The past year in retrospect

My 2016 resolution was:

1)  concentrate on my portfolio
2) step out of my comfort zone as much as I have to
3) set myself to travel more that year

After graduating from poly in May, I decided to take a gap year from my studies to do all of that. The fact that I still didn't know what I wanted to study, or if I was going to do so at all, also played a part in my decision making.


Since then, at 20, I began working in all sorts of fields in pursuits to explore my own creativity and style. I was lucky I got the opportunity to do all of the things I was passionate about, and I think I've improved heaps while working under the wings of others.

As 2017 came around, I was honestly really pleased, because I did achieve the things I resolved myself to do. I travelled (laos, bangkok, perth, japan, melbourne), stepped out of my comfort bubble to pursue the professions I wasn't exactly familiar with and was intimidated by, and built this portfolio that I set myself out to do.

2016 was a time of change, and while they weren't the most comfortable phases, they certainly helped me to grow and learn, even if I stumbled along the way. From taking up photoshoots to doing lookbook fashion videos to packaging design and writing travel stories for many to see, whew. I'm glad all the anxiety and hours paid off.

"If you're not outside your comfort zone, you won't learn anything."



Read my travel articles here.

Now's the time for me to decide what to do now that my gap year is ending. Do I go back to studying? Or do I just keep working? Many factors come into play and I still can't decide, but I applied for Lasalle (they had a course that piqued my interest) and decided to see how it would go.

I spent most of my January compiling the works that I've done through my gap year. It was weeks spent on designing the pages and freaking out over imperfections before I finally sent it for printing. It felt like my mass comm days.

I then painstakingly bound my own book, because I wasn't willing to pay $80 just for someone to help me glue pieces of paper together. Anyway, it's a creative journal that I'm proud of. I couldn't have done it if I had not taken the gap year to work and travel, so I guess I deserve to give myself a pat on the back for going through with the decisions I've made for myself.




After the application and interview, it took them about two weeks for Lasalle to get back to me and I got accepted! Yay!

Even though I should probably just take up the offer since the honours is only three years and I already got a placing (after nerve-wrecking processes... I'm hesitating. Could I achieve more in these three years outside than if I were in school? Do I have to conform to Singapore's societal pressure that paper qualifications define almost everything? Are these certs even important in the creative fields I'm pursuing?

I don't know.

Well, if it's any comfort for me, I did achieve what I set out to do. No regrets for taking a one year break. And it seems like Lasalle is different from most unis, since their projects are often based on real clientele. That's not too bad. May I be enlightened about what to do with my life now that I'm in this early life crisis.


So that's that. I've been busy the past two weeks doing a lot of shoots, which exhausts me so much I crash by the time it's 11pm lol. But anyhow, I'm almost done with my Melbourne road trip video. Editing it has been such an eye opener as I explored so many components of video editing, and it was nice reliving back the times with Han hehe. Hopefully we get to go on another travel venture soon!

Meanwhile, stay tuned to the road trip video coming your way Friday 9pm!!