Wow, it’s 2009. Where’d 2008 go, did anybody see? I was just starting to settle into 2008, and now it’s 2009. And where’s those flying cars already?
Anyway, as I reflect on the year gone by I realise I became very jaded in 2008.
In 2008 I had to deal with certain people who sucked the life out of me and made my environment black and foul smelling. They smeared my personality with their hateful, excremental thoughts and numbed my optimism with their urine-odored actions.
But I closed 2008 off by wipping my arse of them with acceptance, flushing their fecal memories with hope and washing my hands of their ugly, piss-stianed actions with concentrated optimism that the one who matters will benefit from it all.
Now I want to find myself. The me who laughs in the face of adversity, the me who sees not a problem, but a challenge and the me who finds adventure in everyone and every place. The me I am underneath all this crud.
So here’s to 2009: Find Myself.
But to look to the future, you must study the past. So here are the (mostly positive) highlights of 2008. Here, take my hand…
January 2008
At the start of 2008 I was needlessly in court fighting about something that needn’t have been fought over. My troubles were nothing compared to Chua Soi Lek, Malaysian Minister who started his year off with the most sensational sex scandal in Malaysia to date.
In Kota Kinabalu, I got a sneak peak at 1Borneo (which would open later in the year, way behind schedule and far from complete). It had its share of controversies, floods and tenant woes, but 2009 might just be a good year for it. Or not.
AirAsia.com brought their first Airbus to Kota Kinabalu and has since phased out all Boeings and now flies an all Airbus fleet. They’ve added loads of destinations this year and I took advantage of a few of those.
February 2008
February we had some wicked celebration outings and parties. I launched Sabahbah.com to showcase the tourism offerings of Kota Kinabalu and Sabah. It’s still getting over 5000 unique views per month and plans for it are in the works.
I bravely leap into the world of open source software and install a flavour of Linux, Ubuntu 7.04. My life suddenly becomes much richer, and easier as worries about viruses and Trojan horses all but disappear.
March 2008
I turn 31. The world remains the same.
Arthur C. Clarke passes away. I read all of his books that I own as a tribute.
Issuu.com – the YouTube of the publishing world – hits the web. I quickly apply it for Sutera Harbour and I introduce it to Breeze magazine who promptly adopts it too, and my blog post about it now ranks in the top 3 for ‘pdf page tunrning software’, turning tens of people per week onto the service.
The Loft is the only establishment in KK to observe Earth Hour, making a gesture that will possibly be echoed far and wide in 2009 when it comes around again.
April 2008
Our gaggle of Sabah Ultimate players, the Borneo Bristleheads, go to our first tournament, The Malaysia Ultimate Open in Kuala Lumpur. We get our asses beaten, severely, but our love of the game of Ultimate is solidified and we start down the path of becoming Ultimate geeks. We now play much better.
Loving Ubuntu I upgrade to Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron and discover something new every day. Why doesn’t everbody use Ubuntu?
May 2008
Highlight of the month is my trip to Bali with Julia, joined by John and Pip. We scored some cheap flights on AirAsia, unfortunetally booked so far in advance that we didn’t even know they were to start flying direct. John and Pip gets on the direct flight while we go via KL. Excellent trip.
June 2008
Maxis sheds some customers with a mammoth coverage failure. The total black-out lasts for almost 2 days, and the aftermath of dropped calls, jammed networks and undelivered text messages lasts nearly a week. They compound the service failure by failing, for most of the first day, to communicate with their customers.
I get involved in exposing a blog-link scam, Maybank dupes anxious Malaysians with an over-hyped, function deprived bankcard, Firefox 3 sets a download record, and it rains the most of 2008 in KK, cause floods and hideous traffic jams. I also work my last days at Sutera Harbour before bidding my employer of 2 years farewell (as I publish this, their official website is still the one I designed – check the code – and it ranks superiorly in Google).
July 2008
A bit of a dull month was July 2008 (or perhaps I was just busy). I upgraded to WordPress 2.6 (not without error, mind you) and South Africa starts their journey towards getting beaten in the Tri-Nations rugby tournement.
August 2008
I become very aware of Repetitive Strain Injury (result of sitting infront of my PC for increased hours) and I make a significant contribution to the environment (if I don’t toot my own horn, who will?) as I switch to Watershops’ 20c per litre water with my own container in lieu of a carton box with 12 plastic bottles per week.
September 2008
Busy month and emotionally the most taxing. I do lots of posts, but most of them private. Beyond myself I pitch in and help with a Project Aware as we remove substantial amounts of rubbish from the national marine park. A shadow of the Borneo Bristlheads also attend the Singapore Ultimate Open as part of team Satu Lagi. We win nothing, but gain much knowledge.
October 2008
Turmoil of September spills into October, not much to blog about in public.
November 2008
Aside from a really rotten start to the month, Julia and I spend an epic holiday adventure in Thailand visiting Phuket, Phi Phi and Bangkok – we unwittingly escape exactly 1 day before the polical situation erupts and Bangkok airports are closed down, stranding thousands of tourists.
December 2008
The month starts off with World AIDS Day and the year closes with a feastive season that makes up for an otherwise reasonably sedate year with several parties of note. Using up the last of 2008′s leave, I geek it up a little when I use other people’s genius to get Windows XP to fully run inside Ubuntu. I might never have to reboot into Windows again.