2012 in review

Happy New Year 2013!!! 😀

8 as is a good date as any to write my first post for 2013, but as usual before things can start, others must end…

Thus here are the milestones of my 2012 (both in the blogging world & off)…

At the beginning of 2012, I said I would live in the moment & trust God more and I think 2012 was just that:

I came to a more concrete realisation of my dreams of being a writer (quite unplanned)

By February, my blog was chosen as Blog of the Month and an article of mine appeared in a local (Sarawak) paper. And though not because of my writing (but it was print media so it denotes an honorable mention :P) I also made an appearance in a Brunei local paper.

In April, I applied for a travel writing scholarship and though I did not get that, I did get 2 awesome opportunities (major highlights of my year!) – I had the opportunity to actually cover 2 big-scale events on a media pass!

See me in the press pit? 😉 STILL one of my fave photos of the year!

They were the Borneo Jazz Festival in Miri in May & the Rainforest World Music Festival in Kuching in July – these 2 events encompassed all that I love: music, travel & writing. It was awesome!

Through a series of events, I also sat for a journalist exam with a local paper. If it is to be, I will be called for an interview next. Trust God. 🙂

Living in the moment meant I was up to whatever life presented…which led me to some very interesting things..

In April, I joined a Run & ran 5km – with less than 1 week of training at that! 😉 If future me had told me in January 2012 that I’d be running in 3 months I wouldn’t have believed myself.

On a whim (bought the tixs the night before I flew), I finally went to Kota Kinabalu (prior to this it had always been just passing through) in August & in September, for the first time, I stepped foot in Penang. While the former can be checked off as “done”, Penang requires another more proper visit. 😀 And since I’m on the subject of travelling, Labuan was “done” in April 2012 and Bintulu in February.

With those, I guess 2012 was a “Cuti-Cuti Malaysia” year for me…plus the multiple trips to Miri & at least 3 trips to Kuching.

Life & work caught up with me towards the end of the year (thus my blog was on halt from Sept-Dec) but if I could summarise those months into a blog title it would be: “3 Weddings & a Conference” – 1 of those weddings was that of a very dear friend of mine. :’) Congrats to all 3 couples!

And so ends my review of 2012 (in general).

It had been a great year filled with memories & experiences money can’t buy…no matter where I went or what I did, it was those who were with me (be it physically or in spirit) that made them special.

Thank you for journeying with me in 2012 & I look forward to more adventures together in 2013. 😉

Leaving you now with a review of Perfect Imperfections for 2012 from the guys at WordPress.com:

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 11,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 18 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Three

After all the things we’ve been through together-my first job, my decision to change job instead of going back to school, my moving back to where I grew up, the initial stages of my new job then and as I’m wondering how long I’ll still be at that second job (my current job now)-WE are still here!!!

We made it to the 3rd year!!!

Over the years, you have been with me without fail. You have always been there when I am excited and could not stop talking. You are there when I’m upset and needed to vent. Even when I’m just too busy for you, you faithfully waited for me to return…not to mention all the friends I’ve made because of you…they are your voice in response to all I that share…

I truly cherish the past 2 years..from Kuching to Brunei..from daily updates to less than a post a month sometimes..you show me where I’ve been and where I’m going..and so, my gift to US..I will try my best to update you more regularly now..a post every week..make that my resolution this month.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PERFECT IMPERFECTIONS!!!
(and thank you to our dear readers for continuing to support us)

X is Awesome!!!

I truly sympathise with those who DID NOT get to experience this during their childhood:

Ah…I miss those cartoon watching days of long ago…*sobs*

Thankfully, for old-time’s sake, many of them have been made into movies: X-Men, Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Ironman, Fantastic Four, Transformers…

But for me, the best of them all is the X-Men Trilogy, 3 films in the space of 6 years (2000-2006)…which ended with the death of Professor X. So sad! 😦

…but now they are doing the Star Wars thingy and going back in time to show us how it all began…SUPER!!! 😀

The first spin-off or prequel (and according to wiki, its not the last! 😉 ) X-Men Origins starts off with Wolverine…

Last week, me and 5 others watched “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” at Seri Q-Lap Cinema. The tickets were a lot cheaper compared to The Mall and we had the best seats in the house (smack in the center of the big screen!) – awesome! 😀

I’m not gonna reveal the plot of the movie, you can click here for that, but I simply LOVED it!!! However, if you have not watched the movie, I doubt you will understand what I am talking about after this… 😉

Thanks to wiki, I now know (what I didn’t realise when watching the movie) some very interesting and important facts that practically made me slap my forehead and say “OH!” in enlightenement! 😉

Talk about sibling rivalry!

1) Logan/Wolverine’s brother Victor Creed is the future X-Men villain Sabretooth!!! – who is, by the way, in “X-Men”, the 1st of the Trilogy! The role was played by two different actors though.

2) Wolverine’s girlfriend’s sister name is Emma Frost, future X-Men known as White Queen – an X-Men I have no recollection of. How odd…

3) The villain here, Colonel William Stryker is also the villain in “X2”, the 2nd of the X-Men Trilogy (although 2 different actors played the role). I really need to rewatch the Trilogy!

(L-R): Wade/Deadpool, Remy LeBeau/Gambit, Logan/Wolverine, Victor Creed/Sabretooth, Kayla/Silverfox

4) One of two possible endings appear following the credits of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”. The first depicts Deadpool/Weapon XI’s hand reaching out from the rubble of the nuclear complex to touch his severed head. The second alternate scene shows Wolverine drinking at a bar in Japan. The female bartender asks if he is drinking to forget; Wolverine replies that he’s drinking to remember.

Ours was the second…thus I did not realise the importance of Deadpool. Apparently, he is important enough to have a spin-off as well, and this has been confirmed following the success of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”! 🙂 According to wiki, in the prequel, it is understood that Deadpool, a surgically altered Wade Wilson with the ‘pooled’ abilities of other mutants, would regain the ability to mouth off, with the movie going back to the roots of the character, known for his slapstick tone and propensity to break the fourth wall. Does that mean he can “talk others to death”? Haha!

5) Upcoming spin-offs or prequels will be “X-Men Origins: Magneto” (the title is self-explanatory), “X-Men: First Class” (intended to be about the young Cyclops, Jean, Beast and others who attended Xavier’s school with them) and “Deadpool” (mentioned above) and the inclusion of Gambit also leads to the possibilities of his own spin-off. Nice! 🙂

In summary, I LOVE X-MEN and I can’t wait for whatever prequel/sequel – there is a sequel planned for Wolverine, set in Japan (note the second ending scene which we saw!) and possiblity of a sequel after Prof. X died in “X-Men: The Last Stand”, the 3rd of the Trilogy – they can come up with!

Yes, I am X-cited alright! 😀

P.S. In “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”, there were a quite a number of good-looking guys. Agent Zero was cute, Remy LeBeau aka Gambit was hot (reminded me of Capt. Jack Sparrow of “Pirates of the Caribbean” – another set of films I love watching!) and also featured will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas for his first major film debut!

P.P.S. My fave scene was…ALL of the fighting scenes!!! 😀 Super effects and stunt-work(?)

P.P.P.S. Above all, my fave X-Men since the very beginning is Rogue, Gambit’s love interest. I guess I can relate more to her character…Hehe. Anyways, this character hasn’t yet been portrayed much in any of the movies…one day hopefully. 🙂