“Bittersweet” is a word that perfectly captures this year. Like a kaleidoscope, this year presented me with a vibrant array of colors and shapes. As we look back at it, every feeling - the joy, the discoveries, the farewells, the fear, the love, the hope, the frustration - blends together into a single complex and mysterious image. Chaotic, yet tidy, filled with both bright and dark colors. My best year and my worst, and everything in between, all at the same time.
As the year draws to a close and my phone storage is on the brink of depletion, I decided to upgrade my Google One storage plan this week. I took my time to process and to reorganize, backing up all the memories I’ve lived through that are now just waiting for me to revisit. Each photo tells a story frozen in time, and together they weave the narrative of my journey over the past orbit around the sun.
Join me as I take a peek through my viewfinder to reflect on the highs, the lows, and everything in between that made this year so colorful and unforgettable.
Recalling a song from my childhood:
Highlights & Events:
- Traveling with my loved ones, reuniting my two worlds. Travelled through Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket in 12 days. Thai food, thai tea, coconut and mango shakes, shopping, foot massages, temples, night markets, elephant sanctuary, cafes, beach, island hopping, snorkeling, diving. 🇹🇭
- Work: Getting promoted in February, championing a project, farewell to leaving colleagues, working along with new recruits and interns. 👔
- Side-project launches: Social St, Guide Me Places, updating this site 👨🏻💻
- Voting for Indonesian’s presidential election 👨⚖️
- Applying for my work permit in July, which required a passport renewal, and then applying for a TRV afterward, all while naively stressing and hoping the entire process would wrap up by August so I could fly to Indonesia 🌪️. To my relief, everything ultimately fell into place! ⏳
- Attending weekly church to get to know my partner’s religion ⛪️
- Toronto Shopify Summit: whole company meetup! From collaborations, swags, parties, food, venue - everything was epic. Even got plants to bring home 🌱
- Two Hackdays projects: Shopimap & Slack AI Bot 👨🏻💻
- Explore Toronto’s Distillery District and Chinatown 📷
- Going to Toronto to renew my passport 📃🇮🇩
- I had to undergo a medical checkup for my PR application and was warned that my kidney was weak. I applied for Ontario health card, called an online clinic, and went for another blood test based on the doctor’s note. Thankfully, the results came back just fine! (aside from Vitamin D) 😷
- Viewing the solar eclipse 😎
- Toronto Zoo 🦥
- Completed a race: UnderArmour Toronto 10K 🏃🏻♂️
- Board game nights 🎲
- Helped a friend’s bake sale for a Mauritian community event. From decorating banana tarts, packing and labeling, folding boxes, and enjoying the lively atmosphere! 🧁
- Flew home to Indonesia for a month. Family trip to Bali, took a high-speed train to Bandung, celebrated Independence Day, participated in the Docurun’s 10K marathon, driving to Jakarta and rode the MRT around at night. 🇮🇩
- Adventuring to Mauritius, where I made new friends, embraced new experiences, savored new tastes, and collected a variety of incredible moments along the way. 🇲🇺
- Broke up / situationship / farewells ❤️🩹
- Helped out a friend deliver wedding cake 🎂
- Got my PR! 📃🇨🇦
- Got my full G license! 🏎️ My instructor was super rude.
- Going to therapy for the first time. 🛋️
- A good stock year 📈
Lifestyle
- Cooked tons of delicious meals this year, ranging from sweet corn buns and baos to sushi and sashimi 🍚
- Watched many series/movies. Favorite: Beekeeper 🍿
- Read 6 books. Favorite: Crying in H-Mart 📚
- Regular runs, joining park runs 🏃🏻♂️
- Started climbing again 🧗
Wraping up… and vision for next year.
Three countries, seven cities - that’s a lot of travelling this year, and I’m truly grateful for having the opportunity to do it while working. I ran three races, including my first trail run. I got my Canadian Permanent Residency, my full driving license, my work permit, and the promotion I had been waiting for all last year. Looking back, I was blessed with many things this year, especially the wonderful people who brought so much joy, love, and richness into my life.
However, along with those blessings came stress, heartbreak and an emotional roller coaster at the end of the year that shook it apart. It’s unfortunate, as I truly cherished the past two years of my life - they were my happiest years yet, where I felt like the best version of myself. The break up felt like loosing a significant part of me, and I found myself uncomfortably retreating into my past self. Strangely, looking back at old pictures is difficult exactly because they captured my happiest memories - ones I’d love to relive but know I can’t. “Bittersweet” is the word. Despite all that, I’ll strive to continue living my life the best as I could.
Next year, I hope to fully embrace adulthood. To me, a respectable adult is someone who not only makes promises but also follows through on them. I often find myself overcommitting (being delulu) and not following through, and I believe this has held me back in many ways. Cooking for myself, working on myself, running a marathon, looking out and contributing for community, learning new languages, and exploring the world a bit more. I also wanted to improve storytelling.
While I now have to pay an annual subscription for 100GB of Google One storage to preserve my memories from the past, I know it will help ground me and create the space necessary to welcome new memories in the years to come. Thank you, 2024, for believing in me, and hello, 2025! 👋