This is it, the time of the year again. Today is Christmas, and as years before, the day has been the happiest day of the year. And with New Year 7 days away, it is time to look back and see how 2014 has been so far.
I’m going to say that, the first half of 2014 is the moment of great achievement. In the first 6 months, we manage to launch a big system, for a big client. It was achieved with a lot of sacrifice. Never before I put so much time in such prolonged period, like 60 hours average per week, weekend included. Sometimes, I would arrive home at 9pm, sparring some time to play with Ethan until we put him to sleep. Then, I would slip away, back in front of my laptop, crunching slides for 9am presentation. Nights will be filled with Coffee, Pizzas and other fast food. And days will be filled with high tension meetings that drain your energy. And in between meetings, phone calls was coming from people asking for updates, or ask for things to be done at that moment.
Eventually come the migration day. I skipped the first migration due to family reason. In the second migration, I spent 27 hours at office, from 8:30am on 28 May to 11:30am on 29 May 2014. The satisfaction and pride of the success is much more than winning a $2 million project. I think, it is because winning a project is like having a job half-done. Launching the system will complete the other half of the job.
Things changes on second half of 2014. In fact, a lot of thing changes.
In May 2014, Grace has finally open her own business. She has been working as food curator for a food court in Pacific Place Jakarta, as well as planning to open her own food stall in the same food court. An in May, they finally open for public. I’m happy for her. It has always been our dream to have our own business, and in May, Grace made the dream come true. She is now a businesswoman.
Then, in August 2, 2014, Ethan started his first day at school. We finally pick Cikal Serpong for Ethan’s pre-school for 2 reason: Cikal have a big outdoor playground, and they have 3 days per week class. The first day went well than what we expected. And after we drop him at school, it was a strange feeling to sit in the car, two of us once again, with our kid with someone else.
Grace getting busy with her business means less time to take care of Ethan, while at the same time, Ethan need greater commitment from us, as now he is going to school. We need to be strict on time, to put him to sleep, to wake him up in the morning, preparing breakfast and other thing for him to be ready for school. And soon, he will start going to school 5 days a week. To fill the gap between Grace’s less free time and Ethan’s higher commitment needs, I decided to leave my current employer.
On October 29, 2014, I tendered my resignation. My friend at my former employer offered me a position. My former employer’s office is much closer to my home, so it is possible for me to drive. If necessary, I can also pick Ethan home from our family’s home, where he usually spend time if Grace need to go out, and put him to sleep before 10. Plus, historically speaking, my former employer has less working hour expectation than my current employer. At least, you are not expected to work on weekends, so I can take care of Ethan if Grace need to work over the weekend.
So, I’m going to 2015 with a new job, and new hope. There are many personal things that I have put on hold in order to grow my professional career. All was culminated in the big system launch. Now, it is time to recover the lost moment, to pursue my personal aspiration. There are many that I expect to achieve in 2015, which will be in my next post for 2015’s resolution.
Merry Christmas…….
Arguments With Myself 