For the past couple of years I've always had the analogy of a year being a canvas. You paint it, admire it, experience it and at the end of the year, you keep this painting, or toss it away, or choose to keep working on it. After all that's how some of the greatest paintings were made, layer over layer, year after year.
This year has been a good one, a canvas worth keeping. I've grown up a whole lot, yet managed to remain the youngest of all!
I've found my comfort zone, but also stretched myself a bit, doing many things out of this zone.
Travelled so much this year. To Malaysia - KL and Kota Kinabalu. To Indonesia - Bintan and Jakarta. To Thailand - Phuket. Not forgetting my recent round-the-country tour of Singapore! So much to learn, to see, to do and I've changed so much from seeing the world, interacting with people of different cultures, experiencing different lifestyles. My priorities have shifted. I see that the quality of life is more important than the quantity of money. It's about the company. It's about the frame of mind. Being happy is being in the present and enjoying it.
I've embraced parties - celebrations in music and alcohol and events - Singfest, YOG Opening Rehearsal, F1 Grand Prix, Halloween, Zoukout. But the one thing that made people come together in a huge way this year was the FIFA World Cup. We went to each others' houses; we went to bars; we went to The Singapore Pools! For a piece of the action and excitement of soccer - a sport that I like every four years! It creates a fantastic atmosphere where people put down everything, stay up late in spite of work, spend ridiculous amounts of money on cable and betting. Rationality takes a back seat and passion takes over!
There were inspiring movies from Hollywood blockbusters like The Social Network, Iron Man 2 and Inception, to Singapore's Sandcastle, Korea's Mother and Taiwan's Monga. I also found out how to train a dragon, who is Salt and a single man by the name of Tom Ford made what is possibly my favourite movie this year.
There was no shortage of inspiring artistes either. Scissor Scissors, Robyn, Adam Lambert, The Wanted, Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue, Eminem, Rihanna, Ke$ha and Far East Movement are my Top 10. All captured my imagination, spoke the words I felt but couldn't say and were huge inspirations. From the sexy Any Which Way, to the seductive All the Lovers, the inspirational Not Afraid to the flyest Like A G6, the emotional Wataya Want From Me to the boyband ballad Heart Vacancy, the phone ditties of Telephone and Call Your Girlfriend, and the triumphant club-banger Only Girl going against the anthem We R Who We R... All of them stood up, stood out, loud and proud, shoulders above the rest as the soundtracks of my 2010.
And relationships! Every time I mention this I will always remember a somewhat ghostly echo of a friend saying that relationships are the only thing of real value in the world. This year, I've held on to the very few friendships which have lasted more years than I care to count and made numerous friends along the way, more than I can count. I feel happy for these connections that make me feel that I'm not ever alone and there are people whom I can count on. And also the idea that the strength of friendships are just as important, if not more, than the number of friends one has.
All of you have changed me one way or another, sharing your thoughts, believes, passions and that, to me, is the greatest gift of friendship. It's so much more than company. It's influence and knowledge and growing and learning.
For that I am grateful. Bring on 2011. It can only get better!
