2018 is indeed an exciting year,
So many changes to life.
Since my 24th, Ive been catching up to several groups of friends,
Very heartening to see how some of them are excelling in their fields,
When we all came from the gutters once.

I guess it's maturity, we start to value education,
We start to take charge of our lives,
assume autonomy of our decisions,
and became much more earthed.

Whilst so, on the sideline also guiding some of the youths,
but it's almost impossible to fully motivate them,
as how we were all unable to appreciate too in the past.

I guess thats the purpose of education,
at the end of the day, it's not teaching you knowledge,
knowledge cant get you far, if anyone wants knowledge, just google.
Education before tertiary is teaching you the complexity of problems,
How subconsciously we are trained to find patterns, seek solutions,
understand the layers and affiliates of each problems,
and then diligently work towards it.
Whether or not you understand the concept or plain memory work,
both are valuable skills to the society in time to come. 

And then we talk about death, there's a philosophy discussion about it.
A very interesting topic and opens me up to some of the view points.
Could be a more meaningful discussion but anyway, some of my takeaways, 

Death - The victim
What is a good death?
How do we prepare for death?
How much of a taboo is death?
Are you frighten of death or jovial?
Is death selfish?

Death - The mental state
To learn how to die is to learn how to live.
To be able to accomplish things you always wanted to do.
To be able to help those you wanna help.
You see, without death, life is meaningless.

Death - The left behind
To recognize our time is finite enables us to cease opportunity.
To be able to be generous in praises and forgiveness.
To be able to accept phrases of life.

Death - the visit
How do we comfort? and why do we say what we say?
Why do we visit the dead? Closure? Memories?
What do we go at the gathering?
Emotional Growth. Social Support.

Death - The suffering
Is death a liberation to some?
Views on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide?
Why do people suicide? Is it really painless? or simply less pain?

Death - The cultural differences
Funeral practices in Western and Eastern doctrine.
Singapore context of funeral and death - Crypt, Cremation, Festivals, Laws
Types of funeral - Heaven, Fire, Water, Wood, Earth, Wind
What are the superstitions related to deaths? Colour white, Red, Yellow, Black, etc
Views of deceased - gone to better place, or life ends, or rewards for suffering, or detached

Yepp, so anyways, some greedy dude spoilt my week totally.
1 person in the team, always inconsistent in the words,
Say come out with something, but never did,
Say company buy something for stakeholders, but dont want to do the job
Say my planning sucks, but felt not paid enough to takeover
Say be transparent, but never was,
Say we are family, but skeptical whether got reciprocate,

And on the side all of us have been very considerate and sacrificing for this person,
Last thing that tipped me off is that this person felt that either me or another person,
has been not doing jobs, but getting paid a same base salary.
Freaking hell im so damn pissed, not having jobs means we fking get lesser pay,
and we sacrifice our slots for u and thus very free, thus go on holiday,
for fk sake be grateful! Fk it has come to the point, I really dont want this person in the team.
Either this person or me!

So....... My 24th its over.
I am really really grateful for people who turned up.
109 friends, much more than I have expected,
twice my 21st.

It's really touching when friends cancels events,
or make a stop in sg from penang before uk,
or to rush from work,
or to take leave for the party,
and all the little things they did.

This year, I had more chance to actually catch up and talk,
I hope it spearhead many more gatherings to come,
and hopefully I dream of a huge reunion may come true.

Well, gotta say, it's my good year.
The year started with a "curse",
Saying Dog Year babies will be a bad luck,
Fail in business,
Strained relationship with people around,
and no progress in studies.

Look what have I achieved,
1 year of Monster Day Tours,
Though not earning lavishly,
Rather breaking even,
but comparing to regional and also similar companies int he industries,
we have come so far, and we're still going strong.

Ive passed my Tourist Guide,
had gotten my Singapore Citizenship,
ever learning new things in my guiding and my PDC courses.

Ive only yet to take up driving by the end of the year due to my PDL.

TLC was going good, tour leading to a few nice getaways.
Hindering my earning opportunities by volunteering,
but the knowledge and friends Ive gained in my travels are priceless!

I have no idea about the future, but i know next year will be a better year.
Hopefully with ever changing strategies, and continuous support,
I will be able to afford a party with Live Bands and Emcees,
and maybe something experiential to impress or memorable to bring back.
This year did a farm tour, I wonder if we can do hands on workshop in years to come.

But then reality strucks ofcoz, im back to 0 again, gotta save up again.
Life wasnt like golden tap for me, but Im super grateful for all the things I have.
But as greedy as humans, I want more to come,

I want to be :
able to have afford $50 a day meals yet savings of 1k savings per month,
able to volunteer once a week for some social cause,
able to continue conducting classes of any kind once a week
able to set aside $500 for subscriptions charity such as wildlife, education, or sponsor a child
able to set aside $500 for all insurance and accidents plans,
able to comfortably take a getaway once in every 2 months,
able to go for a day class or learn something curated once every 3 months,
able to go for a musical once every 6 months,
able to organize a huge $2k gathering once every year

thats gonna take me like $7.5k a month hahahas faint