Wrap-Up : 2012

Man was this entry loooooong overdue. *sweeps off 3 inches of dust from the blog*

A lot of changes in life for 2012, many times I wanted to actually blog about it (even this wrap-up was meant for 1st January 2013!) but lost motivation here and there (and a few doses of laziness added into the mix). To summarize my 2012 in a few major points (warning: more text than pictures) :


Career

In September of 2011 I lost my job because the game design department of my company was forced to shut down. This job lasted me 7 months and was my ticket to moving forward with life, clearing debts  and maybe getting a loan for house in a year so you can say I was pretty devastated. At this time I decided on trying a different path, I applied at a job agency to see if I could find any job with better prospects than a creative one. Several interviews went by and I did not get a positive reply (well I only had my language and determination to rely on once I remove my animation diploma from the criteria), in the end I joined my previous colleagues who tried to build an indie game studio.

I started this job in January 2012. Prospects started good, it was a fun group, we'd design together, create concepts, and sometimes all play games in between work together. Sadly this did not last as well, there were hiccups with the funding and by the 3rd month the studio could not pay the employees. I stuck on for another 2 months hoping for a turnaround which unfortunately did not happen.

Around May 2012, a friend introduced me to his company (well more like I asked him about it because the company name is based off a game I'm a fan of) and I managed to secure an interview. It's a different job scope; I will be doing some photography, briefing restaurants, some copywriting and a dash of concept and design. This job seemed too good to be true really. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best, and you can say I was ecstatic when I got the job!

Today I am still with this job, and I'm still in love with it. Life is improving slowly (cleared off a few debts!) and hopefully by late this year I might have saved enough to start my dream of getting a house (and leaving my shitty condo behind).

Pets

2012 saw two (OH DEAR TWO. BLAME THE HUSBAND) additions to the furkids, one cat and one dog. We lost Hazel, our corgi not too long ago and my husband Eric wanted to adopt another corgi. Around February a litter was available (with tails!) and we adopted Latte, a female puppy.

Puppy Latte

1 year old Latte

DAAAAWWWW so fluffy and adorable. Also the timidness did not last, Latte soon became the most pushy and naughty pet in our house. Bullies Shio all day long.

Her puppyhood went by in a flash. Now she's a 10kg+ mass of corgi power.

The latest addition is a black kitten Eric rescued from the streets because "it was so stupid it would die in two hours". He found it lying down lazily in the middle of the asphalt road. At this time I was against picking up anymore strays because we shouldn't keep any more and also once a stray has adapted itself to our house I can never find it in my heart to let it go. No one was available to adopt it from us either.

The funny thing is this kitten seem to be a good luck kitten. After we picked him up we got two major blessings; one financially (and quite the lifesaver) and another to be explained later in this post. I guess this is the kitten's way of repaying the husband for saving him.

Me : What to name it?
Eric : Snow.
Me: Like Jon Snow of Game of Thrones, cause he's black like the crows?
Eric : No, Snow White, like her hair that was ebony black.
Me: ... it's male.
Eric : ;D


...meet Snow White, the kitten which has now grown into a black mass of fur with golden eyes!

 No really, he's fat. Without the collar he looks like a furry blob with two yellow specks for eyes.

He also developed this quirky habit ; if you make eye contact with him and he notices, he'll walk to your foot, flip over and meow adorably for a belly rub. We nicknamed him the "Plopping Cat" cause he's so fat when he lies down to flip over you literally hear that "plop" sound.






Last but not least... I'm expecting!

Yup, shortly after we got Snow, I found out I was preggers. It wasn't unplanned really, we've been on/off trying for a year, and I was hoping to have two kids before 32. I wonder if Snow is partially responsible for the luck LOL.

The first trimester wasn't perfect. I wasn't sure if the child would make it through, I was even told to go on bedrest for a week. The kid stuck through the storm though and now I'm at 28 weeks, which is just about to enter the third trimester! I'm ecstatic, and hoping that everything will turn out alright.

Just shy of 15 weeks!

Naturally each couple will be excited to know whether it's a boy or girl. At around the time when it would be visible through the ultrasound scan (some few weeks into the second trimester) we were playing the guessing game with the doctor.

Few scans later the baby finally moved into a more favourable position and it's a boy! I've always wanted a son (Eric preferred a daughter LOL) mainly cause I hope to increase the number of good guys in the world heheh. If it turned out to be a girl I would still love the kid! The kid is due 25th May. Here's hoping everything will turn out okay.

Our small household is starting to become much too crowded, so I really hope that dream house of mine is not too far away. There's a few more hurdles to go, but overall may 2013 finally be the year for us to progress as a new and improved family. Here's to less laziness for blogging, staring some side projects and above all else an exciting new chapter in life. This year's motto is "Keep Moving Forward!".