2024 Wrap Up
What a year of not documenting my life... I thought it might be good to start with 2023.
Right, so now a (not so) quick run through of 2024!
January
I started January in Malaysia. Mum, KAisyah, and I treated ourselves to a Hammam spa session (it was the first time I've been to a spa!). Went to Janda Baik with M; Splashmania with Muaz; Hulu Langat with the fam; and a sleepover with the gals. On my last day in Malaysia, Mum, Dad, and I went to have lunch at Chef Wan for Laksa Sarawak... which completed the whole trip because that was the last thing on my food list unticked. KAisyah got me a small blue bag from MimpiKita to put in my phone, charger and passport, which I ended up using a lot because of all the flights I ended up taking this year.
February
I spent CNY with Shaun and Chris at theirs – they made the best food. It was a month of catching up with friends as I was away for a whole month. I went to see Masdo live, and it was only after did I find out that Papa listens to them too.
In the last week of February, I was in Poland to ski. There wasn't much snow, but I had enough lessons to gain enough confidence so that I can ski on my own next season. As usual, I went for a hike in the forest (Koscielisko) and had a lovely potato pancake with a view – this was my favorite bit of the whole trip.
I spent a few days in Krakow which I used to go on a trip out to Auschwitz. I managed to get a last-minute spot on a tour which I was lucky to get because I had early on decided that I was too lazy to plan it properly. However, the whole day was a bit overwhelming, seeing the extent of the genocide while M was also going through a difficult time. It was one of those times when I wished I was closer to home and not living here.
March
I spent March just living. I went on a site visit to my new project (which was meant to have its design completed by now but still hasn't). March was also Ramadan, so I cooked and baked a lot, including popia carbonara, tiramisu, murtabak, popia nestum, and a matcha basque cheesecake.
April
Eid was in April. I went out to a few open houses to celebrate with my Malaysian friends. It felt a bit like home. But as it usually goes here, Eid is just another day. I hosted an open house and was quite pleased with how everyone enjoyed the food I made. I also made focaccia bread on one of the days - I wouldn't make it again.
April was also when we started having lunch outside at work, indicating that the warmer months were about to come. That didn't actually matter because I was away for another month.
May
I went to Malaysia again – this time for Jaja's wedding. It was a very intimate wedding, and we all just felt like we were hanging out, which was such a vibe. I've been trying to convince my parents for one like that, but it's feeling a bit unsuccessful. We organised Eid at KAisyah's and had people come over. Her place is starting to be the family's gathering spot now. It's good how she renovated it to be so pretty!
On this trip home, I brought M to meet my family and most of my friends, so that's orientation done for him. I went to the forest with Q and Jaja, went to Seremban to spend time with Nekmah (where she brought me on a tour around), spent time with Faten (redoing London), and went fabric shopping with Mum... we still haven't done anything with the fabric. Coming back to Maidenhead, I made full use of the sun and went out as much as I could.
June
June was a big month – I finally achieved what I had set out to do when (my parents and) I decided it’d be good for me to start my career at my current company. I GOT CHARTERED! Pete (my mentor) had been so helpful throughout the process. He motivated me to get it submitted, checked my work hours before the deadline because I was so last-minute, and made time to run through my presentation with me despite his busy schedule.
But...
It was also the time when I felt the most lost... it was a very "now what?" moment. I had certain goals and expectations set up by my parents from when I was young and now we were reaching towards the end of that structure... I’d achieved every goal that they had set for me.
Now, it was my turn to decide what I wanted to do with the rest of my life and to start setting my own goals, and believe me... I was stuck. I ended up making a spreadsheet to see what life could look like. I made decision matrices. I used a lot of tools to help me out of this rabbit hole I was in.
I had days when I was okay.
I had days when I just didn’t want to do it anymore.
I had days when I thought I had it all figured out, only to question it all the next day.
I spent the rest of the year in this cycle.
Gratefully, I didn’t have to go through it alone. M, Hanz, Nurul, Iman and my other friends who knew what I was going through were there with me throughout the whole process, and my family was always there to run through every idea of my future that I had. While navigating this, I also learnt a valuable lesson: I shouldn’t listen to just anyone, because there are friends who wouldn’t be supportive of me if my future plan wouldn’t benefit them. It was a lot of getting to know myself, my family and my friends. I was also reminded how Mum and Dad would always always always have my back and that every advice they give me has been and will continue being completely independent of their happiness and personal gains. They had wanted me to move to Malaysia years ago and yet, they've always had pushed me to achieve what I've set out to do.
In addition to that, I still got on with my life and went to Emi's new house for the first time – it looked like it came out of a magazine. We also helped Trev move to his new house. They now have mortgages instead of rents to pay! I took advantage of my Malaysian abroad status and joined an event with the Minister of Human Resources, but really, I was more there to socialise.
July
In July, my cousin, uncle, and aunty came down. I love spending time with my extended family while I'm here because it somehow feels more valuable and special. I was also on site quite a bit, so I was able to have dinner with a few of my friends too.
I went out with my uni friends for an F1 experience. We did some F1 sim racing, followed by a walk around London. As usual, our annual meetup is always filled with a lot of life updates and questioning our career. Our next one is coming up next month, so that'll be another massive life update session! There was a Taylor Swift exhibition at the V&A, which Faiz and I went to.
August
In August, my friends and I continued to make full use of the sun. We went on picnics, stargazed when the sky was clear, and even went on weekend day trips to Eastbourne, Bournemouth, and Weymouth. Career-wise, I went out to see clients and definitely felt the effort my directors put into developing me!
September
Zariq was finally back in London! He made me laksa Sarawak (which is my favorite laksa). We reminisced about the COVID times and how difficult it was back then. I'm so glad he's back and doing well. It was probably around this time that I realized I was in London a lot for meetings, site visits, and days out with friends, which made me feel so distant from my soft Maidenhead life.
October
Guess where I was in October? Malaysia! That's the third time this year; this time it was for Q's wedding. I'd like to take a second to thank all of my friends for giving me a reason to go back.
Arriving in Malaysia, I begged my whole family to go to KAisyah's to celebrate my birthday. The lady we ordered our dinner from canceled last minute, so Mum and I ended up making our own roast chickens. KAisyah made an amazing salad, and we bought pasta from a restaurant. I ordered my favorite Meteor Cake from Jibby by the Park (I tried getting it from the KL East branches, but they made it such a difficult process that I gave up on them!). For the first time in many years, Dad and I celebrated our birthdays together. It was special, and I felt content.
On my actual birthday, I spent the morning doing work (which I was really stressed out about!) at a café, Oh Apong. They had nice coffee, friendly servers, and comfy chairs; M also temaned me, which made it all nicer. We had Ayam Gepuk for lunch (and as much as I enjoyed it, I still think the ones I make taste better). M then took me out for dinner at a rooftop restaurant, and we ended our day with a walk at Desa Park City. I must admit, it wouldn't have been complete without the walk.
The day after, I went out with Papa for some tosai rawa (which is the best kind of tosai). I continued to do work until the afternoon. Papa had to send the car off for service, and because I had to go out, I went with him... on his scooter. Mind you, I hadn't been on one since school, and that was probably once and never again after! I was shaking afterwards.
I took an MRT to TRX to see Faten and Khadijah. Taking the MRT is 100% more recommended than driving into KL unless you're not the one driving. Faten and Khadijah brought me cakeeeeee, so we celebrated my birthday (AGAIN!) and talked about life.
I still wasn't done with work at this point and spent the next day still stressing out about it. M and I went to have dinner with Nadhirah, followed by Nadhirah driving me home to talk and catch up. It seems like Nadhirah and I only get to talk at night. After the late night, I was up the next morning quite early for tennis with Sani and Azri. So grateful for Sani for giving me a private tennis lesson without me asking - it ticked off an item on my bucket list of being coached by him.
I then rushed home to get ready for some wedding errands with Q and Jaja. I love the friendship we've built, and I'm extremely grateful that throughout the years, even when we're far apart, we still have each other. That night, Iman, M, and I were at Nurul's for games night. Nurul made us top-notch matcha—I don't drink matcha from cafés anymore because nothing tastes as good. For a first-timer, M did quite well in the games; I think he got a bit kekwat at one point too.
As part of this trip, I wanted a family trip away, so we went to Janda Baik. It wasn't the best time to go, in all honesty, because the weather wasn't great, but we had fun just spending time together. Dad became the champion at pool and ping pong. I bet if we had taken some card games out, he would have won those too. That night, the men were out barbecuing while it was pouring—it’s all beyond me; I would never. I also made a berry crumble that we had with the custard I brought all the way from Maidenhead.
Then came Q's wedding—Q was beautiful, the wedding was beautiful, and it felt very whimsical. I may have also cried because I was so happy that she found someone so perfect for her.
The rest of my time in Malaysia consisted of lunch with Kak Lang; dinner with Mak and Kak Nour; cleaning up Mak's porch area after it banjir-ed (quite proud of this one); going out with M; seeing Hanz; visiting Mak Tok in Muar; hang outs with Iman, Nurul and Topek; and spending time with the parents.
My unrealistic reality ended as I got on my flight to London. Coming back to Maidenhead this time felt odd, weird, and wrong, but as Hakim had said before, "You're always like this after a holiday."
November
I went into November counting down the days for my next era to start - I had made a decision at this point. Nom took me out to Harrods to help me out with my post-holiday blues and homesickness. I would've never gone to the café there alone, so I'm so glad he brought me. The week after, I planned an impromptu weekend away in Wales because I was getting nervous about missing Autumn. I managed to organise and get my friends to join the trip in less than two days. On the way to our Airbnb, we hiked up Pen y Fan—I forgot how much I loved hiking, although when we did get to the top, it got very cloudy.
Arriving at the Airbnb, I immediately started putting everything in the oven while the boys tried to start the fireplace. They failed to start it, so I ended up doing that too. We talked, played games, fought, and did all things like that. The next day, I woke up early and cooked so that I could go out on a walk afterwards. When Kamel was ready for breakfast, the first thing he did was complain about how I started cooking too early, which woke him up, and that I overcooked the food. Yeah, whatever, not travelling with him ever again. We then went to Cardiff and had a tour around Cardiff Castle—I enjoyed that. We even had a taste of an early Christmas Market.
Laura, Sharon, Trev, and Holly came to Maidenhead. We spent the night playing games. Syed also came to London, so we went out for lunch—he said he felt guilty for not hanging out with us when I was in Malaysia. Then... the moment we've been waiting for all year, Faten came to London! Faten, Faiz, and I had a lot of fun just catching up and reliving/continuing our London life. We also resumed the night outs that we used to go on... Faten yang tak behave.
December
Thanks to Faiz and Faten, I also had people to go to Winter Wonderland with! The last time I went was probably with KAisyah, years back. We had prebooked rides, and the first roller coaster Faiz and I went on got my head spinning. Winter Wonderland turned out better than I thought it would, with my favorite parts being all the dancing we did and struggling to walk away because good songs kept coming up. We then met up with Nom for duck... he's always getting me to try duck?!
I went to my client's Christmas Party, and I genuinely enjoyed it (for the first time!). It was probably because a lot of my project's team were there. I also went to my company's Christmas Party and had a lot of fun just socialising—I really wanted to dance, but the songs weren't it. Zariq came over for an early Christmas dinner; it felt like old times.
It was work, work, work the rest of the year until it was time for the break. On one of the days, Georgia and I brought baked goods to the office. I intended to share the pastries with the whole office, but they were gone by the time four of us sat down around the table. Meriam and Don hosted Christmas—Shawn, Kai, and Bonnie came over for it. We woke up the next day to over-proofed cinnamon buns that I had made and built a gingerbread house. I'm incredibly pleased with how it turned out because the one I made in Scotland years ago structurally failed. Bonnie invited us for ice skating. We ice skated at Somerset House; I fell once... But I must say, it was definitely worth it (the skating... not me falling).
Don and Meriam had a night of celebration organised for NYE, so we headed to Reading for a three-course meal, a hotel stay, and a visit to Ate Joyce's for the countdown.
Throughout December, I felt like my whole life started coming together again. Things that I had been concerned about earlier in the year started solving itself. I like to think that I'm currently in a forest, and provided that I can see paths ahead of me, it means I'm in the right place. I stopped feeling lost and was finally able to see those paths again. I started getting excited about my future and my life. I also received positive news that made decision-making a lot easier. So I was all in for it when I got M to sit down with me to reflect on 2024 and set some goals and dreams for 2025—I also told him that we're doing this on 31st of December every year from now on. We've set ourselves massive goals for 2025.
2024 ended very well and I'm so excited for what 2025 has for me
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