Looking back 2022

January to March
Met choir peeps for Dim Sum on 1 Jan again

Birthday dinners with Eric and Edward and began my house searching process

Spent CNY in Singapore at Four Aunt's house and Wei Ling's house

Angus came to visit so I bought him around MBS Art Science Museum, he got me a pineapple gin from London

Dinner and drink with Kat and went to her place for the first time!

Bought Iphone 13 pro after 4 years of my Iphone X

Started my little red book account lol

Renewed my passport because upcoming trip

Switzerland trip with my mum and Jessie. First overseas trip after 2 years, first trip with both and their first trip to Europe. Really enjoyed it because we went at the right time and I snowboarded

Bought my first LV in Switzerland

April to June

SG started opening up, a lot of eating and drinking and spending

Learnt to make scented candles because of my love for candles

Neab came to SG - his first time after so long so we went around like tourists. I was so glad to see him.

Sida's wedding

Met Felicia and Matty after so long!

Bought my first Hermes and Givenchy sneakers

July to September

Buddy came to SG, brought him out for dinner and drinks

IPPT silver -_-

Emcee duty for Kelvin's wedding which turned out to be so fun

Started helping another team for work and got so much negative vibes

Bangkok trip after so long, stayed at the Standard and spent a lot haha

Jason came to SG, dinner and drinks

A lot of house viewing, almost bought a house

Got Covid positive -_- and couldn't smell or taste anything for 2 weeks and couldn't meet Neab who was in SG

October to December

Japan opened up! And I quickly booked 2 flights

Bought

Bought lots of candles, including Le Labo from Carousell. I still love Carousell!

First trip to Manila! Met Standley on the flight! First biz and leisure trip and it was not bad

One day after, went to Tokyo after 2 years. Met Angus, Emi and Mika. It was so fun shopping and eating non stop.

Edward's birthday dinner

11.11 sale as usual

Bought my Saint Laurent Backpack

Blew up at a colleague lol

Neab in SG again, got super drunk and went hiking the next day, started cutting back on alcohol

Company DnD in MBS, quite fun, and went to Adriel's party after

2 weeks leave - very productive 

2022
Financial
This year I only saved 63% of my total cash, compared to 68.46% last year, even though I had more bonus pool, and still below my targeted 70%. 

Not surprised, because my spending habits changed, probably because of last year's spending habits. I started eating salad for lunch and my meal budget went up to $10-$15 because I only had to spend twice a week on meals. The 3 overseas trips (Swiss was the most expensive) were so different from my previous budget trips. For Swiss it was the hotels, meals and luxury items, for Bangkok it was the hotel and Tokyo was the snacks and facial products. Oh wells, memory > money but at least I had some cash back after each trip. At this age I don't seem to mind spending more overseas.

I bought a record number of luxury items this year. LV, Hermes, Givenchy, Saint Laurent. WHY!!! I wasn't the luxury brand kinda guy but Covid turned me into one! Ok to be honest, I bought most of them way below retail price and below $1k and I never regret any buys, they are all worth it. Even my mum and friends approved. The only regret is not buying more lol but I got no money. I also cut spending on alcohol - I have more than enough gins, wine and strong zero. 

Physical
I guess not much changes physically, I am still consistently gymming. I got Silver for IPPT which was normal. Ageing makes it so hard to get Gold so maybe I'm giving up for Gold. I cut my hair really short from August and I plan to keep it that way until next March. 

Edward commented that my face became so flawless after I came back from Japan. It's the weather and my holiday aura. 

My facial routine:

Morning: Elixir Toner, Elixir moisturiser, Allie sunblock.
Night: IOPE men essence, Pola moisturiser, hair serum. Sometimes mud mask or Keane rice mask.
I really swear by Pola. It is expensive but the best best best facial product I've used and I can see the effects the next day. 

Social

Same as last year - not much of a social actually. I met Eric for movies, Kat for drinks and Kelvin for discussions mostly, met Soon quite regularly, I think it's quite nice and fun. Only met Jarren and gang once this year, met Angus, Jason and Neab. Totally cut off from Sophia Road although there were some tangles. Less of going over to Jessie's towards the end of the year because I got quite annoyed at her sometimes. 

I finally met Fel, Daniel and Matty after so long! Also met Eleanor after so long haha I love how she calls me spidernest. Catching up with a lot of people at the end of the year.

Overall
This year is so much better than last year. When the year started it was still in the state of the unknown but it got better and better with the world opening up and travelling allowed in most countries. Everyone's revenge travelling but war at Russia and Ukraine and I got a feeling the China-Taiwan one is coming too. Work has been stable and got better when I don't need to help the other team anymore towards the end of the year. A little bit of pressure and stress in October to November but everything went well in the end.

My tagline of 2022: Gearing up

2022 turned out good and everyone, including me, is gearing up for next year. I thought it was quite stable and it was short for me. I had more focus and clarity toward the end of the year. I also had a lot of time to do my things!

2023
This is it. The year of reckoning. I have a huge project to complete and it is my next goal. It's going to be so exciting and I can't wait. Actually, everyone is excited. I already have a few business trips coming up, my snow pilgrim, travel plans with Angus, maybe my aunt and my mum. I'm going to be so busy, it's looking great.