Hello to the space that feels familiar yet so foreign these days. Suppose nobody really reads blogs anymore, and I occasionally question the purpose of renewing my domain again. Surely I can go back to the good old "blogspot.com" hosting and things would still run the same? But there are days where I refuse to give up on the name, because "CANTUSLUPUS" means everything to me. It was my youth, it was the beginning of my career, and it's just where I feel best. So for now, I guess I'll still continue to pay Exabytes year after year.

But just in case you forget, this is me!

And now, onto the better parts! In the blink of an eye, we're now out to say goodbye to 2025. While I'm not ending the year with how I expected to, I still think it deserves a wrap up, so I can see how far I've come perhaps 10 years from now.

I travelled a lot in 2025

Considering my other half and I didn't go back to Malaysia this year, most of our travels focused on exploring Europe as usual. In January, we visited Hallstatt and Salzburg, with the former being the most magical experience imaginable. I think I've put down a mental note to talk about Hallstatt on this blog eventually, but sometimes you just need the right moment for that. Maybe someday! 

At the end of April, I was sent by my former agency to Berlin for a 2-day shoot, and while it was really tiring considering the early travel in and late travel out, I have to say it was plenty of fun. My other half then booked us a trip to Lisbon in May, owing to the fact that he was bored while I was away and watched one too many YouTube videos about the city. Honestly, I loved our trip to Lisbon though I may or may not have had too many pastéis de nata in the 5 days we were there. Come July, we also visited Paris for the Japan Expo and spent an unspeakable amount of money at the Gundam Base Pop-up and I'm still convincing myself it was worth it. 

In September, my mum and two aunts came to visit and this sparked our 10-day long travel to Prague and Budapest. We obviously also explored plenty of cities in the Netherlands when we got back, and I finally got to see the popular cheese market in Alkmaar. The year ended with a Christmas invite from a friend of my father's to London, and while we didn't get to renew my other half's passport like we had planned (thanks for closing the immigration office without prior announcement, Malaysian High Commission!), the season was still as magical as we had imagined...bar the absurd levels of crowd. So yeah, it's definitely been an exciting year for my €60 suitcase and I hope the wheels will continue to hold up. 

I read a lot in 2025 

In the weirdest twist of events for the year though, I found myself reading a lot more thanks to my e-reader. It's been an investment that I've considered getting for the longest time, but I always wondered if it was going to be another piece of tech that I thought was cool to have and accidentally ignore after a while. Surprisingly though, I find myself curling up under a blanket on the couch with my Kobo a lot more these days, with some of my favourites for the year being Murder on Mt. Fuji and Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. I also finally finished the Crazy Rich Asians series that included Crazy Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Problems, and boy was that a ride. I'll be starting on another major bestseller called Butter soon, and I can already foresee the Kobo continuing to be a staple in 2026.

I tried something new in 2025 

Having stayed in Amsterdam for the past 6 years, I've always wanted to visit the A'Dam Tower and hop on the Lookout Swing that's perched on the very top. But somehow my other half and I always found an excuse for each other - it was too sunny, it was too rainy, it was too windy...or we were just scared. Honestly, I think age also makes you fear a lot more things. So this year when SAIL 2025 happened, we thought about how else to admire the ships that were gliding through the IJ and it turns out the answer was to put on our brave faces to conquer the swing. The experience was a 10/10 but I'll think hard about having to ever go on it again, but at least we tried something new this year!

I went to my first rock concert in 2025

If you'd known me long enough, you'll know that I've never quite been to an official concert in my whole life. In fact I may have even been avoiding it because I don't do well to extremely loud noises, but when I saw One Ok Rock making Amsterdam one of their stops, I just knew I needed tickets to see them live. As luck would have it though, I was tasked to attend a content shoot with a colleague on the day of the ticket release, so my other half had the most important task of securing tickets for us. At the end of the day, I really enjoyed myself with the buzzing energy and good vibes through the night...though my ears disagreed for the next 2 days. Worth it.

So...it's been almost a year since I came by this blog and I'm ashamed to admit I'd almost forgotten what it's like to actually write. But today is a special day, and given that I've got some time on my hands, I just figured that Cantuslupus.com deserved some love with exciting 2025 updates! 

For starters, I turned 33 today!

Of course, the number doesn't change anything except make my insurance premium more expensive by the year, but it's just nice to celebrate a day for myself. After all, the year thus far has been such a roller coaster ride of emotions that I sometimes struggle to grasp how I'm feeling day by day. Of course, I'm a firm believer that the sun always rises (despite it being the Netherlands) after a storm and that things will be better again if you just hold on tight. And with that, I'm just happy to have made it to 33 and to celebrate yet another year in Amsterdam. 

And speaking of being in Amsterdam... 

Did I mention that we've both gotten our Permanent Residency status? 

That's right, after plenty of studying for five Dutch integration papers that comprised reading, writing, speaking, listening, and Knowledge of Dutch Society, my other half and I officially obtained our PR status this year. It's been something we worked on since last year when we starting becoming eligible for the application, and it's also a great way to celebrate 6 years of being in the Netherlands. This obviously doesn't mean I'm fantastic at Dutch just yet, but it's definitely given me the confidence to keep going and taught me that anything is possible if you just give it your all. And that includes sacrificing some nights of gaming, but I'll take it. 

Now onto other changes...

While the agency wasn't my first job in the Netherlands, it was definitely one of the best places I've worked at. But after 4 and a half years, perhaps it was time for a change and to see where life would take me instead. I'm ever so grateful for the opportunities I got from this place though, especially given how they allowed me to grow and learn new skills. Above all, I'm thankful for the friendships I've forged here, with plenty of my colleagues having turned friends today. Being in a foreign country where people claim relationships are difficult, these ties mean so much to me and maybe...just maybe, it was the only reason saying goodbye felt difficult back then. 

But onward to better things!

Kroket turned 1 in May and also celebrated his first Gotcha Day with us in August! It's so weird to think that just a year ago, he'd been the cutest and cuddliest cat we adopted from a shelter in Zwolle...and now he's an absolutely dinosaur. From nibbling at my feet to pouncing on my back for fun, he's been such a handful that - according to my other half - can do no wrong in my eyes as long as he lets me kiss his forehead once a day. Am I obsessed about my cat? Yes. Am I ashamed of it? No. Will I continue to love him even if he wants to tip over my coffee every morning? Absolutely!

So, what's next?

As a bonus, my aunt had coincidentally flown in with my mum and other aunt back in September when I first left the agency. This gave me the opportunity to explore Prague and Budapest with the three of them, and most importantly spend a lot more time with my mum. 

So perhaps what's next is that I'll simply continue to enjoy what life throws at me and believe that great things are just around the corner. Until then, I'll just have some cake to celebrate being 33 today. If you're here reading, I just wanted to say thank you for still being a visitor to Cantuslupus.com. This space had started as a place where I could vent and share, though perhaps accidentally forgotten this year too. I can't promise to do better in 2026, but I'll always try. 

And I hope that's enough to put a smile on your face too.