Can you believe that this is already the last day of 2022?
Crazy, eh?
Can I believe that this is the first post of this year?
Yeah, life has been quite... busy for me. Not the kind of drama-busy, of course, thankfully.
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in early 2020, I'd say 2022 is finally the year where people have started to embrace the new normal gradually: countries have opened their borders for tourist visits, getting positive results of the tests do not make people as nervous as before, gathering with family and friends are no longer just plans.
With that, I'll begin the recap of the year, which is also marked my 15th recap here.
This might be the first and last post of 2022 here but, trust me, I'll never skip posting my annual recap here -- unless there's an inevitable reason, of course.
For previous references: 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020| 2021
[01] January
The meetup did not stop on the 9th. I had another gathering with my current (work)team on 21 January at Beer Garden SCBD. I'd say this would be my first big team gathering! On the same day (or night), I continued to meet my friends at Binus Area -- our last 7-people meetup is 17 January 2020! Time flies, indeed.
On 15 January, I was grateful to find my name in the list of selected authors for "Festival Menulis Ellunar 7" for both cerita mini and cerita pendek.
However, an unfortunate event also happened this month as Luna's (Female Shihtzu) eye was scratched (not sure if by herself or by Loki) so her eye was hurting a lot. We brought her to a vet specialist for eyes, even considering surgery. She's all good now though and she did not need to go through surgery!
Honorable mention of the month: "Layangan Putus" is a popular Indonesian TV series! I finally watched it later on September 2022. Would recommend it as well if you're into drama with good acting.
[02] February
The second month of the year usually marked a romantic time period for some people. Mine began with Chinese New Year on the first day. I also decided to have peek-a-boo dyed hair (it's blueish grey at first, then it's blue and then magenta before I ended with violet now; I know, a lot of colors, right?)
I also welcomed Brenda who joined my (work) team on 7 February! Yeay!
My little brothers were both positive of COVID-19 in mid of February. My achievement of the month? Finishing a self-built wardrobe by myself -- because the complete set took space but my brothers were locked in their rooms.
In February, I also learned that just because people talk to each other every day, it does not necessarily mean that they're talking with each other.
Honorable mention of the month: "The Demon Slayer" Season 2! Must watch. Waiting for Season 3!
[03] March
The Lent season has begun with Ash Wednesday on 2 March. HIGHLIGHT, my favorite K-pop band, also has a comeback in March! Also, Loki celebrated his 1st birthday on 24 March! The 26th marks my 10th year being a professional at work since 2012.
The longest walk I had in this month? Visiting IKEA with Brenda and Valentcia; we had a simple belated celebration for Valent's birthday before we went to IKEA though. Oh, also getting 3rd vaccine for COVID-19 as a booster.
Honorable mention of the month: "Jujutsu Kaisen 0!" I am a fan of the manga and anime series so the movie is a must-watch for me. I watched it twice at cinemas and I'd still want to watch it even now! Oh, and also "The Batman" where Robert Pattinson takes the role for Bruce Wayne!
[04] April
I met up with my friends from junior high school, Hilda and Agatha; we usually meetup as four but that's another story in another month as this is our first time meeting together ever since 2019.
In April I got the habit of checking out new places for pet parks. I realized that there are limited places for that.
And Dreamcatcher, my number 1 Korean girl group, finally won their first win on 20 April 2022. Something worth celebrating for sure! Along with ESTA (my work team at the office) had a big group dinner on 23 April 2022.
The biggest decision I made this year? One of them was finalised in April when I was considering purchasing a house. Yes, a house, people. No, not part of Monopoly game components but a real house.
Honorable mention of the month: "A Business Proposal", a rom-com Korean TV series. It's pretty cheesy and predictable, but I guess it has its own charm to gain popularity! I also like "Tomorrow", a more serious TV series about Gods of Death.
[05] May
Long(?) holiday for Lebaran has started and I used the best of time to go here and there. I had my escape room visit again after years on 14 May and, on the very same day, I drove the car alone after dropping my friends somewhere else! Gonna say that's one of my achievements this year.
The funniest 'incident' happened on 2 May when a good friend of mine, who drove a car to Alam Sutera with me, actually kind of left me hanging alone in the area; no thanks to miscommunication, lol. He thought that I had taken my other friend's car. Not an excuse though, still. This will go down in my history of friendships.
Another achievement to celebrate happened as usual in May, as it's my birthday month: my solo trip to Lombok! Yes, I managed to visit the island on 21 May and even had a snorkelling experience on my birthday. I posted like... a lot on my Instagram to remind me of what I was doing back then. I should post the details somewhere, right? Let me think of it somehow...
Anyway, Lombok is a very recommended place to visit! Would love to visit again someday in the future!
[06] June
Kicking off June with another meetup with Brenda and Valentcia for a karaoke session. On 4 June, I met with my junior high school friends (refer to March!). I also went to a Corgi cafe on 5 June where I gathered with my former officemates.
I went to Bogor on 18 June and stayed for a night with Monica to celebrate Dewi's birthday. On 24 June, I had my very first experience meeting up with an influencer, Titan Tyra, as she has her first Madcoco store opened at Mall of Indonesia (yes, I went there by myself, driving a car. Amusing, eh?)
On 27 June, my ESTA workteam had another team dinner. The team has expanded with more members joining within the year!
Honorable mention of the month: "Top Gun Maverick". Never watched the first one but glad that I went to watch the sequel because it's good!
[07] July
Have you ever brought your Mom to karaoke? I did in July 2022, lol. On 23 July I brought Loki to Pet Kingdom at Alam Sutera, one place where he could run freely around and also swim! I still find myself confused to control him when it comes to socialising with other dogs, especially smaller ones. Will try my best to manage this.
The most memorable thing to remember this year? I don't think I really want to remember it but, yeah, I was scammed. Basically, I trusted someone who said that he needed to move to US and he had these all cute puppies to be adopted and we just needed to give some good amount of money for donations or stuff. I still couldn't understand why people would do such things.
Anyway, I also had a new experience in July which was joining a walking tour in Jakarta with @walkindies_jakarta on last day of July 2022.
Honorable mention of the month: "Incantation", a horror movie that you can find on Netflix. Might be a little overrated but I'd still recommend it for a good horror touch in the middle of the year.
[08] August
I knew how to take care of driving fine (read: denda tilang) now! Haha. Not that I'm proud I have my SIM (driver's license) taken away as I made a silly mistake when driving back home from the client.
Loki met Kenji, Brenda's dog, for the first time on 6 August. My Dad also returned home after more than 2 years (no thanks to the pandemic, of course) and met Loki for the first time! As for my first-time thing, I went to IIPE and bought lots of stuff for pets there.
Best trip of the year other than Lombok goes to... Bali! I finally visited Bali again with Hani, Yuka, David, and Lili. Day 1 was already challenging as we drove (Yuka drove, to be exact) to Lovina, a spot on the north of the island, by taking quite a difficult route. Had my experience of dolphin watching tour on day 2 as well.
Oh, another scam is verified. I bought some travel vouchers for Bali from one source -- which I contacted years ago and all is legit. Turned out the vouchers are not available to use so... yeah, bye, money.
Honorable mention of the month: "Extraordinary Attorney Woo". Not the best Korean TV series for me but it's enjoyable with interesting characters! Also, the movie called "Bullet Train". You can find it on Netflix now. And, if you're into the heist genre, do watch "Mencuri Raden Saleh". Really recommended!
[09] September
Driving a little bit farther than usual, I asked my Mom to accompany me to Jakarta Escape which is located near Bekasi, bringing along Luna and Loki. A very spacious place with trees and all, I would love to go there again just for an afternoon walk!
In September, I also met new people, made decisions that I'm still grateful for, and... *drum rolls* I had my very first work event/gathering outside of the office: Bogor, 22-23 September, Annual Manager Conference.
On September, a good friend of mine also lost a member of her family, a day where I was reminded that you should treasure the days you have because, really, you never know if it's the last day of the encounter.
Honorable mention of the month: As mentioned in January, I finally watched "Layangan Putus"!
[10] October
October marked the month where I had continuous site visit to client, starting from Tangerang visit to Cilegon to Purwakarta. Yes, I stayed there with my work team. Very interesting experiences, I might say.
Also got my US Harry Potter merchandises from Chris, a very old friend of mine on 15 October! The best thing about having best friend who has the same interest with you! Luna also celebrated her 10th birthday on 28 October! It's her eight year staying with us!
Returning from the office trip, I went to Mall of Indonesia with my friends for Halloween event stuff and, turned out later on, I was confirmed positive with COVID-19 -- I thought I would not get it somehow but I I guess I was too exhausted with three-weeks site visit somehow. Thanks to all my friends who have been so kind and send me lots of stuff during my recovery period!
Honorable mention of the month: "One Dollar Lawyer" on Disney+. Fun, witty, and interesting!
[11] November
Moving on to the next month, I was recovering from COVID-19 in the early days of November. In week 3, I went to all the client's sites again. This time it's a little bit less packed than the last visit so I could say I managed my health well.
On the day back from Cilegon, I decided to make another purchase of the year; something I have been considering for the past few years: Macbook Air. So, yes, right now, I'm writing this post with (brand new) Macbook Air. One of the best purchases I made for the year, I guess.
My luck took its turn to show off when I won a lottery: a grand prize of a smartphone as I purchased some clothing stuff at Matahari department store! It's the day when I also went to Gading Serpong to meetup with Brenda and Valentcia to celebrate Brenda's birthday.
Honorable mention of the month: I also watched "Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever" in November. Such a beautiful tribute to Chadwick Boseman. I also love "The Menu"! Not everyone's cup of tea but interesting one.
[12] December
Now, the last month of the year which has always been the month of events for me every year.
Bandung made it to the list of memorable places to remember in my 2022. On 3 December, I went to Bandung as part of my office gathering. After 3 years, this is the first time we had this large-scale of gathering. With "Toy Story" as the theme I got to dress myself (and saw the others, of course) as the characters.
Right at this very moment, I'm also writing this post while in Bandung! This is my first time spending New Year's Eve in another city since 2014-15 in Surabaya. Why am I here, you ask?
In December 2022, I guess the universe has its own way of reminding me that it's always quality over quantity. I made some new friends within the month -- friends from the workplace who I never thought would be people to hang out with -- something that I actually never thought would be possible. No, not because I had limited myself from them. I mean, I have some good friends from work but to hangout at somewhere else without talking about work, it's very rare indeed.
I spent the week of Christmas here and there, including dinner and cafe hopping, board games, Christmas Mass (yes, finally!), and planning a year-end trip to Bandung. Some changes happened but, nevertheless, I'm still very grateful that I decided to do something different this year as we countdown to the new year.
December is also a month where I was reminded that our plan might not be able to be executed 100% as we thought but, somehow, putting aside the concern and heartbreak, there might be something bigger than you thought you could have.
Honorable mention of the month: "Knives Out 2" and "Cek Toko Sebelah 2"! KO2 might be the best movie of the year for me!
There goes my 2022. Less than an hour to 2023, I hope everyone has a good year.
Let's face the new year with better days to remember. :)
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