2017 is for once, really quite a shit year to be honest. I kinda say this every year I guess but for 2017, it does hold truth for once.
Even when I look back on what has happened over the year, 2017 has been a year of mostly sadness and tragedy for me. All the good things that happened in the year didn’t outweigh the bad. Still, this is life right? We have our ups and downs so nothing to be overly bothered about and just move on.
THE SHITTY PART ABOUT 2017
- Grandma’s Passing
What can I say about that right? She was in and out of hospital since late 2016 and I think she ended up developing a brain tumour and liver failure(?) or something. I don’t remember the exact diagnosis. The doctors estimated that she has about 3 months of life left and in January 2017, it was approximately the 3 months mark. She did come close to death but prevailed. This just went on for almost the entire year and it was just exhausting. When she finally passed on August 2017, despite the pain of loss, it was a relief for all I guess.
- More Deaths
Besides my grandma’s passing, there were also 2 celebrity deaths which was particularly impactful; the first being Chester Bennington of Linkin Park in July 2017 and Kim Jonghyun of SHINee in December 2017.
Chester was just the voice that everyone wanted to have and be when “In The End” was released. Everyone would have at least tried to scream like Chester at least once in their life. So when the news of his suicide broke, it just felt like a part of my fangirl life died along with him.
Same goes for Jonghyun’s suicide. It was just the saddest thing ever. In the short time when I stanned SHINee, Jonghyun was my favourite member. What makes me the saddest was how he planned and timed his suicide for after Super Show 7 Seoul. He was considerate to not want to mar the highly anticipated concert of his seniors, Super Junior. Which also meant that I was indebted to him for not spoiling my experience and memories of Super Show 7 in Seoul. 💔
THE NICE PART ABOUT 2017
I finally got to watch Bryan Adams live in concert. I almost missed the concert because my grandma was lying in the hospital bed and could pass at any moment but we were all clear that life has to go on so it was a very difficult and conscious decision to try to enjoy the concert as much as I could given the circumstances.
I decided to go to Seoul for Astro’s first ever concert Astroad and at the same time, Seventeen was also having their 1st ever world tour concert “Diamond Edge” in Seoul so I thought why not?
- Going to Japan and Bumping into 14U
I must say that my trip to Japan in September 2017 was an impromptu trip which I booked on a whim. To be honest, after I bought the flight, I didn’t feel good about it. In fact, I did feel a bit of regret for booking the flight, which has never happened before.
And true enough, 2 weeks later, my grandma passed and my flight to Japan was 2 weeks after the funeral. I was kinda out of it in Japan but the surprise of bumping into rookie Kpop group 14U did help to lift my spirits a little.
Super Show 7 was my most anticipated concert of 2017. I don’t think it is any secret how much I love the Super Junior boys. In fact, I had anticipated and have been planning to make my way to Seoul to attend this concert for about 2 years.
For all the hoops and challenges that comes with attending a Super Show concert in Seoul and being a stan of Super Junior, it was all worth it to see them stand on stage again as a group. This is not something a non-stan would understand but yeah, it is a precious experience and memory.
IN CLOSING…
There were actually more ups and downs that I wanted to include but it all pales in comparison when there’s a death in the family.
I also have been swamped at work and hence it resulted in lesser time online. Which is a bit of an irony because I did want to spend less time in 2017 online and more time in the present and living… but I certainly wasn’t thinking of just constantly working and doing not much else.
Here’s hoping that 2018 will be better and as always, be healthy and stay healthy everyone. Nothing else matters if you don’t have health.
Happy New Year!