The Year In Review 2018
Firstly, an apology to the readers of my blog for not updating my blog for quite a while already as had been rather busy for the past few months, in my areas of concern of work, interest group and volunteering, but as always, I feel that there must a time for me to write about and take stock for the year.
Work
It has been a roller coaster and busy year at work, as my colleague passed away unexpectedly in a traffic accident in June. I was tasked by my boss to hunt for new staff and cover his job scope for close to 2 months. Not that I minded to learn new stuff at work, even at the age of 38 going to 39, but the office politics had been unbearable for quite a while, and to think that I had some thoughts of moving on shows just how bad it is. I am holding back due to the interest for the job, and the fear of not able to find a job due to the slow economy and the social stigma that employers in Singapore have about my disability. The fact that I took only 2 hours of training, just to master XBRL and cover my colleague’s tasks says it all.
Volunteer – SGA
It has been a roller coaster for this as well, that nearly caused me to give up on this volunteer work at the beginning of the year due to politics and favourtism. It was fortunate that the programme manager stepped in and took swift action to transfer me and my volunteer partner to another constituency to be with my friend, who roped me into this since the start of this exercise in 2015. I must say the transfer did me good as I am enjoying my interaction with the seniors, volunteers and Programme Co-Ordinators there. Even though, there are still hiccups there every now and then, I am glad that the team took swift action to resolve it.
I am also glad that I was featured on the major papers in Feb for the volunteer work that I have done. All these were made possible by SGO and performing for them on the appreciation nite.
https://www.facebook.com/paul1979/posts/10156096951479353
Volunteer – Grassroots
I had been soldiering on as the treasurer of the committee before my new assistants were found recently. I have been training them diligently. Hope that they are able to pick up well so that I can hand over the portfolio at the end of the extended term in Jun 2020.
I had the opportunity to join the communications workgroup to learn about the changes and new government policies this year. Hope that with this knowledge, I can communicate the policies better.
Volunteer – Tax Filing
I am glad that despite some hiccups, I have managed to continue this programme with some sponsorship from a kind soul I knew from P2P. I am also thankful to my fellow grassroots leaders and advisers for allowing me to assist the residents to file their taxes.
I am also happy to share that my friends have decided to let me use their office for this service in 2019. I will be doing 4 sessions instead of the usual 8 as I feel that the resources can be better utilized. Details will be announced closer to the date. For those who are keen to volunteer with me, you may keep a lookout for my call for volunteers after CNY 2019.
Singing Interest Group
This is the year where we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the group. I am thankful for the constant support of the members, and my co-organisers, both past and present. Although, this year, we encountered some weird people on the social media platforms and social connect communities that caused some problems for us, we are thankful that there are constant stream of new members joining us. We promise to do better in the years to come.
Friends
This was a year where I learnt that one should not be too nice to some people that I have just known or known for a long period of time, because you never know what nasty things they would do or say behind your back. But I am glad to have known some new friends this year, and the friendship just developed as though we have known each other for a long time. I also tried my best to maintain my old friendships as some of you know that I am a person who value my friendships. I was sharing with some new friends that my friendships usually last long as I believe that if you treat people well, you will usually be treated well.
Concerts
I had the opportunity to attend 2 concerts this year. JJ Lin & Kenny G. I really enjoyed the 2 concerts. As the JJ concert was rather expensive, I actually forgo the Kit Chan one as they were too close together. I must say the concert that nearly burst my concert was very good. I feel that his talents have been understated. Then Kenny G came along, with a 15% off the ticket price, I took it and enjoyed the concert. Although I must say it was a little short at about 2 hours and the ticket sales was surprisingly poor. I was glad to have met by a fellow concert goer who was nice enough to offer me a ride home after the concert. =)
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