What the journey so far. Life is a neverending struggle.

It's unfortunate that my jealousy has caused both my partner and I to have to explore a new cell. But to be fair, the current cell is not amazing (neither am I). Partner and I found it difficult to form deep meaningful conversations with people here. Too many youngsters here.

What's more, my partner is an xmm magnet. So what to do? I became the xmm killer. 

But either way it took me lots of effort to get past stages(asserted my dominance, the girl now knows her place and I am cool), and am now alright with him working with said girl(who used to like him alot romantically). 

Thank God she isn't the pretty nor entertaining type. But one fine day, a fleeting comment from a fellow member came, about how he and said girl should join the praise and worship competition together.

For the first few seconds I was fine, until I realised the meaning behind that. How they worked so well together that people think they are a great pair, albeit non-romantically. I started fuming inside and out. As I wasn't told they were working together. 

My partner was honestly gaslighting himself. He said the rehearsals were done separately as she was practicing the praise part with the guitarist, while he practiced with the guitarist for the worship part. But what people saw was not what I was able to accept. 

It was the last straw. I can foresee myself yelling at people if they voice out how great the 2 of them worked together. 

So we had a talk with the cell group leader. Thank God the leader was understanding and will help us find new cells to visit and hopefully settle in one that is a good fit.

It was a constant struggle for me for about a year. In the midst of all these, doesn't help knowing that the ex wants me back. Bet he is earning lots of money as a specialised doctor, but nah, even if I were single, never again. I have money too.

As am planning for my marriage invitation, I was also doing lots of thinking regarding friendships, which friendships to let go, which ones to treasure. It really takes 2 hands to clap. 

End of rant.

Big hype over Jisoo's Solo 'Flower'. The first time I heard it, I didn't like it. Very flat. But it kind of grows on you the more you hear it. Elegant piece. Not a fan of Jisoo's vocal color but I love the parts where she was using her head-voice. Dance-wise, it's arguably one of the easiest Kpop dances I think. Most can learn the chorus in say 5min.

Stumbled upon Chae-Yeon's 'Knock' Solo and it's amazing! I love it. After moving house next week, I will resume my home Yoga, Pilates, and then learn this dance. I will also make it a point to get my splits down by the end of this year. Last year I got really close. When I had to practice for a dance presentation, I had lots of deep stretches throughout the year and after warming up, I was just a few inches to a full split.

The thing about splits, I get queasy at the thought of doing a full split too. Like am I twisting my body too much. This thought is hindering my progress.

Dieting is coming soon too.

Will be sporting a messy bob in 2 weeks' time. It's been 20 years since my last real short hair.

What a journey of 12 days. 

It will definitely have a special place in my heart. Yosh!

Though Bellie and I have different plans and are exploring separately most of the time, without a friend to talk to, I get to do something when exploring places. People-watch. It is so important when learning Japanese. I was actually noting down colloquial usage of their language. The Osakan dialect is so interesting. Now I can tell which Japanese is from Osaka or likely from Tokyo. During the last few days, I accidentally spoke in an Osakan dialect with a cashier oops. Hmm just think British English(Tokyo) versus Singlish(Osaka). Each have their charm. I personally find Osakan dialect easy-going and warm.

This is the trip where I spoke the most Japanese language ever! Half the time they spoke English back to me, and that means my Japanese is lousy to them. But other times, people continued speaking Japanese to me which is great! I get to communicate with warm shop owners, locals of small towns, and even retired ladies living in big cities. My hard work did not go to waste! Such a humbling experience. 

The retired grandma who looks so youthful even knew we spoke English in Singapore (her English is very decent). I also shared we speak another language (mother tongue) in Singapore according to our races, and she was intrigued. So cute the lady. And another day I was at Kuromon market, I muster up courage to speak to a few male shopkeepers. They have the impression that Singapore is a very money-rich country haha. But yeah, they definitely know the standard of living is high in Singapore. Even Koreans know that. I only like staying in Singapore for the safety and food. 

This is also the trip where I spoke the most Korean language ever. As I took Korean Airlines Asiana. Thank goodness the flight attendants are nice. I purposely chose to transit at Seoul so I could eat their local food. Yay I got to drink fresher and cheaper banana milk and also the stews. I maintain the view that many Koreans are impolite. Esp those impatient cashiers, youngsters and oldies alike. Singaporeans in general are actually nicer people than Koreans in general. Kpop cyberbullying is usually bullying by the Korean youngsters. Just look at the Youtube comments section. Most mean comments are from Koreans. International comments are more encouraging in general.

But who cares the heck about the black sheeps. I will still continue learning the Korean language for the sake of culture exchange with the nice Koreans (I have Koreans friends too kay), also for the ease of travel in Korea, as well as to fulfill my language bucket list. Any Koreans want to bash me, I know how to swear in Korean too, so yeah. I appreciate my Korean friends who are really nice people and also other nice Koreans I met in my travels. I will keep that in mind and not let the black sheeps discourage me from learning this language.

I need to remind myself, to be more confident when dishing out my foreign languages with the locals of different countries. Not that my standard of speaking is great but at least it's how I can take my next step. Seems like I have to do lots of code-switching. Which I think is fun eh. When I speak Japanese, I speak in their local accent, same for the Korean language where I speak in the Korean accent. Chinese too actually. But I prefer speaking Chinese in the Taiwanese accent. China's accent with the tongue rolls is too much for me and am not fond of the sounds. Singlish in of course Singlish accent. But at times, call me pretentious but I actually prefer to speak proper English without the Singaporean accent. But nope, I don't fake no American or UK accent. Just proper English.

Oh yes, places-wise, I got to visit Tottori, Conan Town! Friendly place where I had the experience of helping locals paint their attraction. They were also nice to give us drinks and a T-shirt as an appreciation. I visited Universal Studios Japan too, and rode all their popular rides. I loved the Flying Dinosaur, Hollywood Dream Backdrop, and also Harry Potter Forbidden Journey. The first 2 are the most extreme rides in this Theme Park. Wow. And special mention to the spell-casting areas in the Harry Potter World. It is so much fun. My wand works! I love the fire spell, bringing out the fire in the chimney. Just not so fond of the Nintendo World's power bands. I feel like I can do without it. Imma likely gonna sell it haha. But I will keep my wand!

What a great trip. Can't wait to fuel up and be up for my next adventure.

Finally terminated another set of clients. They are nice people. But again, similar to the previous case, I had to withstand admin hell for 14 months. So frustratingly many rescheduling from their side. At least 12 sets of rescheduling in a year. I only rescheduled once. Reliable clients don't reschedule more than 6 times a year. Not to mention, I am not paid extra for the overtime admin, and it is ridiculous that I had to confirm the appointment time almost every week 24hrs before each appointment. Enough is enough la. But at least with the limited time I had, I helped produced stunning results. So at least am leaving on a high note.

Thanks to another set of my savings, my new investment is bringing in some dough from this month onwards.

So yes, I am finally free. I feel like dobby haha.

The importance of savings. Since 11 years ago I was saving up aggressively. For what? To fund safer diversified investments and get myself through shitty situations by terminating clients who burn me out. Though I admit within those 11 years, I enjoyed some self-paid luxuries in the last 5 years. But I worked harder to make up for it. Though I didn't actually have to. But I guess I prefer to have my own excess savings, in case of rainy days.

My semi-retirement is definitely in motion. All the shit I put up with is paying me back well! My investments are bringing me about 1/5 of my income every month now. Thank God for some good foresight.

I am still passionate about my job though. I hope my expertise will help new and genuinely nice clients achieve their potentials. I take pride in my work. Apart from meeting decent human beings, I also hope they have a similar commitment level as me. Not rescheduling all the time. Else the new ones will have to go too.

Currently embracing my bigger appetite. But will need to adjust to a smaller one after CNY as I need to prep for a slimmer physique before heading to Osaka. Because I will definitely gain weight there. Not too much, I hope. Either way, am exercising more regularly to make up for eating more.

And my current guitar progress is faster than usual learners, according to my teacher. I thought I was too slow and lousy. Seems I am too hard on myself. But I shall still be hard on myself. So that I can learn faster. But honestly am not even practicing that much. About 3 days a week, 30min each time. I think the secret is the quality of my practice.

I may resume cello lessons after my Osaka trip. Still considering hard.

Insane how fast the days are passing.