The year that was!

Gosh! It’s that time of year again. How time flies when you are keeping busy, fighting fires and having fun. And all you want to say is, “HALT! I am NOT DONE with 2005 yet!” But “they” never listen, do “they”?

Before I start sounding like a kook, here’s a countdown of the year that was for me! The good, the bad, the ugly and the freaky!

January – The Good
The final taught module (Statistics) for the part time MBA programme ended. It marked the end of three long years of attending part time three-hour a week classes per module. A taxing time it was trying to keep up with classes and group projects while juggling a heavy workload. Hooray for that!

But I dreadfully miss the camaraderie and friendships made during those three years. It is never the same again after the classes ended. We all moved on with our lives.

February – The Bad
Almost threw in the towel at work. I was hanging on by a thread; overwhelmed with new responsibilities. I had problems with the boss, got almost buried by office politics, and had to deal with a blardy new global MI system that screwed up our database and the demarcation of our businesses and plagued us with endless moving targets for the first few months of the year. Anything and everything that could go wrong went wrong!

March – Beginnings of The Good
Start of my journey in managing change of self and change at the workplace. Major reflections on what I want, what I could change and what I could accept; also gave myself until mid-year to resolve the issues at work. If I could not manage a turnaround on all my problems, it was time to move on.

Also collected the keys to my new condo!

April – The Good mostly : )
April marked the beginning of some heavy travelling for the year. I attended my second regional meeting in Macau (representing the passenger car oil business) on my own without my boss breathing down my neck. It was also the first time I felt I could spread my wings and that I have gained a modicum of trust from my superior since I was given these new responsibilities at the end of last year.

Extended my stay over the weekend in Hong Kong and met up with two old buddies from school days. It was an enlightening visit. I discovered that Hong Kong is more than just a shopping and eating paradise. Hong Kong also caters to a few good walking and trekking trails. We ventured out to the outlaying islands for a very different experience of Hong Kong. I had a good chat with that old buddy regarding dealing with difficult bosses and office politics. The conversation proved to be a turning point in my life and I am forever grateful we had that chat.

Also started looking for quotations to renovate my condo. Discovered a can of worms regarding the quality of work of the condo developer!

Finally collected my long overdue new company car! Good things come to those who wait. Yabadabadoo!!!

May – The Good and The Freaky
Reaped the profits of previous year’s labour as I was part of the team that met the target. Italy ~ there we went and thus we conquered! Hooray! It was my first experience following a tour group of 40 people. At times, it was nerve-wrecking and a pain in the “you-know-where”. Rushing here and rushing there. It was an interesting experience but that would be my limit. Tours equal company trips and that’s that.

Extended another week and met some friends at a neighbouring country, Slovenia. We backpacked and drove from the Mediterranean coast at the south of Slovenia to the Alps at the north. It was a most memorable trip, with me almost getting robbed at the Milan train station and a close encounter with “death” on my solo river kayaking adventure. I am very glad I live to tell the tale.

Also had an image changing moment. Changed my hair colour but instead of turning to a warm brown effect, I ended up with copper brown coloured hair. It was an experiment gone “bad” and my sales team who was travelling with me then had a jaw dropping moment! I managed to live with that for a month before I coloured it back to black.

June – The Bad mostly
Back to the grindstone. Pressures on sales and gross margins continued, with escalating raw material and crude oil costs driving the business targets off track. Malaysia business was under greater pressure (and so was I) as we have been delivering the numbers and were asked to deliver more by the region to help cover a few countries that under deliver.

We kicked start our roadshows this month, beginning with Penang. This is the start of the end of having quiet, weekends at home.

Finally started condo renovations and purchasing stuff for the condo. Money pressures abound. Huge conflicts with my parents over decisions on condo renovations and furniture purchases. Conflicts over time spent at work versus overseeing renovation works.

Paid my final rental and had to shift out of the rented condo! I had to do so as it was getting way too expensive to pay both rental and instalment. Continued being an illegal resident at my sister’s condo and drove her up the wall!

Altogether a very, very trying month.

July – The Bad continued
More travelling ~ JB and Penang once again. The JB event was an exercise in growing up overnight. Read my previous block on this.

Dissertation deadline with nothing to show for it. Requested for a temporary suspension i.e. stop the clock from counting down to the deadline and stop all work on dissertation. That was easy as I had my hands full with work, renovations and shifting in.

Condo renovations continued and finally, after all the rush, all the conflicts of opinions, we moved in at the end of July. A week after moving in, a young girl died in the condo swimming pool.

August – Recovering from The Bad
Malacca, there we went and another weekend was burnt! It was all about work, work and more work!

Reconnected with my seniors from school and started hanging out with them and a few gym “kaki”. The Siau Club was formed from there. Was drawn to rediscover questions on our purpose in life and in this world. Phooeeeyyy … it felt like those soul searching moments that I went through in my youthful tirade.

And finally a deserving week off from all the work stress. Met up with my crazy friends from UM and we explored the wilds of Bario. No phones, no TV, no roads. It was heaven on earth.

September – The Bad once again
Two more weekends burnt at work. At that point, I was craving to just stay home and hibernate. One trip down to Bangkok to discuss the 2006 Plan. Work, work, work. Travel, travel, travel. At that point, it felt like “Life’s a bitch till you die!”

Managed to spend some quality time with mom and sis during the extended weekend in Bangkok, doing what stereotypical female does in Bangkok ~ SHOP!

Discovered blogging and that managed to keep my sanity going.

October – The Bad and The Good
Off to Kuching and KK we went for another two roadshows. Stole a weekend there and went island hopping with an old friend.

Suddenly I remembered that I was supposed to start on my dissertation again! I quickly wrote an email to the University for another Deadline Extension and promptly received a “heart attack” when they told me I had to submit in December. At that point, I have yet to find a supervisor and a topic. Suffice to say it was a hairy moment in my life. I had all but given up on completing the paper. Thank God for Mr Z. For the moment, a temporary reprieve. But honestly, I am still plagued with dissertation blues.

Introduced the Siau gang to trekking and I created monsters instead! But boy, did we have a good time!

November – The Good and The Bad
Spent the long Deepavali and Raya holidays in KL, hoping to get on with my dissertation. It was a slow, long, and agonising process ploughing through the wordy and dry research literatures. It’s slow getting started. Met up with my UNIM mates. Most of them have completed their dissertation and are ready to graduate. I had to sit through some horror stories about my supervisor. Oh woe is moi! : (

Half the time during the long hols, I was distracted by the Siau gang. Going for trekking la, makan la, mamak la, gym la … So much “quality” time together. I missed those days already.

Reality bites once again. Getting the company efficient and effective, right-sizing, whatever … Bottom line, someone got the chop. And the news is my portfolio will be expanded for next year to cover the Singapore business. So off to Singapore we went.

December – The Good hopefully … we shall see
A memorable 1st December with 7 break-ins at my condo. Then there was a car explosion just outside of my condo perimeters. Never a dull moment here it seems.

I had thought November would be the end of all that travelling. But oh no! Off to Singapore once again for a business handover meeting. Then it was to Genting for a final training to end the year.

Another image change over the Xmas Hols. I will never learn will I? But it's just a blardy hairdo. I hope everyone else will get over it so I can get on with my life! :p

Three more days to go and I am still chasing targets here. So near yet so far. Wish me luck!

As to my dissertation, this time I seriously wonder if I could whizz through yet another one. Is there such a thing as too much good luck in studies? I sure hope not. I need every ounce of luck and discipline to see this through.

And there goes 2005. I really do not want it to end just yet!