they wouldn’t have entrusted me with this task if they knew I wouldn’t be able to handle it. I want to show them that they made the right decision. 👍🏼

3. Writing more

I read and write stuff for a living, so looking at words is the last thing I want to do during my time off. But at the same time, I really miss expressing myself and just writing about whatever topic, so I really hope I can write more and post more on this blog.

Speaking of posting, I still have so many blog drafts from my time in Taiwan (2016-2018).There are so many reasons why I decided not to post them, including but not limited to the following:

• A long time has passed since the events happened so it’s no longer appropriate to post
• Lack of nice photos for the post
• I don’t want to give tips to students when I’m not even a star student myself
• Events/details not interesting enough
• The world only wants positivity, and the post doesn’t contain one bit of it

I felt bad not being able to document those experiences on my blog, and I thought there would be no point looking back on them. But seeing Sydney‘s throwback posts about her time in Japan inspired me to do something similar on my blog – I can just make a Taiwan throwback series and maybe reflect on those experiences? I’m not sure! Would this be a good idea? Let me know in the comments 😊

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I hope you have a great month ahead of you! Let’s go and make every day count 🔥