On Your Mark

On the third last day of 2016, I cut my finger with a knife. I had baked a loaf of bread and wanted to eat luncheon meat sandwich. Demmit! Luncheon meat addiction. While I was slicing the luncheon meat, my fingers slipped and skin met knife. When I finally calmed down enough to take a closer look at the cut, I measured it and it was around 1cm (about 0.4inch). The cut bled for a long time and for a while I wondered if I have to go to the hospital to get it stitched up. Eventually the bleeding stopped and I was left with nothing but self pity.

The last two weeks of 2016, I was mostly drugged due to my sinus issues. Not being able to breathe through both nostrils at the same time suddenly became the norm. Each nostril took turns to go AWOL. I think it was due to the erratic weather.

So that was how my year ended. Not very impressive. Before the sinus and knife cut, I had thought about writing a last post for 2016, a what you might call round up or show-off of the creations I had made through the year. Then I realised I pretty much spent the first 8 months of 2016 dealing with my digestive health and the last 3 months baking my head off. In between, I ran and did very, very little creative anything. So nothing much to crow about.

I only released one bag pattern in 2016 which technically was done in end 2015! I think I released a few applique patterns and 3 embroidery patterns.

I won't apologise for my lack of new bag patterns. I had the intention to get at least one done but the first 8 months of 2016 was a real struggle for me health wise and finally I ended up having my gallbladder removed. Now looking back, I wished my gallbladder problem had been detected way earlier. Because having it removed improved my digestive health tremendously. I no longer have to depend on oats anymore. Good grief. How on earth did I ever survive on oats? No more bloating! I can eat most food although I still can't eat rice. I'm Chinese! I have to eat rice. It's a mystery to me why my stomach reacts to rice and I no longer care to understand why. It's not as if I have nothing else to eat. There's always noodles and bread. (My mother thinks I'm hungry all the time because I can't eat rice!) It would have been nice if removing my gallbladder cured me of all my ailments. Nope. The headaches, chronic muscle pain and nose/ear/eye sensitivities are still there. Still clinging on. Bastards!

After I recovered from my gallbladder surgery, I dived straight into baking. The opportunity was there. I have wanted to be competent in baking for so long and finally it came true. To go to baking school and learn from professionals - I can't even describe how wonderful it was. I feel so lucky, lucky, lucky. Which Singapore minister should I thank for the opportunity and funding? Now I'm on a bread baking streak. I'm really enjoying this learning journey! There's so much to learn. I don't even mind that I'm not very good at making bread yet. It's a slow and steady kind of pace and I love discovering something new each time I bake.

So here we are in the year 2017. As I grow older, I am starting to appreciate getting through each year alive. I won't look back and think of the things I shoulda, coulda, woulda. In 2017, I'm going to just go with the flow. No big plans, no promises, no resolutions. All I ask is that I get through 2017 without losing any more organs.

I will continue to run.
I will continue to bake.
I will continue to rant. But less. Now and then. When necessary.
Will I sew? Actually, I have. I sewed three items recently. Show them to you soon. One of the items is quite hideous according to hubs. He said it's too embarrassing to show anyone! Sounds like a dare!

And I will continue to blog. So keep coming round. Have an interesting year my friends!