I looked back at the last paragraph from last year’s post and there I was having some reservations about this year, and boy did it turn out right. Maybe I went in without the right vibes and so things naturally didn’t fall in place, but still that was a bit of an extreme punishment zzz. 

That said, other than the health section that took a hit everything else wasn’t too bad, if I were to be honest so here it goes. 

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Let’s just start with that section then since it was the one that made or in this year’s case, broke the year. Otherwise I’d still rank this as a solid year overall. Couple of minor ailments over the course of the year, which is rather typical unless we count that week-long diarrhea I had after coming back from an impromptu trip home, presumably food poisoning from Pasar Gadong food (the other candidate was RB in flight meal but I’m more inclined to believe it’s the former) which lowered my immunity such that I fell sick for another week right after. Then of course there’s the big one that I’ve written a long post about. 

Well the good news is that the ordeal is over, or at least I think/felt it is. I left the last post in a state where my liver panel readings are still well above range and there’s a whole series of side ailments arising from my liver’s inability to function properly. Jaundice is okay because that’s just aesthetics (my eyeballs and my entire outlook just appear yellowish). The disturbing one was the persistent itchiness because my body is full of toxins that the liver can’t filter. There’s a good month that I can’t sleep well because like a clockwork I would wake up at around 1-2am every night scratching everywhere and nothing seems to work - soothing lotions and all. And with psoriasis this was a dangerous combo and all that scratching left plenty of new scars which took a while to heal and left behind the new patches of discolorations sigh. The other issue was with bloating restricting food intake - I would discover that dairy products tend to worsen the issue - and the bloating effect usually isn’t instantaneous, for instance I’ll start feeling bloated late afternoon despite not eating anything after a regular lunch. It was just uncomfortable in the end. 

The itching finally went away on the second week of November when I recorded a first night when I slept through the night, and when that happened for a couple more nights consecutively you can imagine my relief. The bloating took another couple of weeks to go away - I touched down in KL for a planned trip and magically I could eat everything on that trip despite overeating a bit (hotel breakfast for instance) and that’s when I felt I’m out of the woods. The numbers did indicate otherwise - the doctor, presumably upon returning from leave, had the nurse call me up for an unscheduled blood test just as the itchiness was fading away and it showed that some of the figures even rebounded a bit, sparking a bit of alarm in me. Because there’s no consultation again (and the doctor also didn’t react) I took matters to my own hand, analyzed my habits and decided to stop the more strenuous activities I.e. running - which I had resumed albeit with lower frequency and intensity - and two weeks later the numbers (taken right after the KL trip) dropped close to borderline normalcy. In my final consultation with doctor the week later he was also cautiously optimistic that I’m out of the woods, except that he asked me to come back one more time after CNY. 

The whole episode put me to a test, I kid you not. In many aspects - be it my knowledge of insurance coverage (which is admittedly not high, I am referring to the knowledge not coverage), crisis management, and emotionally too because for an entire month and half I was in this state of despair and self pity. Take it as a test run in case I run into similar scenarios in future, touchwood.  

Other than that skin issues is just a regular presence not worth mentioning. Physical fitness was going well as in there’s structure to it - I went through a horrible cutting phase, a gleeful bulking phase and just as I was going to start cutting again (which the muscles are supposed to show up nicely after) disaster struck, I lost plenty of weight unwillingly and along with it muscles, and then I gain back the unhealthy way because I was in sort of a revenge eating mode after regaining that capacity. So progress reseted oh well, but I will make up for lost time I guess. 

So may I be blessed with health next year! I’ve suffered enough. 

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Work! Got shouldered with more responsibility in the shape of another team added to my care, doing more months of free labor ahead of the long awaited official promotion, navigating through a series of HR challenges including internal transfers, poaching, fraud claims, toxic staff, facing tearful appraisal talks and so on. And I feel that next year it’s just more of these. 

The biggest challenge may have been the work itself though, to work under parachutes who has zero respect for the craft nor bothered understanding but insist on forcing a transformation. I get the need to transform and the power of the new data sources but the motivation for transformation didn’t seem right (I am helping you guys make things easier for yourself but did you even try to understand what kind of help we need? Because we seem like some sort of joke to you). 

My only willpower now was to outlast because history tells us parachutes tend to take off again after a short stay but apparently said parachute has asked for an extended stay…probably because she really thinks we needed to be whip into shape sigh. Oh well let’s see what happens next year. Gotta stay tough because if the top crumbles…those below will too. 

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I actually didn’t see this coming but this year felt like my most traveled year. Started the year right and planned ones, impromptu ones, short ones etc all came along. I felt that the Korea trip may have been the standout one because…well it’s solo? And I think I was in my best shape of the year back then. Shanghai was a watershed moment too which led to my acceptance of China as a place that I can return to. KL trips were memorable for the chillax pace and food. GZ was a major relief after a funk during which I couldn’t even bring myself to plan for trips next year and that was a thoroughly depressing thought. HK will always be a firm favorite. 

Next year - had one redemption trip confirmed, another (long) one that I am still desperately trying to make work. KL is still there. The two trips home I already booked. One more group trip in the initial stages of discussion. Maybe a couple of solo trips nearby to leverage long weekends. Maybe work trips? Narrowly escaped one because of a date change which causes it to clash with the Nov KL trip. “Escaped” because of the supposedly time consuming follow ups upon return which I am still a bit on the fence about. Penciled in for one potentially in Jan but if they decide on Feb instead I’m out again. 

But it’ll be another eventful year I hope.

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No progress section next. Enough said. Hahah. 

I mean I tried, but let’s just say…lukewarm response isn’t helping. Then I got bogged down by HepA.

Let’s see again next year shall we? 

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Hitting the five year mark at my place next year and mayyyybe I should be on the move again. Kidding….I’ll start with fixing my toilet first and other minor works, perhaps the very ignored balcony? 

Car is out of the picture too - came to my senses and understood that it’s really a want instead of a need. That money can be better spent elsewhere (like fitness and travels) until I really develop a need for it. 

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Can’t wait to get back on track next year. Bring on 2026 already!