A not-so-quick recap on a life-changing year…
Work-related
- Spent the first few months in a famine. End of 2021 was going great, but by late December, it felt like everything dried up. None of my usual contacts had work for me. It was tough! Thankfully I scored a new client who assigned me 1 story that went okay, then 1 more which needed two rounds of edits and then a series of 3 stories. But… none of the last 4 stories eventually got published, so that sucked. I got paid, so in a way that’s all that matters, but it’s still not great knowing that the stories never saw the light of day, after all the time and effort that went into them.
- In mid-year I applied for an agency and… got in! Alhamdulillah. I’d applied to this agency back in early 2020. The boss needed me to take a writing test, and when she learnt that I just had newborn Chickpea, she said we should postpone it. Then… COVID-19 escalated so that opportunity got away. Alhamdulillah it returned mid-last year, I suppose when clients were returning back to full-swing after the pandemic. It’s been really really good, and I’ve been really happy.
Travel-related
- 2022 saw the gradual re-opening of the world. I think we started the year with group gatherings being permissible again. In April, the Causeway opened! So much for telling ourselves that we wouldn’t want to be the first few Singaporean cars to drive in… we ended up going over when the Causeway was still veeeery empty. It was surreal!!! It was great!!! And JB was okay!!! We were so cautious in our first time. It was a quick trip to Angsana with NG and Mama Kraken for some Raya-shopping (April was already fasting month) and then back in SG by mid-day even though we could have gone longer. Then we did a second trip to Angsana (had to exchange our purchases) this time with both Mama Kraken and Papa Kraken. Stayed there for longer. Alhamdulillah, these two trips are still memorable to me.
- In June, we headed to KL with Mama Kraken and her friends. Poor Mama Kraken had been wanting to visit KL since the pandemic happened. It was a bit of a confusing trip because the arrangements kept changing. At first she really needed me to join to justify the cost of renting a private car but then she eventually recruited enough travellers among her ex-schoolmates to justify a second car. Lol. And then we were supposed to bring Watermelon only to realise one week prior that her passport had long expired… d’oh! And this was during the time when passport renewal applications were peaking like crazy and wait times extended from 1 week pre-pandemic to 2 months. Luckily my in laws were okay to take her while we were gone. Anyway, the trip was good but also a bit challenging for NG and me. We stayed in Masjid India aka old people area :p I haven’t done this since the year we were planning my wedding, probably. Some parts of the logistics irritated us a little and I vowed never to go to KL with my mum again. And then… she passed away unexpectedly about a week after we returned, so I learned to be grateful for this opportunity to have travelled with Mama Kraken for the very last time 💔
- We flew to Chiang Mai in October to visit a dear friend who had moved there. Our first flight in a long time (the last being the epic trip we had to Turkey and UK in mid-2019) plus Chickpea’s first flight plus our first flight as a family of four. Needless to say, we almost missed our flight because we forgot how to plan our timing. Facepalm much!!! Staying with our friends was really fun. They’re the most hospitable couple I know, even when they were at Flora Rd, and being in Chiang Mai didn’t change it. Allahumma barik. Watermelon was super happy playing with her same-age friend, and Chickpea was happy to join the big sisters. Then we flew to Phuket, which was the real intent of the trip (NG had won an incentive trip there) which ended up to be a super short leg. We failed to realise that we flew in late and were flying out early, so really I spent less than 48h in Phuket. On hindsight, should have extended the trip by at least 1 day to maximise it. Which we did consider doing spontaneously, but at the same time, it had been 1 week of travelling and we concluded it was better to end on a high.
- Then in December, we did an epic family trip to Spain! This was with Papa Kraken, my sister and her family, and us. Basically almost full attendance sans my brother. I haven’t flown on a holiday with my sister since Perth in 2009, and even that that was before she had my nephew. So many lifetimes ago. We planned this trip because Papa Kraken had always wanted to visit Andalusia but Mama Kraken was opposed to it because of the amount of walking involved (you really do have to travel on your feet quite a bit.) After her death, I proposed re-routing our family holiday–originally destined for New Zealand–to Spain instead. As the trip approached, NG and I were filled with dread because we weren’t sure if it was a good idea to do a 3-Gen trip. My expectations were so low that alhamdulillah I had not much complaints about the trip. I quite enjoyed myself, though apparently my sister and her kids less so 🤷♀️And alhamdulillah we were not targets of pickpockets though I was rather forlorn (cheh) to accidentally have left a bag of two BRAND NEW sweaters for the girls, and Watermelon dropped her soft toy lamb in Madrid without us realising it until it was far too late.
Family-related
- Nothing can quite surpass the life-changing experience of losing Mama Kraken on an unsuspecting Monday afternoon in mid-June. By now, it’s been 7 months already and alhamdulillah I’m in a better place of mourning and grieving. As the hadith goes (to paraphrase wildly), there is goodness in everything that happens us. Mama Kraken’s death reminds me to prepare for my own death. It’s a concept that we know, but we don’t really process it until it happens to someone very near and very dear. Suddenly I’m thinking more about sadaqah jariyah and doing good deeds that will hopefully weigh heavier on our scale on the Day of Judgment.
- We changed Watermelon’s preschool… again! Actually since pre-enrolment, I started having reservations about her second school. But I never really felt confident in my feelings. Were they valid, or was I just being picky? Was I being unreasonable? Resistant to change? One day NG and I were having breakfast in our neighbourhood when we bumped into an ex-teacher. She told us some behind-the-scenes perspectives and we were like oh-my-God, we definitely should shop for a new childcare provider. To be fair, the school wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t great either, and that bothered me quite a bit. For instance, I found the pedagogy for the K1 kids really weird. One of the show-and-tell activities was to talk about their family. When I chatted with Watermelon on what she could say about her having a mum, dad and younger sister, she simply said “But my friends know that already.” D’oh! Then I realised that Watermelon first got this assignment back when she was in N1… so how could her K1 teacher think that it was an age-appropriate activity? Aiyoh. Anyway. It wasn’t easy finding immediate placement for 2 kids, especially not for Chickpea who was still in toddler playgroup which is super competitive due to the high demand and small class size. Long story short, we enrolled Watermelon first in a MFS where her cousin goes to. So for 6 months, we had to do drop-offs and pick ups at two schools in opposite directions. We’ve been much happier with her new school so alhamdulillah!
- Potty trained Chickpea, woop woop! I potty trained Watermelon @ 35 months, went great. Potty trained Chickpea @ 30 months, it was not so great. Lol. I did 30 months because you know, I’m a huge fan of the Oh Crap! potty training method, and the author was saying that the best time to train kids is between 20-30 months. Seeing how Chickpea gave me more messes to clean up, I’m not so sure of that…! But anyway, it’s all done and dusted now. Alhamdulillah also for Chickpea’s teacher who was really supportive of my methods (or really, the Oh Crap method) and helped to complete the training in school.
- Also weaned Chickpea late in the year. The probability of pain was getting higher and higher. It used to be like, every 10 sessions. Then every 5. Then eventually every session hurt… and it dawned on me that perhaps my supply was dwindling which was why it was always hurting. Weaning her was not so easy. #2 children don’t take no without a fight, yes? But alhamdulillah one day I looked at her and said, “Okay, no more nana okay?” She said “Ok!’ cheerfully and that really was the end of it. No sadness for me. It was a great 27-29 months run maybe and it feels great to no longer be a nursing mum. No need for nursing-friendly tops or having to pack my nursing cover to places. Hehe. Alhamdulillah for the relatively smooth breastfeeding journey so far. Of course with some hurdles like pumping enough and dealing with cracked skin wayyy too many times, but the bond and cuddles outweigh them. Alhamdulillah.
Spiritual-related
- One of the biggest blessings this year was taking classes with Ribaat! I’d heard of it in late-2021 actually, but felt a little overwhelmed and maybe skeptical of how good or suitable the classes really were. Alhamdulillah for a GGG sister who raved about her Purification 101 class experience. I took the class in January together with a friend and yesss it’s really good. Took another class on hadith in May and I got to say, that was not so great. Gifted teacher but her admin was so messy with multiple rescheduling. Her homework policy was not as friendly as my previous teacher’s, so it was a tad uncomfortable having to adjust. Then in July I enrolled in PUR201 (continuation of PUR101), and a class by the founder Anse Tamara and then very impulsively, in their tafsir 101 class which was so good as well. MasyaAllah! I’m in love with the school and really enjoy the deep and personalised insights by the teachers there. They are truly truly intelligent women and I can’t gush enough about how great it feels to have role models like them. Alhamdulillah…
- Celebrated my one year anniversary with my tajweed academy! The struggle continued… I feel like there are 2 types of corrections in Quran recitation. The first type are the ones where I can hear my mistake. The second type is sub-conscious, and I’m blind to them even when I listen to recordings of my recitation. It’s so so so frustrating! SubhanAllah. I had to work on two big areas last year. Wah, a test of patience and perseverance. I also had a change of teacher which has been working out better for me, because she’s a lot warmer and encouraging with her feedback. Alhamdulillah; may Allah preserve all my teachers and grant them His eternal pleasure. Ameen.
In 2022, I travelled again. I loved and I lost. My grief and despair got me to seek more of Allah.
So alhamdulillah for everything 🤍
Tales of The Kraken 