As they say, people get mellow with age. Birthdays come and go, but everyday can be a special day if you make it so. So, happy birthday to me.

P.S.: And I hope my birthday brings good luck to all 48 of my students doing their exam today!

First let’s start on New Year’s Resolutions. I listed three:

1. Plant a seed (flower or plant) to maturity.
2. Read 52 novels.
3. Make a croissant.

For (1), unaccomplished. The closest I came to it is alerting my mother of a germinating jackfruit seed and she planted it and it grew. Definitely not to maturity, we have no yard. It’s a 20 cm sprout now. And I cheerfully announce I accomplished (2) and (3). In fact I read more than 100 books (combination of fiction and non-fiction; mostly fiction). I made croissants and blogged about them.

Resolutions aside, overall I do think I have been good this year. This year I spent quite a bit of time soul-searching and facing off myself, learning to accept me for who I am and learning to balance the selfish desire for happiness with the inner saint. I have come to some kind of terms with myself that perhaps sometimes being weak is being strong, and sometimes posing polar opposites in the same clause can make me sound deep (and other times, douchy).  Sometimes I feel I have mellowed, and other times I feel I have grown up.

On a less peachy note, I feel the need to confess that many times this year I have fallen victim to my inner critic, and allowing mental fights. I think it all came as a repercussion of trying to soul-search. As I open up the Pandora’s Box it is inevitable I will encounter the evils of my mind. One wonders how they all got in there in the first place. That said, it’s been an interesting year for me, trying to manage my insecurities and inner critic. Have I succeeded? I personally think it never ends. It’s more about never losing the reins again, I guess.

On the more practical, this year I started my MA thesis and I played tutor for a semester. I also quit Facebook towards the final two months of this year, reasons as stated in the relevant post. For a month after I quit Facebook I wished I had better excuses for my friends, but it turned out I didn’t. Do I miss Facebook? I have gotten around the inconveniences of not having an account, so my answer is, No. In March I got myself a dSLR – the Pentax k-x in red. I find it a great piece of equipment and I don’t regret getting it. This year I also went on multiple short getaways to various parts of Malaysia ranging from Sunway Lagoon in KL, Pulau Tioman, and Cameron Highlands. In Tioman I snorkelled for the first time in my life (and I became atas about crystal clear seawater). In November, I got iPhoned and well, I’m short of surgically attaching it to myself. ‘Nuff said.

And as with every year, I have lists of the highlights of the year, and this year not excluded.

Top Reads

1. The Teahouse Fire, Ellis Avery
2. Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, David Eagleman
3. A Dangerous Fortune, Ken Follett
4. Touchy Subjects, Emma Donoghue
5. Await Your Reply, Dan Chaon

Top  Movies

1. Inception
2. A Single Man
3. The Killers
4. Grown Ups
5. Pope Joan

Top Bakes

1. Japanese Cheesecake
2. Croissant
3. Pao de Queijo
4. Cheesy Herb Biscuit
5. Carrot Cupcake

And on a cheery note I bid goodbye to 2010 and look forward to 2011.

I met my reading target once again, and I grew my hair long(er). I wouldn’t call this a year of epochal shifts despite graduating simply because I am still in school. For the rest, of course it’s a year of more changes compared to the past 3 or 4.  However, it’s been an interesting year considering the things that happened. Some things I gained, some things I lost, most of which I am glad for.

What does the new year hold for me? I might hazard a guess that there’ll be more excitement, more room for self-development, more need for independence and determination, more writing. There are some specific aims I want to achieve particularly pertaining to my studies, and there are some non-specific life goals I have in mind.

Morose end-of-year reflections aside, time for some lists:

Top 5 Novels

1. World Without End, Ken Follett
2. The Millennium trilogy, Stieg Larsson
3. Julie & Julia, Julie Powell
4. Burning Bright, Tracy Chevalier
5. His Dark Material Trilogy, Philip Pullman

Top 5 Movies

1. The Watchmen
   
2. The Reader
3. Milk
4. Taking Woodstock
5. Tied:  Up and Duplicity

Top 3 Bakes/Dishes

1. Cream Puffs
2. Cinnamon Rolls
3. Carrot Walnut Cupcakes
4. English Muffins
5. Stained Glass Cookies

And thus concludes my year-end reflections for 2009. New year rambling comes tomorrow.

I wish I could say that this blog is the only constant in my life, but it isn’t. As much as I want to credit it as the sole outlet for my joy, fears and tears, it frankly isn’t. It functions just a little more than being a writing honing ground, but it still doesn’t fulfil the role of a cathartic emotion boxing ring. It is constantly evolving as well.

Somehow over the four years I feel like I have become less caustic and precise in my writing – whether a good or bad thing, I can’t yet decide. Maybe as I grow up I become more mellow.

In any case,  a very happy blogiversary to this blog, and thank you for bearing with me.

The new layout can hopefully help you navigate this blog better — I have grouped the different topics into 6 main categories, namely Acting Smart, Being Personal, Chewing Food, Having Fun, Looking Good and Sayin’ Stuff. I assume these names are sufficiently catchy and informative. Just in cause you still have no idea what they entail, there’s a drop-down list when you hover on these categories. Those must give you a better idea. What this also means is that you can now only subscribe/read posts on your favourite topic here — for example, if you only like to act smart with me, just go to the left-hand sidebar and click on Acting Smart, and that would bring you to a page where you can see and subscribe only posts from that category. I think this spells a new kind of readership built upon choice.

Also, there’s not only a reorganization of posts; I am adding a couple of categories on topics I like, such as makeup, fashion, and books. I believe this would bring about exciting change in Ink Inc..

Lastly, I’m still in the process of cleaning up and prettifying this blog – so you might notice changes here and there each time you reload.

I swear I didn’t see it coming, really. Remember post #800 where I posted a series of homicide stories? Somehow 200 post later and here we are. New address, old blogger. I’m not going to claim it’s been a whirlwind ride, it’s been more of carousel teacup ride (note: not even the horse). Nonetheless I really enjoyed these few years of blogging. All the joy, pain, anger, inanity, insanity … thank you for being here with me!

Apart from being #1000, there isn’t really anything else special about this post. Every post here is unique, just like every birthday we have. But sometimes you just want to believe that certain ones are more special because you just want a reason to celebrate it with something extra. Cynical, yes, but true.

So once again, Happy 1000th Post to Ink Inc.! (And for those who haven’t caught on yet Ink Inc. when read out is also in kink – sheerly by chance and perhaps by subconsicious :O )

I seriously feel I might really just complete it this year. There’s this vibe, ya know?

The green is quite refreshing methinks.

And I have put up a Twitter widget. For gawdknowswhat reason.

Anyway I just spent almost half an hour spying on a neighbour. Apparently 5 policemen went into his flat to do don’t-know-what. It felt exciting and I was waiting for some arrest scenes especially because I saw a plastic body shield along the corridor. It turned out that it’s an old fella with senile dementia and was throwing things around and out of his 12th floor apartment. I think they took him back to the police station. Poor old man.