For me, 2010 had been significant because it was the year I’ve been dragged out of the little hell-hole I’ve been digging myself into over the course of the last two years.

For the uninitiated – I’ve been irreversibly sick since July 2008, and I didn’t take it well. So I basically lived almost two years feeling down and out … until three of my friends decided to band together to knock some sense into me. That was in the early parts of 2010.

Ever since then, the days just seemed brighter, and are continuing to be so.

So, here goes. 2010 in a nutshell.

January
(+) Partial solar eclipse visible in Singapore. making astronomy-crazy me a really happy girl indeed.. Sky-watched with one of my favourite girls on the rooftop balcony, while battling overcast skies and the occasional drizzle.

(-) Down with persistent nausea since December 2009, doctor suddenly drops an axe after a blood test – that I may have a potential brain tumour. Sent for MRI scans (the very FIRST time in my life I had an IV line inserted – obviously, I freaked out and basically gave the nurses a hard time), the result of which eventually gave me the all clear – but it was enough to leave me shaken.

February
(+) Officially started freelance work with Foound (a Singapore-based start-up that develops an app with the same name which allows you to organize hangouts with friends) which was started by a friend, Danny. Met a lot of great folks in the team such as zen UX extraordinaire Aen and artsy fartsy YY.

(+) Chinese New Year with the extended family. As it was me and my dad’s zodiac year (2010 was the year of the Tiger – which is my Chinese zodiac), my dad insisted both of us don red underwear for the day. I went one step further by arming myself with a cutout of a red underwear, amusing people everywhere I went.

Hello, Happy Chinese New Year 2010 to you!

March
(+) My first road-cycling trip around the Eastern parts of Singapore with one of my favourite girls and her other half. Went off the beaten track looking for pet farms and fish farms off Pasir Ris, which was awesome. Later on, we completely lost track of time and could no longer return the rented bike as the stand was already shut. Had to endure a high-speed cycling chase to the next-closest stand (about 4 kilometres away) that shut only very slightly later.

(-) Squirt the guinea pig fell sick for the first time – having developed a high fever of 40 degrees celsius.

(+) Also the month where my friends kicked some sense into me. See story at the beginning.

April
(+) Squirt made a miraculous recovery, which stunned the family, the vet and I. Because all of us were almost certain that she wouldn’t make it.

(+) Marshmallow night with my longest lasting group of pals from Junior College Days. All of us had marshmallows with our names (or our shorter nicknames) written on them with chocolate fondue. Yums.

Marshmallow night! (And one of the last few pictures of me with braces.)

(+) Bid adieu to my braces on the 27th April 2010 … after a solid 11 years of love-hate relationship with it. Yes, 11 years. I’ve had braces on since I was twelve.

May
(+) Another favourite girl Mithi briefly returned from her overseas studies stint, and Liz and I grabbed every single opportunity to spend time with her.

(-) Squirt fell sick again due to the rising temperatures in Singapore. This time, she wasn’t so lucky and passed away early in the month.

(-) Caught on an airplane with a bomb threat (Cathay Pacific CX 838) while en route to Vancouver from Hong Kong. You can read all about it here.

(+) Despite the above, the trip around Vancouver, Seattle and especially Alaska was nothing short of exhilarating. Alaska was awesome, breathtaking, peaceful, abso-beautiful, exotic and oh em gee, I doubt I’d ever run out of words to describe it. One thing for sure, definitely going back there again.

On board a cruise to Alaska, late May 2010.

June
(+) Went on a tour around the Ontario/Quebec provinces of Eastern Canada from Vancouver. It was during this tour where I met two fellow Singaporean kiddos’ like myself, who I am still in touch with until today.

(+) Began going on bike trips by myself around East Coast park in a desperate bid to stay active.

(+) Threw a birthday surprise with Mithi for our very dear Liz – candles, flowers and sparkling juice included. At one of our favourite places. (SMU -.-)

Candles that spell your name at night. We love you, Happy Birthday!

July
(+) Started my full-time stint at Foound as the community manager (a.k.a. ‘User Evangelist’) and web programmer. The only girl in the team – honour or sheer torture? I am still undecided until today.

(-) Brazil lost 1-2 to The Netherlands during the World Cup 2010 Quarter Final. Nearly broke into tears at the pub where I was watching the match with the guys.

(-) Blood test results sounded another potential brain tumour alarm. (The MRI scan came out normal previously but doctors and radiologists were throwing suspicions left, right, up, down, centre.) Went to another doc’ for a second opinion which confirmed the abnormal blood test results (though she didn’t do another scan). I was supposed to go for a re-test earlier this year (2011) to follow-up but honestly, I’ve stopped bothering.

August
(-) Pretty much down for the month because I had a root canal to go for mid-month which I was absolutely dreading. I eventually underwent it with IV Sedation. The overall procedure took two visits with the second one in September, also with IV Sedation.

September
(+) Exciting period at work, as we were launching at a prestigious event overseas. Basically, biological clocks were turned topsy turvy as the team in Singapore (me included) provided support for the other half of the team in San Francisco.

The monkey at work. Oh, hello!

(+/-) I cut my hair short … the first time in a very long while. Hasty decision? Not quite, I’ve been planning it for quite some time already.

October
(-) The month where I was going through a period of increasing self-doubt. Loads of what-ifs being thrown around in my head, and questioning myself about whether I am really up to this.

(-) And as if it was an affirmation that my self-doubts were true, I received notice that I would be leaving the team. It left me with mixed feelings and a slightly bitter taste in my mouth. But I got over it quickly. Just move on, I guess.

(-) My chronic autoimmune illness acted up in the middle of the night, potentially triggered by consuming an allergen … which landed me in the A&E three times in the next 36 hours for repeated injections. Subsequently, I’ve never gotten back to stability (without the help of three times my usual amount of drugs) since then.

November
(+) Shared my birthday with new-found friend etay. Same birthday, different year. I turned the big 2-4, and she turned the big 2-3. Plus, I received a birthday email that left me smiling for the rest of the day.

(+/-) Left my previous job. As mentioned, pretty mixed feelings about it – but otherwise glad that I had a couple of months off to do my own stuff and for a spot of traveling. (Plus, I already had a job lined up for the next year.)

December
(+) New identity to start the new year 2011 with, perhaps? I decided to get a red streak in my hair. But hold up – it’s just an extension.

The red streak.

(+) Traveled to New Zealand with my extended family, surrounded by cousins who’d never fail to make me laugh. Not everything went smoothly though, having almost missed our flight and briefly caught in the mayhem caused by the aftermath of a Christchurch earthquake aftershock which struck while we were there. I returned on New Year’s eve, which nicely ended the year on a good note.

On the whole, 2010 has been a pretty mixed year – but it’s had more than its fair share of positive moments. If given the choice, I doubt I’d want to relive this entire year all over again but I hope 2011 has a nice, exciting ride in store.

And considering that today’s the 17th December, it means that I’d be leaving for New Zealand in just about … 8 hours or so.

Quite apprehensive about this trip. Travelling in a large group means that it’s much harder to coordinate stuff.

Props to my younger cousin who arranged everything. The dude practically planned the entire itinerary single-handed and even prepared loads of documentation for us to refer to during the trip itself.

I do feel quite a bit for him at the same time. Despite his efforts, there had been much difficulty with the travel agency. Not to mention the fact that more than 50% of the group couldn’t show up for the pre-trip briefing.

Even though the response from the group has been less than positive, I really appreciate everything the younger cousin has done. Like, seriously. Thanks, dude!

As you can see, it’s been a pretty bumpy ride so far.

But my reservations about this trip aside, I’ll just try to enjoy myself and and at the same time, bury my nose in my DSLR.

I’d be away for fifteen days. See you all in 2011.

On a different note, I have a red streak in my hair now.

The red streak!

And I’ve gotten it re-shaped and re-styled. I love my hair. Quite strange how I have this strange obsession with my own hair now. It scares me. I usually don’t really bother.

We joined a package tour that brought us around the provinces of Ontario and Quebec in Canada – comprising Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto and the Niagara Falls. Quebec City and the Niagara Falls were awesome. Montreal and Ottawa was meh. And I didn’t see enough of Toronto to have any thoughts on it.

The bus that took us around the Ontario and Quebec provinces.

Quebec City
Strongest memory from that place was when I was exploring the lower city on foot. Quebec City is one city where there are absolutely no high-rise buildings around – which means the sky is visible all the time, which is a refreshing change.

And the architecture. How can I forget the architecture?

Streets of Quebec City – Lower Area.

Quaint little streets. Little shophouses a la Switzerland style with souvenir shops retailing knick knacks of all types. And the t-shirts too! How can I also forget the t-shirts?!

I bought me two t-shirts with ‘Fuck la mode‘ screenprinted across it. ‘La mode’ means ‘Fashion’ in French, so the tee literally means ‘Fuck Fashion’. Hahaha. So very true. So very me, too.

For me, the tee has a double meaning. I also interpret the tee’s slogan as also being in a mode where my response to everything will be “fuck, lah!”. Hurhur.

Niagara Falls
Well, the falls were beautiful – I cannot deny that. Plus, it’s awesome to be able to see one of the seven wonders of the world up close, despite getting drenched in the mist (we took a little boat cruise that brought us all the way to the base of the waterfall – which meant everyone on board getting wet) and all.

Niagara Falls – American Side.

But … I personally have a fondness for a different type of waterfall.

For me, big, massive waterfalls don’t quite grab me. I like tall, skinny waterfalls that land on a gradient of rocks at the base, which eventually leads to a little rocky stream with rapids – the type where I can jump in and soak my feet in.

Plus, the fact that my DSLR took a drowning at the Niagara Falls dampened the experience there kinda. Somehow, despite protecting my ol’ camera with my poncho, the spray of the mist was so strong (it was like a heavy rain) that water pooled around the base of the camera and the whole thing got soaked. It went kaput for the rest of the day and is still in the process of recovering now.

The Niagara Falls ARE majestic, most definitely. It was just my personal preference of waterfalls which got in the way and made the Niagara Falls slightly less impressive to me. But I’m pretty sure that it will awe virtually everyone else.

Montreal
Well, I like the culture there – which explains why I got myself a hoodie from one of them souvenir shops that reads ‘I love Montreal’ – but the city itself was blah. It didn’t have anything unique to offer, so nothing stood out.

The strongest memory I have from that place was having the wardrobe door nearly fall on me in the hotel room.

I was in the midst of placing some clothes in the wardrobe when I heard a sudden explosion, followed by a giant screw flying from the wardrobe door towards the hangers. I took a step back in shock, just in time to watch the wardrobe door collapse. It would have probably fallen on me if I had remained in my previous position, so I am thanking my lucky stars I didn’t leave Montreal with a concussion!

Ottawa
Ottawa has an awesome museum. Some parts of its interior was modeled to resemble the streets of Canada in the olden days, which was so realistic you’d feel as if you were there. Plus, the exhibits were categorized such that you can view the museum according to your own interests and preferences.

Exhibition set-ups in Ottawa’s museum.

I am not really a museum person. When I visit museums (especially those in Singapore), I tend to walk around admiring the building’s architecture more than looking at the exhibits themselves – which defeats the original purpose of visiting a museum in the first place.

However, I found myself doing a mixture of both in Ottawa – which is a really good thing because it definitely indicates there is something special about that museum.

On the whole
Notice how I am not exactly gushing about most of the cities or places apart from Quebec City.

Well, this partly stems from the reason why I dislike packaged tours. The schedule is so hectic to the point where you don’t get to see much of a particular place. Five different cities/locations jam-packed into four days (the first day doesn’t count because we were on board the plane most of the time and landed only in the late evening) leaves us with very little time – less than a day on average – at each city. One doesn’t quite have the chance to fully appreciate the beauty of the place at their own time and leisure.

We are ‘released’ at one attraction after another, and usually asked to return within an hour. And the places are usually massive.

Not to mention how the tour company had listed so many sightseeing spots on the itinerary, and conveniently left out the fact that we would only be seeing them from a distance on board the bus. We passed by this particularly scenic harbour spot at Ottawa – with the tour guide happily pointing it out as the bus continued to amble on – and I was like, what?! We are not alighting to take a walk around?! :(

The only place where we were left to explore on our own was Quebec City, and so there was enough time for me to fully experience the place … and ended up loving it. Otherwise, the speed at which we were whisked from one place to another left me disgruntled.

I still prefer free-and-easy travel. Rawr.

I personally believe there are many beautiful aspects of the various cities in the Ontario and Quebec provinces, and my perspective of the places will be unfairly skewed due to the hecticness of it all.

I’d love to return one day and properly explore around – and not be bound to a schedule dictated by some tour company to squeeze every cent out of us. (Look at it this way, admission ticket to an attraction is valid for a whole day – and we were only there for 1-2 hours. Hmm.)