The Road Ahead

Alright. I think after a month of promises, I owe you a little bit of an explanation regarding my future plans.

I would imagine that everybody, at some point in their lives, has had a list of things they want to accomplish before they die. Whether they write it down or keep it buried somewhere in their thoughts is up to them. For many, the youthful rhetoric of these lists becomes middle aged rhetoric which slowly fades to old aged regret. That is the sad truth. I really don't want to fall into this trap. Come January 13th, I'll begin checking things off my list.

My plan is to head back home to Malaysia to visit and take care of my ailing grandmother for a few weeks. The timing is such that I will catch Chinese New Year, Thaipusam (a Hindu festival in Kuala Lumpur) and her birthday. I'll follow this with a 2-4 month backpacking excursion through SouthEast Asia. The details are fuzzy at the moment but I have a number of destinations in mind. Angkor Wat in Cambodia is the top priority. I'm looking into a working holiday visa for Great Britain after my trip but that's really pushing it. I'll probably make a quick stopover to visit some relatives instead. Basically, I'll be taking my dumbass adventures on an international scale.

The events that transpired today have only further validated my desire to leave this company. Aside from M stepping up his office shenanigans (which is to be expected), the boss said something I found a little unnerving. While talking about my successor, he said "I don't think I want to hire a young buck. They don't stick around long enough." Maybe I'm imagining things but was that a thinly veiled attack? A friend of his also approached me after work to discuss the pointlessness of travel. It doesn't matter because I'm still going. Nyah.

Between now and January, I've got a boatload of things to accomplish. For one, I need to get a number of shots (tetanus and hepatitis) as a precautionary measure. I also need to draft up my last will and testament (I request that I be cremated wearing my lucky hippo print boxers and my Doctor Evil suit). Plane tickets would be nice too.