Tag - 2010 Ups and Downs

Hellooooooo! Today is the last day for 2010 and I've got something to blog about :D I was tagged by the lovely Elisa to talk about my ups and downs of 2010. She's tagged me many times this year so a big thanks to her :)

So basically I have to list my ups and downs of 2010 and tag others. But since this is my last post for the year, I am tagging ALL of you! I don't want to leave people out and not everyone I tag usually does these so it's for everyone :)

I like to knock out the negatives out first, just like how I prefer to share the bad news before the good news, you know? So yeah, I'm going to share the downs before the ups of 2010. Here it goes *deep breath*

Oh and sorry for the lack of pictures :/ I would have done this as a vlog but you'll see why it would be really uncomfortable for me to talk about some stuff...

DOWNS OF 2010

1. My Grandpa passing away

I didn’t have a blog back when this happen so I didn’t share this news. I tweeted about it and friends supported me and were sorry for my loss which was really comforting. This happened in March 11 2010 and it did take time for it to sink in. He passed away in the early morning and I believe it was a Thursday. I had school and a test on this day, yet I didn’t break the news to anyone at school. I kept it to myself for the day and I did feel that I struggled with my Psychology test. Nonetheless, I didn’t fail it and I remained strong for the whole day. What really got to me the most was that I saw my grandpa the day before his passing. He was very sick and me and my mum visited him after I finished school. I thought he’d still have a few days left to survive so when my mum told me that we were going to go visit him, I actually complained to my mum that I had a test the next day and I needed to study for it. I can't believe I actually opposed the idea of going to visit him. It was like I didn’t want to see him or have my mum see him for the last time, and I wasn’t aware that it would be her last time. You can imagine how horrible I would have felt the next day, after hearing the devastated news. I have a fear of death and this was the first time ever that someone close to me has passed away. It wasn’t the best timing in my opinion. 11^th of each month is my anniversary day and now I’m always going to remember it also as the day that my grandpa passed away. A happy yet sad date of the month. Also not that good timing because it was near the start of the year and I was just getting into what it was like being a year 12 student and also, his death was just a few days before his 93^rd birthday. His death affected me for a while and I didn’t know how to cope with it, especially because I also had school pressure piled on top of it. I’m just glad that school teachers understood and was able to get extensions and postponed tests for a while. I even cried at school the day after the funeral because it was too emotional. The sympathy from my friends and the hugs from my teachers made me cry even more. I managed to get through it and be okay but I can’t imagine how my mum felt and how she grieved. I still miss him.

2. Being sick

I felt sick a few times this year, probably due to my lack of sleep and poor health. Stressed out of my mind and staying up too late doing assignments or studying for tests. My sleeping pattern was out of whack, especially when the weekends came around. I got a horrible cramp earlier this year which caused me to clutch my stomach in agony. There’s only one thing to blame when I get stomach cramps T_T Sucks to be a girl sometimes! But it was really painful, so painful that I struggled to get up and walk. I could barely get ready for school this day so I stayed home in the morning and went to the doctor. Doctor prescribed me with some pills and after taking them, my stomach cramp went away and I proceeded to going to school, missing out on the morning lesson. I was afraid I was going to experience the excruciating pain of the cramp again during the day but luckily I didn’t and I haven’t since. There have also been other times where I was sick this year but not sick enough to have days off. Minor coughs and flu symptoms, and a blood nose one morning that took forever to stop! Ended up missing school because of it.

3. Feeling down about school + pressure

I am definitely not a straight A student and there were times where I felt so down about my marks. It was hard to handle the pressure and knowing about the impact this year had on my future really worried me. Year 12 overall wasn’t as bad as I had imagined but I did lack motivation at times and hated waking up early each morning for school. There were also times where I felt like giving up but in the end, I never gave up once. I do however have a lot of tips for people who will be completing their final year of school. One of them is – don’t procrastinate! It will bite you in the butt and you’ll feel regret. I had poor organisation skills and I never stuck by my home timetable because I’d either be bored, tired or hungry to complete all my homework. Year 12 is not the only year to achieve everything, you can achieve something the year after and your life doesn’t depend on it.

Okay now that all the downs of 2010 are out of the way, I can talk about all the positive things ^_^

UPS OF 2010

1. Discovering my passion for makeup

I am really glad that I discovered this passion and I want to say a big thank you to the many beauty gurus on YouTube who have inspired me to use makeup =] Oh and also to all the beauty bloggers out there, I am amazed by the talent! I’ve always liked makeup but this time last year, I would have no idea how to apply eyeshadow to create dual tones, how to apply blush correctly or wing out my eyeliner. I’ve learnt so much from the internet and discovering my passion for makeup has definitely been an ‘up’ for me this year. My big makeup achievement was applying my own makeup for my formal and graduation. Earlier this year I was actually thinking of getting someone to do mine for me! So glad I didn’t hehe. I even did a school assignment based on beauty and I did really well for it :)

2. Formal

Formal a.k.a prom was such a memorable night! I loved every moment of it and I was really glad that my boyfriend accompanied me :) He was the only guy on my table because none of my friends brought dates but he was okay with it. It was such a lovely night and everyone looked gorgeous.

3. Getting my Provisional License

I don’t know how the driver’s licensing rules work for other countries but in Australia we have Learner’s permit and P1 and P2. This year in May, a week before I turned 17, I passed my P1 test and now I have a Provisional license, meaning that I no longer need to drive with someone like an instructor or parent. I can drive on my own, but I still haven’t yet! I am yet to drive on my own haha. I had to complete all the driving hours and the lessons and it took me a bit more than 6 months but I was happy to finally finish it all when I was still 16 :D

4. Karaoke for my 17^th

This actually was my first birthday celebration with friends. I never had celebrated my birthday with friends before, nor have I ever had a birthday party (I still haven’t had one). It was always with my family. Many of you probably don’t know one of my other passions because I haven’t really shared it on my blog before (maybe once) but it’s my passion for singing. I love to sing and I know I don’t have the best voice or anything but singing makes me happy :) I don’t think I’d ever sing for you guys in a vlog, too shy to at the moment! But yeah, I went to a Korean karaoke place with my friends and it was really fun. I love Korean pop music and even though I don’t know how to speak Korean or understand any of it, I could still sing a long and have a great time x)

5. Blogging 2010

I got back into blogging again in around May 2010 and I must say, it has definitely put a new spin on my life. I had a previous blog but it was a personal blog and was just about me, my life and events with very few pictures and lots and lots of writing. How boring, and I only had a few followers who were my school friends and I would get the odd comment once or twice in a post, but I had more posts with none. I didn’t follow many blogs and it was just so boring. Although back then I kind of did enjoy blogging, the enjoyment back then was nothing near the enjoyment that I get from blogging these days. This year I started a new URL, changed my layout and my purpose for blogging. I was able to discover new blogs and follow them as well as having them follow me, which has always been something that I’ve been very grateful for. Knowing so many of you and making so many lovely blog friends from all different parts of the world – my life would be so different if I wasn’t part of this blogging community. Thank you each and every one of you for making my blogging experience this year so enjoyable!

6. Winning a giveaway

My first few months of blogging this year, I discovered blog giveaways and all sorts of things that I didn't discover before when I had a personal blog. It was great seeing how generous bloggers were with their giveaways so I was curious and decided to enter some. I ended up winning one massive prize from Jahnice who I found out about through her giveaway! Pretty amazing. I was so honoured to win and it was a definite 'up' in 2010. Seeing how generous fellow bloggers were inspired me to start hosting my own giveaways when I reached a milestone of followers. Reaching 100 was such a shock to me because I didn't think it would be possible for me, in jsut a matter of months. I'm still in awe of how many I have now and I thank you all for following and participating in my two previous giveaways!

7. Graduating High School

It felt great to graduate from high school and I loved the graduation night. I love how I no longer need to worry about wearing a school uniform ever again. I managed to pass all of my subjects (having a 50% end of year exam weighting did worry me a lot) and achieve a score that allows me to get into various university courses which I’m interested in :) I know I could have done better but I honestly wouldn’t have wanted to have it any other way. If I had been extremely studious this year then I would know none of you, since I’d be more focused on school and not start a blog lol. It all balanced out and in the end and I should be really proud of what I’ve achieved this year alone, on my blog and in school.

8. Getting a pet kitten

Now that I am on my 3-month holiday break (university won’t be starting until March), I have lots of free time on my hands so I decided to get a pet kitten :) I used to have a ginger and white cat which I had for a few years. He never came home and it’s been about 8 years since. Now I have a black and white kitten named Coco and he’s quite naughty and feisty, but I can’t blame him for being so playful and young with lots of energy. He has the most adorable little meows. I sneeze from time to time because I have a small allergy to him/his fur but that doesn’t stop me from caring for him and being the best kitten owner I can be. I never had allergies with my old cat but maybe since he left, my body got used to not having kitten fur around and stuff happened *shrugs* I dislike sneezing and feeling hayfever-ish after being with Coco but one day I hope he realises that I’ve sacrificed my well-being for him :) He’s too cute to abandon!

So now that I look back, I've had more up than downs in 2010 =] If I had more downs I would be quite depressed lol :/ But yeah, so glad for all the highs of 2010 and a year can't go by without having a few downs because a year can't be 100% perfect. I believe that everything happens for a reason, good or bad. We just accept what we're given. We can't always prevent something from happening.

Let's all be thankful for 2011 - a clean slate for us all! I hope that we all have a great start and enjoy the first day of the year tomorrow. Good luck to everyone with their new year's resolutions! Just know that we can make changes any time of the year, not just at the start :)

Thanks for everything this year guys, especially the amount of support I've gotten on my blog, love you all!

See you on the other side of this year ;D Happy new year's eve today