1. What went well this year?
2. What didn't go so well this year?
3. What am I working towards?
1. What Went Well This Year?
Work Experience. Had the opportunity to work for a short stint in Philippines for a project. Well, perhaps the overall experience wasn't that ideal, given how the perception towards getting things done is a little different there. It is way more lax than in SG and this is something I have started learning, and hopefully will not get addicted to this feel!
With this, I grew my skillsets, and seriously, this is getting more fun. There is a drive to learn more and increase my knowledge.
In the grand scheme of things, with regards to the question of our existence on earth, I guess there is just an innate curiosity since young to understand things and for that reason I studied engineering in university. Give us any issue, and we will figure a way to solve it and make it work, and understand what is happening. Something I learnt discovered more about myself this year, which will add to my identity and help me navigate through the working world in the years to come.
Books. Read almost the same amount of books as last year, and this is an area that still excites me. There are way too many books that have broaden my understanding of this world. Since I have recently read through some books on N.Korea, I guess I would conclude that it is one of those books that really impacted me this year. The country used to be something of an enigma, yes, we hear of it being a totalitarian state and joke about the ridiculous advertisements the internal media releases to enhance the supreme leader's position in the eyes of the citizens.
Yet, as I read through the real stories, there was indeed a heavy heart whereby the people suffered so much and yet the state literally ignored them and continued to feed them lies while they still led lavish lives. It is simply EVIL. There was wide spread hunger in the 1990s after their communist allies (Russia and China) decided to open up their economies and move towards a more capitalistic system. As a result, they did not want to supply goods at a lost to N.Korea, and this resulted in a lack of food. What did the regime come up with to solve this issue? They simply came up with a campaign to get the people to eat meals twice a day instead of thrice, and even stating that their 'God' is with them in this aspect. WOW, and just for the record, during that period, food was still almost entirely cut off and people had to resort to eating grass and rats, etc. Hopefully, in this lifetime, we might see a revolution so that the oppressed and defenceless can move on to have better lives. There is an argument that the current young generation grew up in the period where they saw their parents suffered, hence any of their memories are all of dark times. Also, there is increasingly more external media that is passed into the country due to the 'Dark Market' system that the citizens had to come up with as the regime failed to provide for their basic needs. With their knowledge of the real world, there could be more dissent and there might just be a change. We await eagerly with anticipation.
Another quick shoutout to 'Talking to Strangers' by Malcom Gladwell. It argues that we as humans tend to default to truth, which means we believe at face value what the other party states, as well as always failing to see the context of why the words were spoken at that time.
Last shoutout is for 'Everything is F*cked'. The author argues that for the longest time in history, Religion reigned supreme because there simply was no alternatives. In the late 1900s, Science started to gain traction, and we could explain with certainty why things worked the way they worked. And with that, there is a shift in how more and more people are moving away from religion at this current age. Not saying which is right or wrong, just an interesting observation on the trend of human beings over the years.
Tea. This year was the year I officially started buying tea leaves and preparing them on my own. The catalyst for this was when I saw the locals in China preparing tea this way, instead of using powder, which we are more used to in SG. My current favourite is the Feng Huang Dan Cong series, in particular Ba Xian. This tea has a smooth and nice floral fragrance balance with a subtle malty taste. It is an uplifting tea, so much so that I make it a point to end the day with tea. Of course, with this there is also a series of arguments on why tea is good for health. I have made it a point to visit tea mountains, in particular Wuyi Mountain (Famous for Da Hong Pao, Rou Gui) and Phoenix Mountain (Famous for Feng Huang Dan Cong). Both are in Guangdong Region, which is also known as 'Nan Fang' (Southern area), where most of our ancestors in South East Asia came from. I guess we are slowly returning to our roots?
The only bad side to this is that in the pursuit of this new hobby, I have spent quite frivolously to experience new tastes. Hopefully, it will die down over the years, as I learn to settle on a few select tea that makes me happy.
Finance. As I step into the new year, one exciting thing to share is that I have managed to half the amount for fixed costs for HP & Internet bills. Thanks to the price war by the various incumbents in the Telco scene, we consumers have benefited. I am on the ZeroOne mobile plan and pay $8 per month for 3GB of 4G speed data, and the remaining at 128kbps. This means that there is NEVER a time where I will 'overshoot' on my data usage, with the only downside being that the 128kbps speed is decent enough for the user to receive SMS, Email, etc. But at times, it will be a struggle to reply. It is ok, since my last usage is also around 3GB per month. I make it a point to discipline myself not to be addicted to data usage and cut down on social media. So without the data, I typically use my phone to read ebooks and lookup simple stuff on the internet. The icing on the cake is that this line can be used both in Msia and SG, which means I do not need to pay extra when I cross over to JB! Even more savings and convenience :)
I have also hit my portfolio goals I set out this year. The market has been good to us so far, as there is a short run up in portfolio value to wards the end of the year. But the flip side is that opportunities to add will be rare. I look forward to deploying more in funds in uncertain times.
2. What Didn't Go Well This Year?
People. Well, this is more of coming across people at workplace, with attitudes I detest. I guess I will be meeting more of such people in the coming years. Must learn to detect such bullshit people, who only care about playing politics. I know I will not be affected by such people, given how I will fight back. But still, they are 'eating' and 'exploiting' people who do not dare to voice out and claim all the credit themselves. I want less of such people in my life.
On a side note, had an interview recently on an opportunity. I am not desperate to leave, just that my CV was passed to the person who was looking to add people with experience in their project. Towards the end, the interviewer asked if I had any question to ask. I did not state much. I am not sure if this will affect my chances, given how I am not the kind who likes to exaggerate things. I like to think of myself as a stable contributor, someone whom you will only know well once you work with me. I do not train myself to come up with ways to impress the boss right from the start. So such people, usually tend to not get noticed, as those with bigger mouths will shout right from the start. The only bright side which will give me a chance is that a feedback from the person whom my CV was passed to was that he liked my character. It is a shock to me too, as I only worked very briefly with him (probably about 1-2 months), and given he was always busy with other things, our interaction was minimal. I was a junior then and someone of no importance, yet he could remember me.
I guess the phrase goes 好人有好抱 is true if this chance comes through even though I was unsure of how I fared in the interview.
3. What Am I Working Towards?
Work experience. Again, another overseas stint. And if I were to continue staying in the current company, I might start to move company to fight for a higher pay after one more project to solidify my knowledge.
New Trips. Will make it a point to travel next year, though still havent think of any. The best would be the opportunity to travel because of a work trip. I guess I tired out towards the end of this year and would want a quiet end to the year. While people would be busy going for trips this period, I am happy to stay in SG to sit back and relax. Work trips this year contributed to the fatigue, especially when I had to sit on airplanes that were not SQ. They are generally more uncomfortable.
There is a high chance Ipoh and KL would be on the list next year. Ipoh for their mountains and KL has a particular tea shop that I bought online from. When you have tasted fine tea, it is hard to go back to below average stuff. Haha
Portfolio Goals. This will forever be the main topic of my postings on the blog. I have set new goals, and basically shifted the goal upwards for next year. This means that amount will be a challenge, and if things are not working out for the first half of the year, I will be more aggressive to hit my goals in the second half. End next year with dividends of $500/month.
Hope readers would have a great end to the year, and also that you have hit your intended goals this year!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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