Life After Graduation: What's Next?

I can't believe it's been nearly two months since I last blogged on here. Time whipped by and I'm all graduated. What now? What's next?


At graduation with my family!

I figured I should do a "10 things I've done since graduation" post before more time flew by and memory betrays me!

1. Said goodbye to Los Angeles

It hit me when I was lying in bed on the last night in my studio apartment. It was my last night in a place I had spent most of the past two years in, and it felt really surreal moving out -- even though I was moving home to Texas. LA has been kind to me, for the most part, and I feel very lucky to have been there, and done that!

2. Continued working at Pierpont Communications

Remember the public relations/integrated communications agency I interned in last summer? Well, they hired me three weeks before graduation! I didn't actually apply for any jobs, and was having lunch with my former Pierpont mentor when he offered me the gig. It caught me by surprise, but I accepted it right away because I believe in saying yes!

Although I wish it was a full-time position, it's not. Instead, it's a paid internship position in the new digital department. I work with account services, analytics and online advertising management -- which makes me ultra uber mega grateful to be learning and refining technical skills each day at work. In the meantime, I haven't applied for any jobs yet. I reckon I'll give myself a "learning period" because being my supervisor's "digital apprentice" is such an amazing opportunity: he has such a wealth of experience and wisdom to share when it comes to all things digital and in client service too.

3. Ate my first snow cone

Snow cone, shaved ice or American ais kacang - whatever you want to call it, it was so much fun to eat! Darren and I were shopping for a new stove when he decided we should take a break for a bit and drove us to the shaved ice store.

4. Witnessed the union of a beautiful family

My brother-in-law Chris got married to Jeannette on July 23rd. It was such a beautiful wedding! I never cried at a wedding before, but when Jeannette danced with her three daughters to Martina McBride's "In My Daughter's Eyes" I bawled like a five-year-old. All of a sudden I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I missed my mom and her warm embrace when ever I felt sad or dispirited. My mom's always been there for me, you know? And even though I'm all grown up and married now, it sometimes hits me that my mom isn't even a drive away from me -- she is a whole 20-hour flight away, whereas most other people here have their moms in the same city. :'( And then I was very embarrassed when my husband, grandmother-in-law and mother-in-law fussed over my tears and handed me tissues.

5. Decorated my office cubicle

Seeing as I spend eight hours a day at the office, I decided to decorate my desk and cubicle walls. I don't have a full picture of it right now but this snapshot effectively shows you a glimpse of how I did it. I have pictures of my family and friends up on my cubicle walls too, and having a cosy cubicle helps so much to keep me motivated and keep me going.

6. Celebrated Aidan's 2nd birthday

One of my dearest friends in Texas, Ana, threw a Star Wars themed party for her adorable baby Aidan last weekend. That's her husband in the Storm Trooper costume! It was an amazing party with delicious food and lots of Malaysian and Singaporean friends with their families. I had so much fun! I also had a blast taking videos of the party and messages from guests to edit into a video. We're going to give the video to Aidan when he's older. :)

7. Started gaming a tiny little bit again

I used to think "Oh after grad school I'm going to have tons of time for gaming!" but I was delusional. For some weird reason I'm even busier now than when I was in school. Like everyone else I have to go to work on weekdays and run all my household errands/chores on Friday -- the only weekday I don't go into the office -- and then all my social activities are on weekends. Because I get home from work in the evening and we go to bed at 8pm, I have about 15-30 minutes of gameplay time that day if I'm not already exhausted or too busy doing something else. I'm also working on side projects that I won't blog about yet! But when I do steal some time away from real life to play, I love Star Wars: The Old Republic. :)

8. Started watching Shark Tank

The entrepreneur in me squeals a little with glee every time I watch this. I like watching a show when I eat my meals at home, and after I finished my last show I decided to start watching Shark Tank. It is hands down my favorite show right now, even though I know I'm super late on cottoning on to its popularity.

9. Bought my very first plants!

When I was very young, one day I got fascinated about growing plants. So my mom helped me in planting an onion. I ignored it after a couple of days, then over-watered it, then it died. Ever since then I haven't tried taking care of any plants. Even in my room in Malaysia I never watered the plants that my mom put in there, so they would constantly wither of thirst. But now that I'm a lot older, I feel myself being drawn to small plants. So I finally caved and bought two little bamboo shoots. I'm going to put one in my office cubicle and one in my nook at home, and pray I don't kill them.

10. Got highlights in my hair.

I've never gotten my hair professionally highlighted before, so I was very nervous about doing it. But my hair was looking like a big mass of thick darkness. Ordinarily I would try to color my hair myself with the bubble hair color from Korea, but I learned that color doesn't lift color. So I can't do highlights on the parts of my hair that are already colored! Thus, when I went for my (annual) haircut today I asked for highlights. I think this helps brighten up my head significantly. :)

Until next time!