T minus 7 days to Funemployment!

As I'm about to become funemployed, I thought that I'd resume blogging again after a seven/eight-year hiatus. Not that anyone noticed, so this is a fresh start for me!

In that time, I survived working my way through university (both full-time, don't ask me how I did it, just know that it was very painful and that I don't wish it on anyone) and I've gone through a handful of jobs. If you actually know me, you'd know that I was a journalist for half of my career, and a Marketing/Public Relations professional for the other half, of which, half was spent in a well-known global agency.

Seeing as I always had to face the public, represent brands, and face media, I thought it was best if I kept my opinions to myself to prevent any potential misunderstandings, and to avoid giving my clients (and my employers) the wrong impression about things. Those discussions were saved for internal meetings and they were part of the professional counsel that I provided my clients with.

Anyway, I'm becoming funemployed because I'll be relocating to NYC with my fiance and our fur-baby Buxley (that cute brown thing in the photo above), and I couldn't be more excited because:

1) I've always wanted to leave Singapore!

2) I've always dreamt of living in a legit "world-class" city like NYC or London

3) 4 seasons!! I'm so excited at the awesome clothes I'm gonna be able to wear, and I only need to spend a quarter of a year getting heatstroke/freezing my ass off/suffering from allergies. Whatever happens, it goes away after a few months and the weather changes! How fun is that??

4) We get to start a fresh new chapter of our lives in a new city!

5) Pokemon Go. #TeamValor

At the age of 14, I told my parents that I wanted to leave Singapore. Of course, I was also an angsty teenager at that time who hated school, hated life, and hated everything in general, so they never took me seriously. As I got older, the consistent messaging was always that I wanted to get out of Singapore to live and work in a foreign land. The jobs that I've enjoyed the most were the ones that had a whole lot of travelling involved. It was tiring to travel so much but I really enjoyed getting away from the office and being in an unfamiliar environment.

Had I not gotten in a serious relationship, I would have packed up and left for Myanmar or Vietnam a few years back as I have a very strong interest and general curiosity about emerging/frontier markets - There's just so much potential so those markets and I get very excited at the prospect of exploring and building things ground-up! I don't care about getting my hands dirty and all that - I actually really enjoy it.

But hey, instead of going to an emerging/frontier market, I'm heading straight to the Big Apple where everything is ultra-competitive and where (I expect) people operate at an all-new level. I'm going there to be challenged so that I can push myself hard and grow, both as a person and as a professional. I like being thrown in the deep end, and I find that I learn the best when I face a sink-or-swim situation.

Contrary to what my friends think, I'm not going there to be a tai-tai. I've actually concluded that I'd be a terrible tai-tai. I'm the kind of person who needs to work and earn my keeps, whether or not I need to. I've even start applying to several remote job roles... fingers crossed that I get it because if I do, I will achieve my #digitalnomad dreams which, until recently, I never knew I had. What I do know is that I really enjoy working, but I also really appreciate the freedom of not having to be in office everyday. It took working at a tech startup for me to realise how much I enjoyed working remotely and away from an office desk, and I do hope that I land a role in NY that lets me do just that! Gotta have faith in the job market! ;)

Anyway, as I will no longer be representing clients or brands in the coming months (at least till the new year), I thought it'd be fun to start writing reviews of random things that I'm interested in! Please note, however, that I'm no professional and all these reviews are just my personal thoughts from a consumer's perspective. I obviously haven't been blogging for a long time so it's not like anyone's been sending me free things.

Coming up soon - A consumer review on the Nextbit Robin (it's a phone I backed on Kickstarter, and I say consumer review because I'm not a tech pro, just a consumer who is also a huge fan of technology) and maybe some reviews on new lip colours that I've discovered (just because I've been obsessed with lip colours)... and possibly some other smatterings of random thoughts I get while I'm enjoying funemployment and adjusting to a new city!