Sharing is Caring: Sien's Chronological 2008 (January

Disclaimer: Sien's flashback chronological story will be divided into two posts: 1) from January to June period (comfortable student life) and 2) from July to December period (working adult life, figuring things out --> the roller-coaster ride). Generally, Jan-Jun= I was mostly positive, Jul-Sep= my lowest negative period, Oct - Dec = start-picking-myself-up-and-dusting-myself-off period, becoming more positive but somehow still bitter and fearful.

JANUARY 2008 - The Prediction

I wrote this as my first post in 2008:
2008 means i'll be at my CROSSROADS once again (very TRUE...in fact, I've been faced with so many of them that I could only laugh at my own prediction in this post, gosh...what a journey!)

My prediction:
2008 will definitely become one of the most important years in my LIFE (yup, indeed)
Lots of DECISIONS that have to be made, lots of ASSIGNMENTS and PROJECTS that have to be done (some decisions were downright bad, some were just OK, some were made out of urgency. Perhaps every college has to offer a module called DM101, Basic of Decision Making: how to make informed decisions to save you from a crazy 'roller-coaster' ride, save time and energy:P)

My resolutions are still as vague as my next road to take. Though I still believe that I can decide very soon (within 3 months). I can only foresee the situation up to mid 2008...(am I talking like a psychic, a fortune-teller of some kind maybe? =P) (yup, this is again, TRUE...I didn't know that I could end up making bad decisions in mid 08. I thought I got it all half-figured out only to find out later on that I didn't, that I had to go back to ground zero...I thought I was prepared to face the working-adult life, while in fact I was still trap in my own mind, where student life was my comfort zone. I acted like a student and disliked the routinity of waking up early in the morning, wasting my time traveling to and fro for 2 hours in the nasty crowded train. I was also craving for training and guidance. Alas, despite needing all the guidance I could have, I entered the wrong place:S)

Anyway, no matter how strong your intuition and forecasting skill, no one can predict the future, isn't it? (I couldn't agree more, Gal!)

The best thing that we can do now is to prepare well, eat well, exercise well, sleep well and enjoy the moments. This year will be another fabulous year, just believe!!^_^(hemm, still a fabulous year, but it was a lot tougher than I could ever imagined. Fortunately, I survived the transition phase and I can proudly say that I am now a lot wiser than the girl who wrote this post in January 08^_^)

Now let's review my fragile attempt of defining a bunch of half-a-year wishes, since I can only predict my fate til mid 2008. The rest was just a blur roller-coaster ride...

My TOP 20 WANT list (very short-term ones):

1. Go home for Chinese New Year (ticked)

2. Really do my language program (lil' obsession: fluent in 5 languages by 25 yrs old) (hoping to make it on-going, shall bring forward this one:P)

3. Study well done (ticked, 2nd upper^_^)

4. Get my 4F04 (small chance...huhuhuT_T) (NOPE, didn't get it in the end, it was a bless in disguise)

5. Finish 80% of FYP draft before Chinese New Year (ticked)

6. Get a good first job (FAILED...T_T)

7. Plan a graduation trip (NEVER, too busy looking for job)

8. 1st class hons (Naaay....2nd upper, good enough)

9. Get a flat (ticked, living in friend's Condo now)

10. FYP report and presentation well done --> A (ticked, got an A*happy*)

11. Do well in my P2, P3, P4 speeches (TMC) (half ticked, only until P3)

12. Private cooking lesson with Mom...=P (NOPE, no time...but managed to learn by myself during the 1-month time off from work, September - The Co-Co)

13. Meet my old friends back at home (ticked)

14. Start teaching language and learn how to translate well (argggh, didn't have enough determination back then, shall bring this forward)

15. DELF and JLPT3 at the end of this year (ticked)

16. Last results with "flying colors" (so-so)

17. Meet the potential "one" (fat chance in 08, was busy figuring out the things that I can do a.k.a job/career-minded, shall bring this forward too:P)

18. Have my own library (bookshelves filled with fave books) at home/future flat (not exactly a library yet, but I will definitely have it in my future home, yup, bringing this forward:D)

19. Play volleyball (past, now, future, always luv' vball^^) (ticked, still playing)

20. Eat my dinner...(ticked, started eating my dinner again from September onwards, before that, I had no time, even to have a good night sleep. Thank goodness I'm out of the mess)

February 2008 - The Confession

This month was supposed to be filled with love, wasn't it? Well, I did fill it out with love by sharing my full ~~love~~ crush stories here. From then, overall, I had a stagnant, dull, boring love life till the end of 08. Great, huh? Now, I shall hold on to this vivid image only in my dream...shall figure it out one day...*beach was and will always be my fave place...

Apart from the love confession, I also confessed...or rather shared my now-all-screwed-up career plan with the rest of graduating class in my school. Yeah, I posted that in the discussion board and my very own blogpost, Message for my Fellow Engineering Undergraduates. Ironically, fast-forward to 8 months later, I AM NOW WORKING AS AN ENGINEER. It seems that the more I opposed to the notion of becoming an engineer upon graduation, the more I find it hard to get away from it. Eventually, I had to eat my own words. I could give you all sort of reasons to rationalize the condition that I'm in now, and it's really up to you to buy it or not. All the reasons will be in October 08 flashback:P

March+April 2008 - The Preparation

As usual, March and April were the months of hectic preparation to leave the comfortable student life. Preparing for a bunch of things; from my last battle in NTU (read: papers), FYP report and presentation to preparation for various job applications and interviews. It was definitely hectic but more fun than what I'll be experiencing months later (read August - The Hell). So I was preparing for these

To get this in July 2008...

Yeah folks, the whole four years eventually boiled down to this A4 paper. It gave me just enough to apply for a decent job (*but not getting it, you need MORE than just this paper) that allows me to earn entry-level bucks and pay back study loan, pay bloody expensive bills, and all other nitty gritty costs of living in this lil' red dot. It sounds so right to be an Engineer and earn Engineer's salary to pay back your study loan, studying Engineering. And it also feels so right that once you're off the hook, your liabilities're gone, you can give up the title and the B.Eng A4 paper, pretend that you don't even own it in the first place, and finally do something else???

May 2008 - The Waiting Game

I've bluntly written this previously (full posting here), smugly wrote my path for the next 25 years. Some did come true, some just never did. The law of attraction does exist, folks...

In my previous postings, I did say about my intention to choose the off-track path, a non-engineering or at least non-technical kind of first job *yeah, it came true, i had a non-engineering first job, but who knows I'll have to look for 2nd job as soon as two months later...my fate has played tricks on me:P, ‘coz I have a vision of the career that I want to have 25 years from now. However, my switching cost upon graduation is so high that I felt all the odds are stacked against me.

Some possible paths (concrete positions: making them come true now, fingers crossed) that I have to choose eventually (after I ponder for almost a year):

June-July-August 2008 --> Part time intern in travel planning industry (for 2 months: learn a lot) + Part time tuition teacher while looking for full time-job + study for CFA certificate.

September 2008 + 3 years -->Full time as a Logistics/Procurement Officer in MNC (do I want to climb the corporate ladder?) *a slight twist here, MNC is correct, but not in logistics or anything like that, as a product engineer. And I'm trying my very best to like it and do well. I've also noticed some of the logistics/procurement colleagues, and I think I like my current job better than theirs...

OR ~~Full time as a Conference/Event Executive in an Event company~~

OR Full time as a Travel Consultant+ building up my own LCC (current idea) + expanding my network

*The rest of this plan? I don't know yet...nobody knows...

July 2011 (finish the bond) --> MBA Hospitality in Switzerland or France then a complete switch to hospitality industry (Tourism and Travel, Hotel sector) after I know which specific field I want to go, after the MBA)

July 2016 (going 30 yrs old) --> language teacher + a financial savvy professional hotelier + housewife

I’m crystal clear that all my plans won’t work if I don’t put my greatest effort (beyond my own or expectation)And I also know that I have to be flexible with this plan, ‘coz it won’t be a smooth-sailing journey.

Yup, a plan is just a plan (empty vague dreams) if you never take your actions. In that month, I took actions by sending dozens of application to specific conference companies and didn't put much effort on applying to engineering jobs (though there were plenty of them in that period). My wish came true and all I could remember was that I celebrated, slept and ate a lot. I had lots of fun moments back then. Aaah, I also had a Cookie-fever, listening to David Cook's songs over and over again that month.

However, no matter how fun it was, I couldn't forget about the unknown world that I have to enter soon. I had this sense of responsibility that I couldn't get rid of. "I have to find a job soon, I have to..."said the back of my mind. Thus, I also waited and waited anxiously while keeping my fingers crossed that month. Waiting for what I think was right at that moment without knowing what the future holds...

June 2008 - The Decision

To be exact, it was on Thursday, 12 June 2008, when *I thought* everything starts working itself out...wonderful!

Here I am...finally reaching this day. It is finally the time to choose my path and there are people who're willing to take their chances on me, just like me taking on my chances with them. Fortunately, the feeling was mutual and I got that special OFFER!! I knew the goods and bads of this offer. I've asked enough questions to let me see the bigger picture of the job responsibilities. I've done this, seen that, felt this and now, I think I'm ready to start collecting all the tiny detailed pieces to create something meaningful. I wanted this job so badly. Now that I got the chance, I will give my best and assure them that they really invest on the right person. Let the journey begin once more!

I was NAIVE...At that time, I wanted it so badly. The next thing I know, following two months were all history and they have all been filed under this, Sien's Ugly Pasts. I shall not repeat it again here.

Anyway, from May to June, I had these wonderful outings...