So distressing have the events of the past few weeks been that if I were to wake up in cold sweat in the depth of night and realised that the life over the past few weeks was all a nightmare, I would breathe deep and thank god it was all over.
But its not a bad dream. Of the five battles I have had to concurrently fight, having to tear myself away from NParks was the most excruciating; not only for now but also of my working life hitherto.
One year into the job pleasantly felt longer than the 365 days of loving everything about it: its mission to green up Singapore city, the comprehensive ongoing training I received, the rewards senior management gave to those it deemed of potential. One of these was an all-expense-paid study trip to Australia to learn about beach pools, of which I was blessed enough to receive. I even had time to say hi to my alma mater in the Gold Coast.
While it went well professionally, socially I had as much a ball of a time - literally - via weekly futsal sessions. To these fun times I flitted from my Bukit Timah office -- set amidst elegant Botanic Gardens and collegial NUS Law School, it was my jewel in the crown of the neighbourhood I grew up in. I liked my colleagues, whom I regarded as friends; I sense the feeling was/is mutual.
The change in mission has been unsettling as well. While at NParks, I tended to the greenery and free-to-enter parks that surrounded me; now I am instead trying to put nature in a box -- and sell it for a few thousand a pop.
If I followed my heart, I would still be in RB and all its bright sunshine. But the pretty boat of opportunity Vincent moored outside my door proved too good to pass. And here I am now, steering it along a channel uncharted and with political mist threatening, but the destination crystal clear: financial freedom, owning my own time, early retirement and... an as-yet-unbuilt treehouse under the big sky of a temperate clime.
Exeunt (to the chorus of Keane's Somewhere only we know)
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