14-15.

Tried Facebook's Year In Review function. Saw the obvious limitations of algorithms. Decided to write something of my own.

For me, most of 2014's great moments came in December.

Hands down my greatest personal achievement of the year (if not my whole entire life to this moment): finishing a half-M. Nothing beats the insane feeling when I crossed the finish line, especially given the equally insane circumstances - breakfast-less, sleep-deprived, and to a small extent, intoxicated (thanks to another great moment the day before. Too much greatness.)

The logical progression is to have a shot at the M. Not too soon I guess, but at least I've already got a date to replicate the half-M. And of course this time the plan will include proper sleep and breakfast and zero alcohol.

Shortly after comes IHG. First time playing real competitive football with a bunch of awesome folks who always score in the last 10 minutes. The comeback kings, or more formally known as Pioneer Hall Soccer Team - thank you very much. Even though we crashed out of the competition yesterday in the most absolutely undeserving manner possible (the p's), massive respect to everyone for always fighting to the end. Memorable experience.

Obliged to include a team photo reel (credits to our hall media team):

From humble, plain black & whites...

...to official Pioneer purple/yellow...

...and Pioneer purple/yellow with mobile command post in the background. 

Nuff said. The mobile command post is awesome.

Then shortly after IHG commenced, I started my work in the phone room. Only been half a month, but it's already one of the most interesting new experience I've had this year. Beyond the records and the numbers (which for me after 3 official calling shifts and some 250 calls still stands at absolute zero), a greater part of what happens in the phone room is the people, both those working next to me and those listening on the other end of the line. I guess that's what keeping the phone room buzzing with voices?

Not just for December, the last 4 months for me has been about finding new, interesting experiences. Exploring uncharted territories. Running, hall soccer, Phonathon. Then there's the fiddling with mixers and cables and mics and speakers with the Concert Engineer folks. And all the long nights preparing for every of our Liaison operations. Plus the extreme drama, the intense debate, and all the difficult interviews. Making new friends, expanding the address book (and stretching my memory at the same time thanks to my unusual no-prefix, no-postfix approach to contacts).

Ultimately a collective attempt to find out what I could be good at. Makes uni life so much more enjoyable, compared to the rather uneventful first 8 months of the year.

Of course with so many new and exciting things happening, certain parts of the past ought to be let go. Ought to make space for the new.

The past 4 months saw me relieving my updating duties over at Taylor Swift Vietnam, bit by bit. Which makes me sad, because it feels like a part of me has died.

It's the very first time that I actually commit to something voluntarily - not just to fulfill requirements like points hours and stuff - for more than one year (to date, 1 yr 8.5 mths). First time being exposed to real events management. Also first time having complete control over content of any site (largely thanks to the fact that I'm the only person in the team with an active Twitter account. Actually that's what got me into the team in the first place. Which means first time I got a "job" just with social media credentials. Which is totally crazy.)

It's a story of "started from the bottom now we're here". April 17th 2013 was my very first day, 2 months after the account was started by a senior team member as a side project. Already inactive for about 2 weeks, about 200 posts and 100 followers. 20 months later, took roughly 4500 posts to up the follower count 15-fold. Everything's changed, including... the tagline which went through like 10-ish iterations before I settled on something awesome.

Numbers and stats aside, again it's the people that makes this job so much more enjoyable. I have the privilege of working with a small, but extremely capable and dedicated team of people. We always pride ourselves on being the most professional US/UK fan community management team of this land, staying grounded in all our successes, strong in the face of criticisms (see my 2 posts on that regard here and here. If you're Vietnamese, read the first one because it's more natural). Most specially, I forge a close relationship with the head admin, who I would probably remember most as the person who first demo-ed me the power of sumif - a function that totally changed my opinion on Google Spreadsheets (I believe it does exist in Excel but I hardly use it there. And sorry my friend if it offends you but yeah I tend to remember only the random and small details).

Indeed the last Google Spreadsheet I touched in 2014 was for the latest TSVN operation - a 2015 fangood order. Still got on with the same old efficiency that defines my work. And definitely still got that sumifs touch of elegance. Such moments would be dearly missed.

Still in the process of training a long-term replacement, but to that next person, if you're reading this, I want you to appreciate how special this job is and just do your best.

All good things must come to an end.

And of course, that includes 2014.

At the stroke of midnight...

It has been a life-changing year for me, marking the transition to uni life. An insane amount of positives.

Come 2015, it will be the first time I'm taking a lead (read: main comm) position in a huge project. Putting everything I have experienced and learned to the test. Hopefully it will be a great experience for me and all my team members, as well as everyone else involved in any other capacity. #FOC2015

There are of course many other things to consider in the category of "New Year's resolutions", but ultimately for me it's being happy and contented with life. So for everyone, have a happy 2015; may all your wishes come true, all your goals be fulfilled.

Now I have a run to fulfill.