Hello to my new iPhone 16 Pro. Whee!!! I ordered it on 9 October night when it got restocked and collected it on 10 October. Then I got my new phone case and screen protector from Casetify today. I’m so excited because it is my first time splurging on Casetify. Their cases are like so expensive. Then I got the original Hello Kitty ones. Hehe! First time getting the original Sanrio Hello Kitty phone case. I’m like over 30 years old and is only willing to splurge so much on my favourite Hello Kitty phone case now. 😀

The Casetify screen protector is also very expensive. I wanted to get my screen protector from my usual shop but the shop at Cathay Cineleisure has closed down. 🙁 I don’t have time to go Sim Lim Square and Casetify today and no time to get them tomorrow so I just get the screen protector from Casetify as well. Wanted to get their Ultra HD but it is over S$80 and I really cannot bring myself to spend so much for a screen protector. In the end, I went for their Anti Blue Light range. Well, my spectacles is already anti blue light so it is a bit funny to use anti blue light screen protector. But for the same price, I didn’t want to get the normal clear screen protector and I don’t like that my screen will look darker with privacy screen protector, so I compromised and got the anti blue light one. Oh well. I shall tell myself not to change the screen protector and protect the phone from dropping so that I don’t damage the screen protector.

The total damage of the phone case and screen protector? S$163. Ouch, my wallet is hurting. My heart is aching a little too. Not to forget that my phone is like S$2049 since I upgraded to 512GB.

It felt like a huge jump from my iPhone 13 Pro and I was trying to get used to it. Definitely loving the camera side button for sure. I have to say that button is really what attracted me to change my phone. I like that it is lighter than my iPhone 13 Pro too. By like 5 grams hahaha.

I was sharing with my therapist about it and how I momentarily felt guilty for spending so much money. Lasted for 2 secs to be honest haha. Then she taught me a way to logically and rationally make sense of it. I need to practise the mindfulness. I need to recognise that some type of expenses is necessary and I need to make sure that I am in a good position to spend and not feel guilty about it.

On a side note, I don’t think I will want to change phone again until I am forced to – like when there are no more OS upgrades. Moving my data and re-login to a new phone is very troublesome. It’s even worse when you have more data too. May my phone last for a long, long time!

I passed my CISSP exam today. I remembered how I struggled during the exam. It’s Computerized Adaptive Testing so that means that as you answer questions correctly, you will get tougher questions. Then when you answer them wrongly, you will get easier questions. That also means that you cannot go back to the previous question to change your answer. So it’s like a psychological gameplay. As you struggled more in the questions, it means you are on the right track to passing. But the moment you get a straightforward question, it means you answered the previous question wrongly. 🙁 So yes, it’s extremely stressful and I’m close to breaking down from the stress during the exam.

You are given 3 hrs to complete a minimum of 100 questions. After the 100th question, all the subsequent questions will be used for grading you. Before you hit 100 questions, you might get some “testing/sampling” questions which doesn’t affect your grade but is there to test the standard of the paper. So you can imagine every time I hit “Next” button and I see a new question. That means I am not near to passing and have to keep doing the questions until the maximum of 150 questions before I know if I pass or fail the exam. So guess what. I got the full set of 150 questions. That’s like 50 times of anxiety every time I clicked “Next” button. I took toilet and water break at the 110th question mark just to reset my emotions a bit.

I have to admit that this exam is much more stressful than my GCFA exam. This exam is supposed to be the last exam that I will take for this year but plans may be changed. I will see what my team is planning and may join them in another exam prep journey. Well, life of a cybersecurity professional is all about continuous learning and certification.

Now I have passed the exam and submitted the endorsement application. I’m just waiting for the certification to arrive and I heard it will take about 2 months. Oh my, what a long wait. I guess I will wait before I post on LinkedIn. I might change my mind on that though.

I wanted to reward myself after the exam and I went window shopping at Orchard. Well, my exam was at Orchard area anyway. I got myself a huge cup of wildflower honey oolong tea latte with osmanthus jelly but didn’t get any gifts for myself. Well, I’m controlling well and spending wisely for sure haha. Actually, it’s more like I overspend last month and didn’t dare to spend too much this month, especially with more future spending that is expecting from September onwards. 😐 I definitely need to hustle more at work to get my promotion in the next cycle.

I bought my first ever instant camera in my life. Well, I wanted to get a new instant photo printer and was thinking of getting Instax Mini Link 2 or Mini Evo. Then I discovered Leica Sofort 2 which is a hybrid (camera and printer). It looks really pretty and the photo quality is better than Mini Evo so I went for it. 🙂

Okay lah, I admit the beauty of Leica Sofort 2 and USB C support is what push me for Leica instead. Hahaha.

Quite happy to get a new toy to play with and can’t wait for more Instax films to arrive as I am finishing my first pack of films from Leica. Leica films are really expensive so I am going for cheaper alternatives from Fujifilm Instax series haha.

This is also my first Leica camera. I have a Panasonic compact camera that is using Leica lenses but it is not Leica camera. Well, now I technically have a Leica camera haha.

I have always wanted to take a SANS course since my first job. However, it’s really expensive (I think 10k USD) for both the exam and the course. I wasn’t able to get my previous companies to support me in it until my current company. I’m very fortunate that my current company is sponsoring my course and exam this time round.

I took my first ever SANS course back in March 2023 and is pleased to announce that I passed the GCFA (GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst) exam today.

I’m also honoured to receive 2 SANS coins during the SANS course/event too.

This was a very difficult exam as I know several folks who failed on their first attempt. I worked extremely hard for it and very lucky to pass on my first try. My prep journey was tough and I have 5 revisions of my indexing for the materials. Open book exams are always very difficult. 🙁

As I am not a Windows user for many years, I had to take extra time and effort to get used to the Windows terms for the course. I basically started studying since the end of the course and went full steam in the last few weeks before the exam. Took some days off from work to study as well.

This certification also marks the first certification that I hope to attain in 2023. *Cough cough CISSP*

Onwards to the next one!