If I thought 2020 threw me a curve ball, well, it doesn’t even hold a candle to 2021. This year marked the beginning of so many things, an unexpected turn of events—unlike any I’ve ever experienced before—and major growth. It feels very different from my life thus far, almost like this life doesn’t belong to me. But, I guess, after years of catching up with my peers and feeling like a total failure, even being on the rise can feel very strange.
It was a year of hellos, goodbyes and hello agains. Some things ended this year for good, some got rekindled better than ever and others kickstarted for the first time. It was a year of trials and tribulations for some of my loved ones too, although it was filled with stars for me. But stars can be blinding and lead us down a path we’re not sure to take, so I’m being wary of that right now.
That being said, some things never change and will hopefully always remain—I am grateful for these all the time.
January
January started out very, very hectically. Work, especially for Hatching Academy, completely drowned me. Early on I was caught in the preparation for Bootcamp 2021. I had to create their main key visual, social media contents, newsletter contents and printed collaterals. Aside from that, the event took me to Bogor for 4 days where I was tasked with serving daily newsletters to the participants of the event—and away from my love for a while. Later on in the month, I was also involved in their official launch and wrote a press release for it. So yeah, completely wiped.
Towards the end of the month, however, there was a cause for celebration in my personal life. Remember my partner-in-crime from my previous office? Well, he finally resigned! It’s something that we’ve both wanted for a while, so I’m glad to know he managed to do it after I left. We celebrated his last day with the rest of the team and it was so much fun to catch up. Now he’s advancing onto higher grounds to propel his career forward. Couldn’t be more proud!
Blog-wise, I didn’t manage to post much, ending up only with this post that really encompasses my hectic life at the time. Whew, what a month!
February
After months of not exploring new places to eat, this month Agung and I managed to do so twice. We tried visiting Rumah Sagaleh at the beginning of the month—which ended up becoming one of our go-to places to eat. We love their coffee so much! Towards the middle of the month, we celebrated our monthversary exploring the Bekasi area, where we visited Kyo Coffee. It’s such a cozy place! Can’t believe such a place exists not too far away from Agung’s house.
Meanwhile, on the blog, only two other things happened. I recently got a box full of old clothes from my late Grandma—which was like digging through a treasure trove. I kept a lot of new pieces that I still adore even today. I also smashed stereotypes and taboos by sharing about 3 zero-waste deodorant options and how I felt about them—while showing my pit hair in the process. My sister was not happy.
February ended with yet another celebration: Ou Creative is officially launched! It’s my main office—with my side office being that of Hatching Academy—and I’m so happy to be part of the festivities. There’s something special about being part of an endeavour that is growing along with you, don’t you think?
March
March is a cursed month for me: day one started with me having a fever and pain in my butt—the fever went away the next day, but the pain only got worse. If you must know, that pain turned out to be an abscess in my right butt that may have accumulated due to my horrible diet. It has prevented me from having a good night’s sleep, sitting up, lying down, standing and walking—so, really, existing in general. It was two excruciating weeks before the thing pretty much exploded and I got it cleaned out in a surgery—the third one of my entire life, if you’re keeping count.
Needless to say, this condition prevented me to go to the office and caused me to stay at home for almost an entire month. In fact, there were days I couldn’t work at all, due to the fever and pain. However, it has also introduced me to my now-all-time favourite film, A Brighter Summer Day. It was such a gripping 4 hours!
Despite the terrible month, it ended on a high note: MY GRADUATION!! After 10 years pursuing a Bachelor’s degree, I finally got it now. It was an online graduation, but I definitely much preferred it to an offline one. All I really wanted was the degree after all.
April
April started with exploring new places to eat, which somehow starts with hot dogs. We tried Lawless Dogbar and Snag & Shakes—they’re both great but with very different vibes. Somehow, this led to me practically being the poster girl for Lawless—they used my photo twice on their Instagram (lol). I’m still waiting for my free hot dog, if I’m being honest.
Before long, it was suddenly approaching Ramadhan. Obviously, my siblings and I visited Mom’s grave in preparation for the holy month. Towards the middle of the month, there was also an office iftar party—which was my first with this office. It was really so bittersweet, because a lot of people have left since then. This month also marked the second to last Online Classes I’ve ever operated on, as I will stop working for Hatching Academy in the coming months.
The month closed with a significant moment: I finally bought new glasses! After 7 years of wearing the same glasses, I finally got a new pair—covered by my office’s insurance too. It feels really great!
May
May was filled with some wonderful events that Agung and I visited. It started out with an exhibition/installation by Sejauh Mata Memandang. It’s got a section where you can donate old clothes and domestic waste—we even went there twice for this very purpose. Next, Semasa also went back offline and was held at Commune RDTX Place. Little did we know, here Agung got to meet one of my colleagues after only hearing about each other for so long.
Towards Eid al-Fitr, I started to get busy in the kitchen as I prepared handmade hampers for some of my friends. It was my first time and absolutely satisfying to do! Hope to do it again next year. This year I also celebrated the holiday with two families—first with my biological family, then with Agung’s family which feels already like my second familiy.
The month wrapped up with a bittersweet situation. My previous surgery didn’t really work—the wound just kept oozing abscess. But another surgery cannot happen yet, because I was getting my first jab of vaccines—AstraZeneca for me, and it gave me serious symptoms. I ran a fever for two days and my arm muscle hurt for a few days. But it’s one step towards being better equipped to fight off the coronavirus, so I’m glad.
June
June comes with a little surprise as my dear friend Uli asked me to go wedding dress hunting with her on such short notice. It was the first time we got to hang out in years and I’m so very glad for the opportunity. So happy to hear about the trajectory her relationship with her partner is taking too—I’ve watched it grow since the beginning with its trials and tribulations. Cannot be more elated!
Lockdown was underway again towards the end of the month, with the rising number of Covid cases—thanks to Delta—and it was scarier than ever. Before we do, though, Agung and I managed to sneak a little trip to Museum di Tengah Kebun—and made everyone believe that it was a house we newly bought (lol).
Afterwards, I created so many contents from home, as I tried to distract myself from the terrifying reality. Some of the most memorable include The Midyear TBR—which is more as a reminder to myself—and 3 Ways Zero-Waste Menstrual Products—which I’ve been meaning to make for quite some time.
July
July seemed to fly by just like that, since it was spent entirely at home. That doesn’t stop us from sharing our time together, though, especially at work. We had to say goodbye to two members of our team, but the lockdown didn’t stop us from having a fun, heartfelt farewell together.
Personally, I have had plenty of time to evaluate my life and thoughts. It started out with this recipe as my effort to eat locally more often. I bought and tried this Mindful Journal by Sadhu, but gave up halfway through—turns out mindfulness wasn’t my problem. It also led me to re-think my definitions of friendship, which I shared here on the blog. Let’s just say it’s changed a lot from the past few years.
Otherwise, I’ve been on such a drawing streak. I made a series of three illustrations on my Instagram—animated and everything! They represent the three forms of love—romantic, family and friendship. On top of that, I was also fortunate enough to be commissioned for a wedding portrait.
August
With August, the condition of the nation was getting better, but I was still working from home. It allowed me to discover podcasts—which accompanied my weekdays. I find it so much easier to focus with them on, when I’m designing. It also gave me plenty of time to read and watch films, so I shared some of my favourites from my home continent Asia.
As soon as lockdown started to loosen, Agung and I made plans to meet up again. Unfortunately, it was also the month he was leaving the office where we first met. We made some visits a few last times while taking photos for my annual Independence Day outfit post. It was a sentimental time for both us—we literally cried in each other’s arms in our old office.
The month closed with two exciting things: my second dose of vaccines and a little reunion with my old interns—Fadil and Rani. We caught up on life and where we’ve all been working since the last time we saw each other. It was so full of surprises and really a lot of fun. One of them will end up working together with me at my current office—guess which one!
September
September is kind of divided into two parts: the calm and the storm. The calm happened started with a long-awaited and unexpected reunion with Galuh—you remember her, she’s my ex Firu’s sister. She’s finally back in town after several years of being stuck in Germany. It was our first time seeing each other since the breakup and we had one of our most hearfelt talks.
It continued on with Agung’s birthday—which we spent at his house for the weekend. We even rode bike one morning—a first for me since ages and it was truly terrifying. The next weekend Agung and I also made the time to visit M Bloc Market, which is this quirky, local curated store that has a packaging-free section in it.
Then comes the storm, which is marked mainly by one thing—the second surgery. Yes, now that my vaccination is complete, I was able to get on with my treatment. The surgery seemed to go smoothly at first, but my family and I quickly freaked out when the stitch was undone—only to learn that it was completely natural. Post-surgery, it wasn’t util another 2-3 weeks until I was ready to leave the house again.
October
Woohoo! Birthday month is here and I’m definitely going to milk the hell out of it! Not wasting any time, I updated my 30 Before 30 List at the start of the month. Let’s just say most of it is no longer relevant to my life right now. Meanwhile, I was working on perfecting my thesis project book to prepare it for the market. —Take It Slow was launched on my birthday! It was such a passion project and a lot of people seemed to be really excited about it. I couldn’t wait for people to get their hands on it!
Another great occasion in October is, obviously, Halloween—and I never miss out on the opportunity to dress up. This year, as usual, I decided on a last-minute costume and dressed up as a Queen of Heart(break). Honestly, I’m very proud of this costume in the end—partly because I’m re-wearing this red shirt on three big occasions this year already.
The month wrapped up nicely and rather quietly. I took a solo exploring trip to Bookhive and Agung came to join me. Later on, we were just hanging out at a coffeeshop when a complete stranger asked to take our photo and promised to send it afterwards. She said she liked our outfits and chemistry. It was completely unreal!
November
November was such a busy, busy, busy moth for me and Agung—mostly Agung, to be honest. On top of tht, the weather had started to grow really crappy on the weekends—so we hadn’t much chance to see each other, much less take photos for the blog.
In the meantime, I had been developing new habits and obsessions. For starters, I started walking to and from work everyday. Although it was tough at first, I wanted to force myself to stick to this habit consistently. It has helped me lose weight and shed some of my superfluous appetite, too, so I’m glad. It was also the month Taylor Swift released her re-recorded album, so that has been stuck in my mind for a while.
That being said, I’ve still got some contents to share. Firstly, my good friend Vina was kind enough to have me over on her Instagram to talk about my book. She was very supportive of the project from the start, giving me advice and allowing discussions every step of the way. Agung and I also managed to sneak a little date night together as we visited Kemang 12730 towards the end of the month.
December
December was such a blast—both in a good and bad way. It kept me busy, busy, busy—garnered me two weeks of overtime, which was insane! But it opened with a pretty exciting event—which we worked all year to work out the concepts and visuals—Citra Pariwara 34: Embrace (in)Sanity. Yep, I came up with that line! Towards the middle of the month, we also celebrated the company’s rebranding and relaunching, which was such a crazy night.
Personally, Agung and I had a little celebration of our own too—our second anniversary! We celebrated it with our first exhibitions in 2 years, Jakarta Biennale and We Refuse to Grow Up—the latter’s post coming up in January. It was also the month we saw Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash in theatres—we loved it!
Last but not least, the month wrapped up with the delivery of Take It Slow book—which I promptly packed and shipped to all the buyers. Thank you so much for everyone who bought the book! It has been really exciting to work on it and now you get to enjoy the results. It also gave me a chance to meet up with some of my dear ex-interns and friends after so long. What a great end to the year, no?
That’s a Wrap!
If 2020 was the curve ball that the universe threw at us, 2021 was a time to balance out our old normal with the new information. For a lot of people, 2021 sucked still. Personally, it has presented me with so many challenges. But—just like how it is globally—it has been a huge wake up call for me. It forced me to realise that I’m not indestructible, in more ways than one. It has also been the year of exponential growth for me, which will hopefully only lead to good things.
There were so many things in 2021 that happened to me—things that touched me and things that changed me. Albeit not being well documented, it doesn’t mean that they don’t matter as much. In fact, probably, quite the opposite. And with that, let’s review my resolution for 2021:
1. Be truly, unapologetically happy ✓
A resounding yes. This year was the year I finally let go of old beliefs that no longer fit into my life. It was the year I finally decided to stop pleasing everyone. Yes, that may mean that I have less friends and less people who like me. But I’d rather be alone than having to fit into someone’s expectations of me. It was also the year I learn to cut off those that aren’t doing me any good—both people and things.
For 2022, I only have one wish:
- Always remember who you want to be
Slowly but surely, we are moving towards a better future—one where people are more aware of the impact they have on the world. Let’s welcome 2022 with a bang!
If I thought 2020 threw me a curve ball, well, it doesn’t even hold a candle to 2021. This year marked the beginning of so many things, an unexpected turn of events—unlike any I’ve ever experienced before—and major growth. It feels very different from my life thus far, almost like this life doesn’t belong to me. But, I guess, after years of catching up with my peers and feeling like a total failure, even being on the rise can feel very strange.
It was a year of hellos, goodbyes and hello agains. Some things ended this year for good, some got rekindled better than ever and others kickstarted for the first time. It was a year of trials and tribulations for some of my loved ones too, although it was filled with stars for me. But stars can be blinding and lead us down a path we’re not sure to take, so I’m being wary of that right now.
That being said, some things never change and will hopefully always remain—I am grateful for these all the time.
January
January started out very, very hectically. Work, especially for Hatching Academy, completely drowned me. Early on I was caught in the preparation for Bootcamp 2021. I had to create their main key visual, social media contents, newsletter contents and printed collaterals. Aside from that, the event took me to Bogor for 4 days where I was tasked with serving daily newsletters to the participants of the event—and away from my love for a while. Later on in the month, I was also involved in their official launch and wrote a press release for it. So yeah, completely wiped.
Towards the end of the month, however, there was a cause for celebration in my personal life. Remember my partner-in-crime from my previous office? Well, he finally resigned! It’s something that we’ve both wanted for a while, so I’m glad to know he managed to do it after I left. We celebrated his last day with the rest of the team and it was so much fun to catch up. Now he’s advancing onto higher grounds to propel his career forward. Couldn’t be more proud!
Blog-wise, I didn’t manage to post much, ending up only with this post that really encompasses my hectic life at the time. Whew, what a month!
February
After months of not exploring new places to eat, this month Agung and I managed to do so twice. We tried visiting Rumah Sagaleh at the beginning of the month—which ended up becoming one of our go-to places to eat. We love their coffee so much! Towards the middle of the month, we celebrated our monthversary exploring the Bekasi area, where we visited Kyo Coffee. It’s such a cozy place! Can’t believe such a place exists not too far away from Agung’s house.
Meanwhile, on the blog, only two other things happened. I recently got a box full of old clothes from my late Grandma—which was like digging through a treasure trove. I kept a lot of new pieces that I still adore even today. I also smashed stereotypes and taboos by sharing about 3 zero-waste deodorant options and how I felt about them—while showing my pit hair in the process. My sister was not happy.
February ended with yet another celebration: Ou Creative is officially launched! It’s my main office—with my side office being that of Hatching Academy—and I’m so happy to be part of the festivities. There’s something special about being part of an endeavour that is growing along with you, don’t you think?
March
March is a cursed month for me: day one started with me having a fever and pain in my butt—the fever went away the next day, but the pain only got worse. If you must know, that pain turned out to be an abscess in my right butt that may have accumulated due to my horrible diet. It has prevented me from having a good night’s sleep, sitting up, lying down, standing and walking—so, really, existing in general. It was two excruciating weeks before the thing pretty much exploded and I got it cleaned out in a surgery—the third one of my entire life, if you’re keeping count.
Needless to say, this condition prevented me to go to the office and caused me to stay at home for almost an entire month. In fact, there were days I couldn’t work at all, due to the fever and pain. However, it has also introduced me to my now-all-time favourite film, A Brighter Summer Day. It was such a gripping 4 hours!
Despite the terrible month, it ended on a high note: MY GRADUATION!! After 10 years pursuing a Bachelor’s degree, I finally got it now. It was an online graduation, but I definitely much preferred it to an offline one. All I really wanted was the degree after all.
April
April started with exploring new places to eat, which somehow starts with hot dogs. We tried Lawless Dogbar and Snag & Shakes—they’re both great but with very different vibes. Somehow, this led to me practically being the poster girl for Lawless—they used my photo twice on their Instagram (lol). I’m still waiting for my free hot dog, if I’m being honest.
Before long, it was suddenly approaching Ramadhan. Obviously, my siblings and I visited Mom’s grave in preparation for the holy month. Towards the middle of the month, there was also an office iftar party—which was my first with this office. It was really so bittersweet, because a lot of people have left since then. This month also marked the second to last Online Classes I’ve ever operated on, as I will stop working for Hatching Academy in the coming months.
The month closed with a significant moment: I finally bought new glasses! After 7 years of wearing the same glasses, I finally got a new pair—covered by my office’s insurance too. It feels really great!
May
May was filled with some wonderful events that Agung and I visited. It started out with an exhibition/installation by Sejauh Mata Memandang. It’s got a section where you can donate old clothes and domestic waste—we even went there twice for this very purpose. Next, Semasa also went back offline and was held at Commune RDTX Place. Little did we know, here Agung got to meet one of my colleagues after only hearing about each other for so long.
Towards Eid al-Fitr, I started to get busy in the kitchen as I prepared handmade hampers for some of my friends. It was my first time and absolutely satisfying to do! Hope to do it again next year. This year I also celebrated the holiday with two families—first with my biological family, then with Agung’s family which feels already like my second familiy.
The month wrapped up with a bittersweet situation. My previous surgery didn’t really work—the wound just kept oozing abscess. But another surgery cannot happen yet, because I was getting my first jab of vaccines—AstraZeneca for me, and it gave me serious symptoms. I ran a fever for two days and my arm muscle hurt for a few days. But it’s one step towards being better equipped to fight off the coronavirus, so I’m glad.
June
June comes with a little surprise as my dear friend Uli asked me to go wedding dress hunting with her on such short notice. It was the first time we got to hang out in years and I’m so very glad for the opportunity. So happy to hear about the trajectory her relationship with her partner is taking too—I’ve watched it grow since the beginning with its trials and tribulations. Cannot be more elated!
Lockdown was underway again towards the end of the month, with the rising number of Covid cases—thanks to Delta—and it was scarier than ever. Before we do, though, Agung and I managed to sneak a little trip to Museum di Tengah Kebun—and made everyone believe that it was a house we newly bought (lol).
Afterwards, I created so many contents from home, as I tried to distract myself from the terrifying reality. Some of the most memorable include The Midyear TBR—which is more as a reminder to myself—and 3 Ways Zero-Waste Menstrual Products—which I’ve been meaning to make for quite some time.
July
July seemed to fly by just like that, since it was spent entirely at home. That doesn’t stop us from sharing our time together, though, especially at work. We had to say goodbye to two members of our team, but the lockdown didn’t stop us from having a fun, heartfelt farewell together.
Personally, I have had plenty of time to evaluate my life and thoughts. It started out with this recipe as my effort to eat locally more often. I bought and tried this Mindful Journal by Sadhu, but gave up halfway through—turns out mindfulness wasn’t my problem. It also led me to re-think my definitions of friendship, which I shared here on the blog. Let’s just say it’s changed a lot from the past few years.
Otherwise, I’ve been on such a drawing streak. I made a series of three illustrations on my Instagram—animated and everything! They represent the three forms of love—romantic, family and friendship. On top of that, I was also fortunate enough to be commissioned for a wedding portrait.
August
With August, the condition of the nation was getting better, but I was still working from home. It allowed me to discover podcasts—which accompanied my weekdays. I find it so much easier to focus with them on, when I’m designing. It also gave me plenty of time to read and watch films, so I shared some of my favourites from my home continent Asia.
As soon as lockdown started to loosen, Agung and I made plans to meet up again. Unfortunately, it was also the month he was leaving the office where we first met. We made some visits a few last times while taking photos for my annual Independence Day outfit post. It was a sentimental time for both us—we literally cried in each other’s arms in our old office.
The month closed with two exciting things: my second dose of vaccines and a little reunion with my old interns—Fadil and Rani. We caught up on life and where we’ve all been working since the last time we saw each other. It was so full of surprises and really a lot of fun. One of them will end up working together with me at my current office—guess which one!
September
September is kind of divided into two parts: the calm and the storm. The calm happened started with a long-awaited and unexpected reunion with Galuh—you remember her, she’s my ex Firu’s sister. She’s finally back in town after several years of being stuck in Germany. It was our first time seeing each other since the breakup and we had one of our most hearfelt talks.
It continued on with Agung’s birthday—which we spent at his house for the weekend. We even rode bike one morning—a first for me since ages and it was truly terrifying. The next weekend Agung and I also made the time to visit M Bloc Market, which is this quirky, local curated store that has a packaging-free section in it.
Then comes the storm, which is marked mainly by one thing—the second surgery. Yes, now that my vaccination is complete, I was able to get on with my treatment. The surgery seemed to go smoothly at first, but my family and I quickly freaked out when the stitch was undone—only to learn that it was completely natural. Post-surgery, it wasn’t util another 2-3 weeks until I was ready to leave the house again.
October
Woohoo! Birthday month is here and I’m definitely going to milk the hell out of it! Not wasting any time, I updated my 30 Before 30 List at the start of the month. Let’s just say most of it is no longer relevant to my life right now. Meanwhile, I was working on perfecting my thesis project book to prepare it for the market. —Take It Slow was launched on my birthday! It was such a passion project and a lot of people seemed to be really excited about it. I couldn’t wait for people to get their hands on it!
Another great occasion in October is, obviously, Halloween—and I never miss out on the opportunity to dress up. This year, as usual, I decided on a last-minute costume and dressed up as a Queen of Heart(break). Honestly, I’m very proud of this costume in the end—partly because I’m re-wearing this red shirt on three big occasions this year already.
The month wrapped up nicely and rather quietly. I took a solo exploring trip to Bookhive and Agung came to join me. Later on, we were just hanging out at a coffeeshop when a complete stranger asked to take our photo and promised to send it afterwards. She said she liked our outfits and chemistry. It was completely unreal!
November
November was such a busy, busy, busy moth for me and Agung—mostly Agung, to be honest. On top of tht, the weather had started to grow really crappy on the weekends—so we hadn’t much chance to see each other, much less take photos for the blog.
In the meantime, I had been developing new habits and obsessions. For starters, I started walking to and from work everyday. Although it was tough at first, I wanted to force myself to stick to this habit consistently. It has helped me lose weight and shed some of my superfluous appetite, too, so I’m glad. It was also the month Taylor Swift released her re-recorded album, so that has been stuck in my mind for a while.
That being said, I’ve still got some contents to share. Firstly, my good friend Vina was kind enough to have me over on her Instagram to talk about my book. She was very supportive of the project from the start, giving me advice and allowing discussions every step of the way. Agung and I also managed to sneak a little date night together as we visited Kemang 12730 towards the end of the month.
December
December was such a blast—both in a good and bad way. It kept me busy, busy, busy—garnered me two weeks of overtime, which was insane! But it opened with a pretty exciting event—which we worked all year to work out the concepts and visuals—Citra Pariwara 34: Embrace (in)Sanity. Yep, I came up with that line! Towards the middle of the month, we also celebrated the company’s rebranding and relaunching, which was such a crazy night.
Personally, Agung and I had a little celebration of our own too—our second anniversary! We celebrated it with our first exhibitions in 2 years, Jakarta Biennale and We Refuse to Grow Up—the latter’s post coming up in January. It was also the month we saw Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash in theatres—we loved it!
Last but not least, the month wrapped up with the delivery of Take It Slow book—which I promptly packed and shipped to all the buyers. Thank you so much for everyone who bought the book! It has been really exciting to work on it and now you get to enjoy the results. It also gave me a chance to meet up with some of my dear ex-interns and friends after so long. What a great end to the year, no?
That’s a Wrap!
If 2020 was the curve ball that the universe threw at us, 2021 was a time to balance out our old normal with the new information. For a lot of people, 2021 sucked still. Personally, it has presented me with so many challenges. But—just like how it is globally—it has been a huge wake up call for me. It forced me to realise that I’m not indestructible, in more ways than one. It has also been the year of exponential growth for me, which will hopefully only lead to good things.
There were so many things in 2021 that happened to me—things that touched me and things that changed me. Albeit not being well documented, it doesn’t mean that they don’t matter as much. In fact, probably, quite the opposite. And with that, let’s review my resolution for 2021:
1. Be truly, unapologetically happy ✓
A resounding yes. This year was the year I finally let go of old beliefs that no longer fit into my life. It was the year I finally decided to stop pleasing everyone. Yes, that may mean that I have less friends and less people who like me. But I’d rather be alone than having to fit into someone’s expectations of me. It was also the year I learn to cut off those that aren’t doing me any good—both people and things.
For 2022, I only have one wish:
- Always remember who you want to be
Slowly but surely, we are moving towards a better future—one where people are more aware of the impact they have on the world. Let’s welcome 2022 with a bang!