Summary of 2013

Spent the last two days of 2013 running about government offices to complete my annual chores, stuck in traffic for the past two days...

So, in less than 6 hours, we are going to kiss 2013 bye-bye. I realised I didn't put up my 2013 targets, but I set some at the beginning of this year. Instead of writing it on the blog, I wrote it on my wardrobe mirror.

3 out of 5 was achieved, so I guess my target for 2013 was may be too easy.

I started 2013 by queuing in Maxis Center in KLCC getting myself an iPhone 5, that was 5 Jan 2013.

I traveled to Philippines Mindanao island a couple of times with my ex-colleague to commission the project. I recalled I received the travel to Philippines on a Friday afternoon in early February 203. After the tickets were sorted, I found that my passport was less than 6 months validity and I spent the Saturday queuing in the Home Office to renew my passport. I was the last one getting the passport before they closed for the day.

I managed to see some real pretty nature in Mindanao island, but felt sad that these pretty natures are swallowing by the factories building there. Despite the political situations, I felt extremely peaceful there, no mobile phones, no internet, limited water and electricity, I was showering in ice-cold water from the well. Chickens and dogs running wild, frogs and lizards roaming all over the porch in front of the home stay preying on mosquitoes and insects. Dry bulb temperature 25degC, relative humidity 98%. I was cuddling in a heavy wood couch, with the ceiling fan creaking at no. 1 speed, staring beyond the high concrete perimeter walls, watching the clouds turned red and purple lining with gold, immersing myself in the smell of wet soil, drizzling rain and evening breeze, sucking on the tooth pick, chatting with my ex-colleague and calibrating the instruments. I will always remember that peaceful moment.

Met up with a lot of old friends in February Chinese New Year, one of they gave birth to a handsome baby boy.

I also went back to my secondary school in February, the whole school has turned into HDB building-look-alike. My hiding spot during my school days is still there, the dog's footprint on the cement staircase became blur, but everything will be demolished soon together with the library. People always yearning for larger and newer buildings. I couldn't find those century old books anymore, even the cupboard was taken away.

I went to Taiwan for a week in March 2013 with my relatives. It was quite an experience, but I guess I prefer the free and easy style better. I spent most of the time sleeping on the bus while we were fetched from one place to another. I guess I caught up with the lack of sleeps that I had been accumulated over the months in that trip.

I have been travelling to Korea very often since the end of 2012, I traveled to Korea almost once a month on until August 2013, tried almost all the Korean traditional clothes in the Incheon Airport Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation. I traveled there too often until one point that the lady in the cultural shop and the bus driver from airport to hotel, even the chef at the hotel had recognized me.

I am happy that all the trip to Korea paid off by securing a huge job, of course with the help of many colleagues across the global offices. It was the first time the technology being implemented outside US, and no one in the local office dare to take it up when I handed over the project. I have to say I was very happy to get Mr. Decamouth openly declared to the global team that he doesn't understand the engineering drawings and that he is not capable to take up this project. To me, he was never a qualified engineer, despite his engineering degree and memberships in various engineering organisations. He obtained the engineering manager position by snatching credits from all the colleagues in the office and pulling his monkey shows in front of the higher management who sits far away and remotely controls the local office.

While I was in charged of Korea market, I also enrolled to Korean Language course in 2013, and completed 2 levels in 2013. The entire course takes 2 years, but I decided to stop the lesson for a semester, as I have joined a new company since September 2013, and find it hard to cope with two new things at once.

My highlight of the year is the change of career. Despite all the effort placed in my ex-company, I didn't feel appreciated, the office politics was dragging the whole company down to swamp, I was lucky to find another job and sad to quit.

My travel schedule has not reduced since joining the new company. The learning step is too steep and gap is too big. I was given some brochures to read a few days before joining them, and was scolded by my boss on the second day of work, that I should have known all the products when I come to work.

There were many times I doubted myself, if I have taken one step too big/too far, I felt I should give up and regretted to leave my comfort zone from the ex-company. I was one of the technical experts in the ex-company that not many could challenge me, but I left that comfort zone and become a new baby in a new field, enduring some pretty direct comments regarding my knowledge in the field, while sitting in a regional product manager position. The pride that was fed big over the years in the ex-company was like a balloon, poked by needles now and shrunk inevitably.

Nonetheless, I am very blessed to have a group of very helpful colleagues, and am very happy to receive some encouragement from my ex-colleagues. I am now in the 3rd month in the new company, although it is very tough to change field, to have an extremely demanding boss, and I still have a lot to catch up to speed, but I feel I need these challenges to grow. In fact, now that the pride balloon is depleted and gets smaller, I felt it didn't impact me that much anyway.  I am praying and working hard hoping to pass my 6 months probation - due April 2014. That's my main target in 2014.

The rest of the targets are:
1. Exercise 150 mins a week.
2. Have 3 portions of vegetables, 2 portions of fruits everyday.
3. Visit my parents once a month with my husband and stay back for dinner.
4. Do not work overtime more than 2 days a week, max. 1.5 hours each time.
5. Get in touch with my friends once a week.
6. Spend 30 mins everyday with myself.
7. Spend 30 mins - 1 hour everyday with my husband. - I realized I spent less than 15 mins with him everyday over the past two years of marriage.
8. Finish 2 books in a year.
9. Treat myself once a month.

Happy New Year 2014!