Bye 2021

2021 in a summary for me.

Bad things...

1. My birthday staycation got cancelled because the hotel was being converted into a quarantine area for COVID-19 patients. The hotels that I wanted as my replacement staycation were all fully booked so ended up with no staycation.
2. My laptop started giving me problem - once it switches over to screensaver mode, it will just auto shut down and it will take me 15 - 20 minutes just to switch it back on. So now, I crossing my fingers hoping that it will last for at least a few more months before I have money to buy a new laptop.
3. I got a C for my appraisal - that is an average grade after what I have done for the past few months. I am partially covering a manager's role on top of my own responsibilities. Apparently that is still not enough for a C+ grading.
4. I got scammed. I lost $2,000. That's it. I'm not going to say more since it is still fresh and fucking hurts me emotionally and mentally.
5. I got COVID-19, got quarantined for 10 days - had runny nose, sneezing, dry cough, night fevers, body aches, loss of my sense of smell and taste.
6. My Apple iTunes account got hacked and the hacker wiped clean my bank account - $946.40. And for the first time in my life, I saw my bank account balance of -$11.70. I called Apple to get it sorted out and got the money back about a week later but the thought that it could be hacked. And now, I can't buy things using my account - apparently it kept prompting that there's an error.
7. My 1 years' worth of data entries got wipe clean because I forgot to do a back-up on the software before I did my tech refresh. Of all the stupid silly mistakes that I can make, it just had to be a big one. I ended up spending the whole day from 9am till 7.30pm with minimal break just to re-enter all the data.

Good things...

1. I received my emplacement letter with effect from 23rd Jan - I am a confirmed permanent staff of National Heritage Board. And that means that I can't get fired and I can jumped around to other departments or other government bodies.
2. I feel myself grow professionally - Since I am constantly being throw at to be the representative of certain things while juggling my current responsibilities and partially covering for my ex-manager. As much as it is mentally tiring on me at the same time I can see myself forcing myself to keep up, to be out of my comfort zone and not to fall behind.
3. I lost weight and gain muscles - I'm happy that I'm trying my best to be consistent in my exercise, working out 4 times a week, twice with a trainer and twice by myself. And honestly, it helps with my mental health.
4. I completed my 99 faces project. I can see the improvement in the terms of my creativity of constantly trying to come up with all sorts of patterns as the backdrop of my drawings. Now, I'm starting on my next project - 99 patterns.
5. I managed to get a few gifts for myself although not as crazy as last year but I am content that I was able to afford things for myself in the midst of all this mess.

In Shaa' Allah, 2022 will be a better year.