Ushering into 2007

Did a quick check on what I had written for the past few years. It's quite nostalgic to find that huge changes had taken place in my life although it hasn't been that long ago. I am also surprised to see that I was highly optimistic for the year 2006 which started with a bang.

Some of the highlights of 2006:-

It was a year which I switched two jobs.

loonatik was temporarily shutdown, moved to another location and resurrected after 4 months.

Got a job, in a relatively small company, which entailed me to work in Beijing. Life was merry, and the camaraderie between colleagues are more akin to a small family.

Had my first outstation trip with colleagues, one activity which I wasn't able to do before. Somehow, didn't quite connect with other colleagues in the previous company.

Got conned in Beijing for buying a fake thumbdrive and the traffic system nearly got me killed. One still need to look around 360 degrees before and whilst crossing eventhough the traffic light is showing green for pedestrian crossing.

Had a pretty fun tour around Beijing, from the famous and hip places like Wang Fu Jing and the popular Roast Duck Restaurant, "Quan Qu De", to the historical sites - the Summer Palace, Great Wall of China and not forgetting to place of work - the swanky LG Twin Towers and many other fancy restaurants and small place of interest.

Consultancy. My supposedly career aspiration. I got it but I fear and hated it. I was mentally disturbed with work and the direction ahead kept bothering me. The first assignment had led me into a management consultancy project. It was indeed a culture shock, empowering as it sounds, but bossing around, hassling, being a pain in the arse, harassing, stabbing and seeing killings in meetings certainly wasn't my cup of tea. I then took a 22% paycut to switch to another role of which I later learnt more about other better alternatives which weren't allowed to me. You either need luck or politics. I don't think I can regret my decision. I made it based on the circumstances then. The gain that I eventually realised was, decidedly a spike in happiness. It is all that matters.

One cannot predict the twist and turns of life. Pretty much summed up the year that was for me.

Milestone

Early October 2006, would be a milestone in my life. It was when I made my first huge commitment which I made the decision to purchase my first apartment. I am therefore now saddled with a 6 figure sum of loan.

Life has been a rollercoaster of late. Hopes and despairs took turn to cloud the mind. Strings were pulled at the top, promises were told and then took back, flimsy excuses were brought to justify the situation, and finally the bottom line emerges from the surface after a dilly dally of two months. It was one which came with conditions, and explicitly detailed and explained to me. At that point of time, I was too unhappy, depressed and the situation was debilitating me for each and every passing day. So I had triggered my 'joker' card unknowingly. That being said, I knew it was a make or break point which I still pursued on because then, I was prepared and ready to become just a statistic in their turnover rate.

One of the conditions involves a paycut. The second condition would be to accept a less lucrative career path. And the third, well, let's say sacrifices need to be made.