2018 in Review: on Sabbatical, Dancing for Fun and Profit, Baking Incessantly, Asia-hopping

Well 2018 was QUITE the year for me. Certainly not what I expected the year to be about.

Quick 2018 Stats

Jobs Lost: 1
Countries Visited: 2
Dance Competitions / Showcases Entered: 4
Dance Competitions Won: 1
Theme Parks Visited: 2
Parties Thrown: 3
Number of Pastries Baked: MANY

Losing my job was certainly not a great way to start the year. But it turned out to be overall for the best. Seriously. I got to explore subjects and industries I’ve been curious about, met lots of interesting people, and most importantly learned a lot about myself and what’s important to me.

Being funemployed reminded me about all the things that were most important to me: my family, my friends, my community, my values. I realized that I have so many things going for me, and that time is precious and shouldn’t be wasted. (I also found out that collecting unemployment is pretty darn great.)

Travel

I was able to travel quite a bit in 2018. Most notably, I got to go on an epic two week adventure to Shanghai and Singapore in May.

San Diego

Hanah and I took a fun weekend trip to San Diego in September, a city I had never really spent much time at before. Quite the fun city!

Disney California Adventure (Anaheim)

In August, my friends Manu, Audrey and I did a day trip to Disney California Adventure. So much fun!

Dancing

Diggs Deeper

I did another freestyle showcase at Diggs Deeper in June that was a great experience. I felt myself let go and let loose much more than my previous time performing a couple of years ago.

30 Second Showcase at WNH and Breakaway

In September, I participated for the first time in two 30-second showcases, held at the Breakaway in Oakland and Wednesday Night Hop in the South Bay. It was a really fun challenging coming up with a short choreography that showed off solo jazz stuff I was working on.

Snap, Crackle, Lock Battle

I participated in my first waacking battle called “Snap, Crackle, Lock” in April at MVMNT Studios in Berkeley. Quite scary but fun!

All-styles Battle at Oakland Museum

My friend Morgan and I entered into a 2-on-2 all-styles battle at the Oakland Museum in July.

Jack & Jill at Frankie Celebration in Singapore

While in Singapore in May, I participated in a Jack&Jill competition, as part of their Frankie Manning birthday celebration. I was paired with the wonderful Nicola Mah — and we won!

Indian Casino Dancing Gig

On the other end of the public dancing experiences, I did one of the few paid dancing gigs I’ve ever taken in August at an Indian Casino near Yosemite Park. My friend Shannon invited me to dance with her for a private event for VIPs at a small casino, which basically meant we social danced on-stage to a live swing band, and circulated among the audience of older people and danced with them. It was surprisingly a really neat experience!

Family

So many good times with my family this year! I’m so blessed to have them in my life.

Mole Negro

My cat Mole is doing great. The big news is that apparently he’s got the beginnings of gum disease. So I’ve started brushing his teeth, if you can believe that. But he’s really chill about it, thankfully.

Festivities

I organized several fun parties, gatherings and outings over the past year. In the past, I haven’t been a very confident social organizer. So it’s neat to start to crack how to bring people together for fun activities.

Climbing

This year I did a lot of rock climbing. Mostly bouldering, but a little top roping. I’m a pretty solid V4 boulderer now. And I’ve climbed an 5.11b route at my gym. Still haven’t gotten outside yet to climb, which is a goal of mine.

Baking

This was a good year for baking. I’m starting to take my pie and pastry baking skills to the next level. I even did a live broadcast cooking show for SwingNation this month with my friend Hanah that was just wonderful.

Work

My last few months at the Cal Academy were bittersweet. I do love my colleagues so much. On the other hand, there were also a lot of difficult transitions in our department, so it was kind of a good time to make my departure.