Something To Be Thankful For

It's really amazing how things have been for me in 2019. I still clearly remember when I wrote my 2018 summary, I mention that many great things IS coming! It really did!

And Its Another Year

I know it's already the second week of January and we are just weeks away till the Chinese New Year and I am still here writing a sum up of my 2018.

Goodbye 三叔

[14th April 2018, 1320]

It's been quite awhile since I last wrote an entry on my blog. Well, part is due to transiting to adulthood, responsibilities start coming in, and I barely have time even for myself.

This entry is written with a heavy heart. Last Saturday, I lost my dearest 3rd Uncle, but the lost can't be compared to my dad losing his precious younger brother.

I witness, I saw, tears rolled down my dad's eyes, he was holding back, and the grievances that he had. That was the first time I saw the vulnerable side of him.

Just a week ago on the 8th April, my paternal family went down to Lim Chu Kang to do our annual visit to our grandparents, (my Dad and Uncle's parents). My 3rd uncle was still pretty lively, energetic, everything seems normal. But a week later, we received news that he was admitted to A&E and is in critical condition.

We have all cried our hearts out, we all wished time could rewind. But the truth is, what has happened, already did. We can only accept the fact that we just lost a family member, and to treasure the people around us more.

Thank you for the love that you have showered me and the rest of your nieces and nephews. You're at a happier place now, keep smiling like you always do. You will always be, and forever remembered deep in our hearts.

Goodbye,  and Rest In Peace 三叔

Are We There Yet?

Hello, hello. To those who are still sticking by my blog and reading all the bits and puzzles of my life that I'm trying to piece together.

It's been quite awhile since I last wrote a personal post. And as much as I keep saying that personal blogging is more or less dead, the lifespan of a person staying on a page to read something is also decreasing. I feel that blogs still has its value and live up to its name to once a platform for brands and advertisers to market their product.

Okay I digress. The reason for me writing this is because of what I fear the world has become, and is going to become. In a age where everything is so superficial, everyone is so attracted to things that are visually appealing and aesthetically pleasing, we fail to look deep upon to what's beneath those carefully curated image. I ask myself, when scrolling through some of my social media, do I really look at what the caption/content is, or do I just look at the image itself. The answer is pretty clear, I'm at guilt myself too. We all are. In contrary to what I've just mentioned, I had a small talk with some of my friends over a meal last month. We realized how some brands and companies are so obsessed with numbers, just like how we're obsessed with curating those beautiful images. They don't see beneath those numbers, just like how we don't see the captions/content beneath those carefully curated visuals. When it comes to advertising, some brands and companies rather believe in superficial things like numbers  than hard work and creativity. It irks me, really.

Thank You 2016

Its the time of the year where I sit down and really think about what I've achieved. To be honest, because I'm still serving my NS, its hard for me to really do the things that I really want cuz my life is pretty restricted. But nevertheless, lets take a look back at what I wrote in hopes to achieve in 2016.

http://www.donnlicious.com/2016/01/01012016.html

- To Be Fitter
Honestly, I really think I've become fitter as compared to last year. I mean, I'm really proud of myself that I make it a habit to run 5km after for at least 2 times a week. So... *Pats on my shoulder*

- Travel at least twice this year
Managed to tick this off my bucket least as I traveled to Korea alone back in June and Vietnam with my platoon mates in November.

- Blog more
Sadly I didn't fulfil this cuz everytime when I book out from camp I'll be so tired to even turn on my laptop. Furthermore having to sort out my photos and edit them and crafting out the content that I want to write. Even if I do, its some "CHAPALANG" kind of post which I kinda regret posting them. But oh wells.

- Spend more time with family
Thankfully, army made me so tired that I don't really want to get out of my house. All I want is just to "nua" at home and spend some quality time with my family. This year, I manage to spend my Christmas and New Year holiday with them, so I'm really really proud of myself on achieving this. :)

- Start thinking about what I want to do in life
This is the one that keeps me thinking. Cuz till now, I still don't know what I want. My friend(s) have all asked about what I want to do after army, any thoughts on further studying, etc etc. Frankly speaking, I really don't know...

24 September 2016

From the continuation of my previous post -> birthday month of how much I'm bragging about my friends celebrating and remembering my birthday. YES! This is the 2nd part of the post well cuz I have THAT many friends. Okay I kid, I don't. But anyways, on 24th September I turned 24, but me being me I'm super denial and I keep telling people and posting on my social media that I'm #Sweet16.

So on that very day I met up with Joyce, Fenny BaeBae, MyApplePai, Ruoxuan, Weijie, Kaizhi, and Limei which we, together with some other group of friends affectionally call ourselves #Cousins but due to some unforeseen circumstances I don't call us that anymore. #illegagathering sounds nicer.

So I met the above mentioned (excluding Limei) at town area whereby we just walked around and catch up with one another. After which, the plan was to have some desserts at the Craftholic pop up store located at School Of The Arts, SOTA in short. But because the cafe have such poor customer management we were told that dine in was closed for the day. What a bummer! To kill some time, I had my personal manager -> @YourApplePie to help me take my #OOTD shots cuz SOTA has nice backdrop that is insta worthy. LOL!!!



After we're done taking our ootd's, we went back to find the rest. So when I was about to put down my stuff, I saw Ruoxuan's eyes was like looking sideways not knowing what to do. As in, she looked flustered if you want to put it that way. It was kinda funny though cuz she looked equally confused as well. After that Ruoxuan started singing the Happy Birthday song and followed by the rest. Seconds later I saw Joyce walking to me with a birthday cake with a glitter candle on top (I NEED TO HIGHLIGHT THAT ITS GLITTER OKAY!!!)

By the way the candle is still inside my earpiece pouch. They told me to keep it and reuse it next year. #Determination (Muscle Emoji)

I was super duper touched cuz it has been awhile since I last saw them. Probably close to a year already, some even more than a year. So to share my joy I decided to share my cake with all of them. The boys were pretty reluctant cuz well, they prefer girls to feed them. But whatever, we're fronds, nothing to be shy or afraid of.



After having some "ME" time, we proceed on with the plan for that day. UNCLE RINGO CARNIVAL!!! I'm abit excited but yet I don't want to have high expectations cuz #expectationsVSreality. Carnival sounds like a pretty fun and interesting "term" but when you get to see the actual thing.... Nah, not so.

So when we arrived at Beauty World, Limei finally met us and I was presented with a box of 12 cupcakes. Hehe! THANK YOU LIMEI!!!

We saw the carnival which from far looked pretty promising. Until we walked one round and think that the prizes for the games and such are pretty meh. What was fun about the carnival was that we all spam our cameras taking shots after shots after shots. We even got the attention from the public when I was taking this photo below of Kaizhi and Weijie carrying me. Hahaha!!!



It was hella fun and we didn't even spend a single cent. It was just pure fun spending time together with your friends. After that, we head on for dinner at some "Zi Char" stall it was a birthday treat from the crew.

You know, I've never thought that I would make friends with people I know online. Furthermore we barely know each other in the beginning. From strangers to people you meet at events and on to friends and now to what we are. Throughout this whole journey it was a bumpy ride. We fought, argued but we look past it and still remain as good friends. This, I truly appreciate it.

Thank you all for your love and care all these years. To some, 7 years may be short. But to me, time doesn't determine a friendship. Its about how both parties juggle their time. If they care, they will. Even if both parties only meet once a year, you'll still end up having countless topics to talk, and endless things to laugh about. Words are not enough to express how thankful and grateful I am of each and everyone of you. Even the simplest "happy birthday" message puts a smile on my face. The thought of people remembering your birthday is just special. It makes me feel special. Be it Blogger Friends, Army Mates, Poly, ITE, Secondary, Primary school friends or my Family. Thank you guys so so much. :')

For the fun, peace, love and joy. 

Happy Birthday to me. 

#donnygaoSweet16

Hello September

Well more than half a year have gone by just like that we're at September already. can you even believe it?!?!?! Anyway, September is probably by far my favourite month of the year cuz its my birthday month!!! I'm super excited cuz my dad is getting me the new iPhone as a birthday present! YAY ME! Not sure which one should I get though, the new matte and jet black looks nice, but deep down I know I'm still a colourful person. Hahah!!

So anyways, this month is pretty chill, I've been claiming off's from my camp like every week cuz my camp is currently involve in some other shit which I don't really care about. LOL!

A friend of mine recently asked me this question: So Don, what are you gonna do after this?
It got me thinking really. Hard enough till I'm really scared of not knowing what to do cuz I've never really thought about it. And now that I've only left around 1 years to finish serving my 2 years of army, I can't help but to constantly think about it.

I've never really told anyone about what I wanna do in the future. The excuse I always give is... I'm not sure, I still have no idea. Studying Uni could be an issue cuz I'm not financially stable to support myself. Plus, I don't really have the feel for studying anymore... For what I know, I have a Marketing diploma, and I'm really passionate in the Arts & Media industry. Fashion, Photography, and Styling to be exact. So after talking to Nicole (nicolelowyx) & Audrey (Ohdreyy) recently, I've finally made a decision and set a goal to go for what we've talked about. Perhaps in the future, I'll make it big. :)

Blog Evolution

Hello. I've been wanting to write about this topic for the longest time, just that I don't have time to go slowly get all the photos and upload it. Now I've got the time, I thought why not just get it over and done with?

So, what triggered me to write this blog post is because I was wondering, who the hell still read blogs nowadays? And from the time I've started blogging till date, I've seen many come and go. Many started, but not many stayed. Well what I mean is that not a lot of people actually have the patience and time to continue to update their blogs and eventually they just left it there. Or some, they just closed down their blogs. I want to write about how I feel regarding this "blogging" industry and how time has changed everything.

Remember back in the days, the only bloggers I knew was Benjamin and his brother Randy (Typicalben & Randyys). Shawn (shavvn), Andy (ANdyStorm), Jayden Tan (Jaylief), Alton Keh (AltonKeh), Fauzi Rassull (fauzirasull) - Singapore's Only Male Bitch, and some of my circle of male blogger friends like Weijie (vveijie), Meldric (Sexy-Swisz), Hong Peng (hpility). As for female, you don't say cuz same as to modeling (CHEH MODEL SEH!!!) its more of a female dominated industry. The female bloggers I know of was Xiaxue, Esther Xie (IceAngel), Sheylara (Sheylara), Valerie Lim (Dweam), yes she was called DWEAM back then... Peggy Heng (ThyDowager), Tammy Tay (OhSoFickle), Jessica (Underage-Girl) back then she was called Underage-Girl, until she decided that she was no longer "UNDERAGED" so she rebrand herself as Shiberty, Lao Zhar Bor (in case you don't know who she is, she damn popz one okay!) And of course, some of my circle of female blogger friends such as Joyce (Forest1012 or was it Joyce1012?!?!), Ying Zi (Dream2BreakAway), Wynnette (LilYellowLorry) and Dawn (Dawnrockka). Just to name a few.

So as time pasts, some of them are no longer in the "blogging" industry, but thank god for Instagram. I manage to keep in contact with some of them. (Not sure to be thankful or not) cuz with the birth of instagram, here comes all the "hipster" food/fashion grammers with instant hundreds and thousands over of likes. Ohyah, I totally forgot about Twitter. It was the biggest social media hit back then, until Instagram came about...

Back Then

I was introduced to blogging via this friend of mine during secondary school. She was the one that intro-ed me to this whole blogging thing and to pen down my thoughts cuz well... I was relatively emo in school. Mainly because my previous pet dog passed away and I didn't hand any mood. I was 95% putting my head down and sobbing in class la. LOL And did I mentioned that my previous pet dog shared the same birthday as me?!?!?! So losing him made me really disheartened and depressed for the following month.



Throwback to my very first blog entry. Please, go ahead. Laugh all you want. HAHAHAHAHA! I cringed so much whenever I read the things I wrote in the past. Not forgetting the photos I'd take. I kennot!!!! Like what they all say, we were all once young.



So as time goes, my blog became a ranting ground, a place for me to post my daily updates and narcissism. I don't even know how I can manage to post 2 - 3 posts a day. LOL! Back then I really damn free. Like nothing better to do. LOL!





ANDANDAND
Do you guys remember no one actually uses the comment box on blogs, what we all used was TAGBOARD!!! HAHAHAHA!!! And some muthafuckers would tag you at your tagboard to do something like this.



Moving On
After using blogger for close to a year, I happen to bloghopped till my junior's blog where she had this "I ♥ Nuffnang" or was it just "Nuffnang" tab on her sidebar, so I was quite curious so I clicked on it. I find it rather sketchy cuz my mom told me that there's no free meal on earth and not to trust whatever you see on the internet, I didn't sign up for it. Well but eventually I did cuz I end up asking that junior of mine what's that. LOL!!!

So after which I signed up and I put that "Nuffnang" tab on my sidebar. I began receiving emails from them regarding movie invites and blogging contests. This is when I found that passion to do up good blogposts so that I can win those god damn contests.




I remember how excited I'll be and I'll always ask my friend (Qianyi) to help me with taking pictures and filming for most of my contests entry. :)

My First Ever Monetary Win
That was when I didn't believe what my mom said about never to trust what the internet says. Cuz what Nuffnang says is all true. LOL!!! I know $50 is not a lot but to be able to win some *KA-CHINGGG* online... Its something worth showing off. Hahaha!




I went for Singapore's first ever bloggers flashmob party located at "The Heeren" where Xiaxue, Jessica , Esther Xie, and some many other bloggers were there as well. Spot me at 1;59, lol!!!




After that, I begin joining more and more contests. LIKE EVERY SINGLE CONTEST EMAIL I RECEIVE I'LL BE LIKE... JOIN!!!

LOLOLOL!!!
But its not a everytime thing cuz everyone have their "day". So when I did not win or anything I'll always tell myself to try harder next time.

My Very First Big Win
So I took part in so many contests that I could barely remember which one I took part in. One day I was having lessons, and I receive a sms from Hong Peng telling me that I won 2nd prize for my Singtel's Live Life Online Anywhere With Singtel Mobile Broadband. I was shock cuz 2nd prize was a iPod Touch if I'm not wrong... Rushed home, and on my computer immediately to check my email. INDEED!!! I WON!!! I was flabbergasted!!! My whole body was shaking in disbelief but yet I'm happy at the same time...





My Next Big Win
Next up was this Chinese New Year blog contest, where we are required to blog about how we could spend an entire day at The Grand Cathay. This one was tough cuz many people took part, even the strong ones like Andy. So I got help from Meldric and Qianyi to film and take pictures for my blog entry. I still remember how I was having time restriction cuz I was having my internship, so I was pretty much occupied most of the days.

But nevertheless... I WON AGAIN!!! Yes, 2nd place again....This time round, a Blackberry Bold 2. If I'm not wrong, its quite expensive to own a blackberry back then... One would simply costs near to $700 - $800?!?! Or maybe more???






After Which
All these contests started dying down and I've also stopped updating my blog. It was more or less dead, but I never had the thought of closing it down, just leaving it there would be a better choice, cuz in case one day I wanna look back and write again...

CNOS/CNOS 2.0
I decided to take part in Cineleisure's Next Online Sensation back in 2012. Probably the biggest hit in the blogging scene cuz A LOT of popz people are taking part and it was overly subscribed if I'm not wrong. I decided to take part in this competition together with Fenny (fennyhwang) and Yingzi (Dream2BreakAway) forming team Y.D.F. I was so excited cuz imagine winning and taking the title. So many pair of eyes will be on you. But sadly, we didn't win. :(



Ohyah, not many people know, but just a little sharing, do you guys know Isabel (prettyfrowns) was also in CNOS 1?!?!?! Yeap, the center one.


Credit: http://lovewithberries.blogspot.sg/2012/03/cineleisures-next-online-sensation.html

A year later, CNOS is back with a second season, this time round with vlogging included in all the challenges, also, its individual instead of competing in teams. This means it will be tougher and more competitive than before. I was having dilemma of whether to join cuz I don't wanna be left disappointed again. Two, its kinda waste of time cuz I remembered during cnos 1, I had to go down to Cineleisure to film almost every single day. But still, I last minutely decided to join.



#THANKYOUGUANYINGMA




I managed to bag home the 1st Runner Up aka 2nd Prize for the contest. (DAYUM 2nd AGAIN!!!) With that, I was also the online brand ambassador for Cathay Cineleisure Orchard for that year. After my win, perks and emails started flowing in and that was probably my best win EVER in my whole blogging scene. After that, I set my mind that I should continue to update this blog whenever possible. That's why you see the constant updates and better quality pictures now.

THOUGHTS
With the overflowing of new generations of social media savvy people coming in, I'm afraid that this whole blog thing will soon die down. Now we have our mobile phones with us and with apps like Snapchat and Instagram taking over the world, its like no one really bothers to read blogs anymore.

Even when attending media events, I feel that its no longer the same as before. In the past, we would all gather and sit together at some place and chill and talk cock over a cup of coke?!?! LOL Now, we all will just leave and not bother to mingle around.











Back then when Dawn and Wynn were still little secondary school XMM's. When Joyce wasn't so particular about her make up. When Mel had no hair and Weijie had long ass fringe. When Ash was still round and had fringe almost covering his eyes. When Jing Long had cap on top of his head whenever we're out. lololol!!! I miss taking long bus rides home together after an event. I miss talking and catching up on life with one another instead of looking at our phones whenever we meet up. I miss when things were all so simple. I miss the good old times.

Never will I stop writing cuz I'll always remember why I started it. It is to pen down my thoughts. It is to track and retrace back the times where I was foolish and young and the mistakes I've made. If given the opportunity, be thankful. Remember, its a given, not demanded.

How's Life?

Hello. Time flies isn't it. It has been close to a month since my last update. A little update about what's going on. I have just ended my 5 weeks course at Khatib camp and am going back to Lim Chu Kang camp. Its a bit sad though cuz I'm getting used to the life here at Khatib camp already. The food variety here is good, its near civilisation, and its SUPER NEAR my house which only takes 15 minutes to go there as compared to LCK where I had to take 1 - 2 hours to reach. But oh wells, we all have to move on. Time spent at Khatib camp was awesome, all the nights out and admin time we have used to play Pokemon. HAHAHAHA!!! Friendships are also forged among one another and we sort of become closer and got to know one another better. The things I'll miss the most is definitely having lights out at 11pm and waking up at 6am.

[25.03.2016]
Booked tickets to watch Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice yesterday. It was soooooo gooooood!!! Especially at the part where Wonderwoman came to save Batman. Also when Bruce Wayne sent Wonderwoman the files of all the other superheroes! I can't wait for the WonderWoman movie that is to come out in 2017 already!!!!!!!! *PSYCHED*!!!



I searched high and low for the Lady GaGa heartbeats earpiece and I finally got my hands on it now. A few years ago, I had the Chrome one previously and it was damaged. I sent for a 1-1 exchange and I was told that they no longer produce the version 1 anymore so they gave me the version 2 one instead. But then after 1 year or so that one spoiled too so yeap. I tried finding it at Funan IT Mall and even Sim Lim Square but to no avail, all of them don't carry Lady GaGa Heartbeats anymore. It is said that they no longer produce this product anymore, so I was kinda sad la.... But luckily I manage to find this chrome black one on Carousell and thank god it was authentic. Hahaha! I was so scared that I may end up buying a counterfeit good. Now I can listen to my music with "style". LOLOLOL!!!

Till the next update. Ciao~

Still Alive

Hello. Its the 14th day of the Chinese New Year and I'm quite sad about it though. Every year just seemed to go by so fast and I can't even get to enjoy myself to the fullest due to my army commitments. But still, I really need to thank the army cuz it made me appreciate my family and home even more. Like the things I used to take it for granted such as my free time, my sleep time, and whichever leisure time you can think of.

This week, I completed my 32km Route March!!! CAN YOU EVEN?!?!?! I can't even believe myself that I actually did it. In the midst of doing the route march, I also had to do some other stuff such as crossing the river and live firing. And now, I can proudly say that I have my Combat Skills Badge secured. Hahahaha!!! It's nothing much but at least I have something on my uniform. :)




I didn't have much time to edit my CNY photos over the weekend cuz I went house visiting on Saturday. Played blackjack and was on the winning streak initially but lost everything after my Aunt came to be the "banker". Somehow its the same Aunt that I lose my money to every single year. LOL!

Meanwhile, I'm just here to let everyone know that I'm still in the midst of sorting our my Japan photos, editing my Taiwan 2015 and CNY photos. So please be patient with me. Hahaha! But you guys can go click on my archives to see the past posts. :)

If you guys have noticed, I've also changed my blogskin (again) YES!!! I really love this skin as its VERY minimalistic and simple. Not much of a cluster fuck and its pretty easy to navigate. I hope you guy like it as much as I do. The reason for me changing is because I tried contacting my blog designer but she did not reply. So yeap. I gave up and decided to go look for some other blogskin and I came upon this.

This Is Not Goodbye

This post is gonna be a rather personal one. Maybe not. Well, its a post specially dedicated to someone whom I really look up to, and its non other than Joey (@iisjong).

[5th February 2016]

Met up with Damien to have a farewell dinner with Joey before she set off on her journey at Aussie. When she told us that she'll most likely reside over there PERMANENTLY I was kinda sad cuz: 

1) I'll have 1 friend lesser in Singapore. 

2) I'll miss seeing her at events and stuff.

3) I have 1 less person to bitch to. :(

So. I sort of hear about Joey around mid 2012 where she was crowned the winner for Singapore Blog Award Best Y-Bloggist. That is when I get to know this bitch girl existed. HAHAHA!!!

Then come 2013, where Cathay Cineleisure together with Nuffnang once again organised Cineleisure's Next Online Sensation V2.0. I then saw Joey posted her video entry submission for the competition. Fast forward 1 month later, friendships were forged and we became good friends together with some of the other bloggers. 

Its quite amazing how time flies when you're not noticing and only come to miss the times when its gone. Like how people say, time is precious, and it does not wait. Once gone, means its gone forever.

Like what I've mentioned previously, Joey is one of the people/blogger that I look up to and pretty well respected. Not the prettiest looking but definitely one of the prettiest at heart. Normally I don't even praise my own friends like that. LOL! 

I wish for Joey all the best for her studies and future endeavour. Please stay safe, and take good care of yourself. Not sure what you'll be expecting over at Aussie but I'll be supporting you back here in Singapore. Do let us know if you're ever coming back so that we can arrange a meet up together with the rest again. :')

Till then, Bon Voyage.