5.1.09

It was an amazing year...

2008 started out very unsurely for me. I had just got my PR application rejected, just started a job I didn’t know much about and I was adapting back to a more serious life than the one I had been living in Japan just months before. I had no real aim, no goals, and no purpose. I just went through the motions and lived day by day.
But somewhere along the way, I think I found all that I was looking for.

When I first came back from Japan over a year ago, the only thing I knew I really wanted was to migrate. The aim was Oz…I’d been to Perth before and I absolutely loved the laid back lifestyle there. I had applied for PR and was just waiting for a reply. All my plans rode on it because I had made no other backup. Imagine my shock when I got turned down…I cried. Now I had to plan all over again.

So I started looking for a job and was lucky enough to get one really quickly and in KL. I moved back to the old place with old friends and slowly got back into the swing of a normal, working life. Thankfully this time around work was normal office hours and not the crazy shifts I used to do. I began to appreciate the new pace and a new routine set in quickly.

New Years Day 2008 came and went. I realized that clubbing in some places were not as good as before. Still had to cope with my excessive love of alcohol that left Young Padawan extremely amused after the NYE house party…Sigh, there are still pistures of my sorry state. But at least I was entertainment for some.

With the new job came many new opportunities especially when it came to travelling. In this past year alone I have been to 3 overseas business trips, 2 beach holidays, 2 shopping & sightseeing holiday and finally 1 Xmas trip. I can safely say I spent 2 months of this year overseas alone…a huge thing for someone who never, ever travelled for work before. I’ve been to places I never thought I’d ever go…Seoul, Hong Kong, Macau, San Francisco and Phuket. I’ve seen so many things and learnt so much. I’ve come to realize again how small I am in the greater context of the world. There’s still so much to see, so much to do and so much to experience. I would only hope that 2009 brings me just as much travelling…if not more.

2008 also brought so much in the relationships department. I met so many new people; some nice, some not. One I got to know a lot about but nothing ever happened. Another turned out to be a very typical ‘Asian Boy’. Then there’s the one who was the total opposite of what I imagined I would want, but turned out to be the very person I needed. He changed me in ways I though would never be possible and every minute with him is a gift. Happy or sweet, angry or sad; every emotion has made me grow. I am so thankful for it and I love every moment of it.

I got closer to old friends and grew distant from others. With each passing year, I think I’m finally realizing the friends that are worth the effort and the ones who need not my time. I’m also realizing that time is short and every moment is precious. Each one needs to be cherished. I have spent far too many nights regretting my recklessness of not appreciating what little time I have been given and I hope I learn to never to make that same mistake again.

With the end of such a wonderful year so near, it makes a person hopeful. And though every year resolutions are made and almost never followed, there is something so lovely in just sitting down and looking forward to the future, and making plans on how we will live it the best we can. With so much to worry about…recession, wars, politics and a world on the brink of disaster, it gives me a little comfort just knowing that there is so much happiness to be had, so much love to be felt and so much life to be lived. I hope 2009 makes me grow as a person and I look forward to every second of it.

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