The date is 31st December 2011. The time now is 8:34pm. [1]

I’m in a room, 12,598km km away from where I entered this Amazing World. Outside, the sounds of fireworks has been ringing in the distance intermittently against the backdrop of Stockholm, Sweden.

And here I am, on my bed with laptop on lap (ever wonder why they called it LAPtop..?), earpiece in ear, and the constant looping of ‘From the Music’ by the Potbelleez, yearning to type down my thoughts while ushering the closure of this year. [2]

Let it be clear – I’m FAR from feeling depressed at the lack of activity for New Year’s. In fact, I CHOSE to rest and stay in my room to obtain some ‘me-time’ to rest and reflect on all that happened in 2011. And to hold on to the surreal feeling of an awesome and amazing trip in the past 10 days. But let’s not get too carried away – I shall start right from the beginning…

*NOTE: This is a long-ass post as it is my introductory post to my new blog/journal. As such, I have a LOT of things to dump down. This post is written and structured for my own writing (and reading, after 10 years or so) pleasure rather than an enjoyable reading from start to finish. I recommend you simply read the sections that you find interesting!

New Year’s Resolution for 2011

It felt like last week – writing down on my iPhone my new year’s resolution just minutes before 2011 arrives. Leaning on the wall of a club/bar/restaurant in Clarke Quay (in the VIP section to boot! Thank you Caash, SuanWee, and friends), I typed down three things that I hope I would achieve in 2011:

• Good grades for university the upcoming semester
• Good fitness and physique
• For my business to bring in a consistent amount of revenue

Looking back now, I would say – based on my high expectations of myself – that I have achieved NONE of them.

• My grades are far from good, though I improved from my first semester. Currently still in the range of a second-upper.
• I obtained a silver for my IPPT (yearly military fitness test) and not the gold I aimed for
• My only working business, QuizFunnel, had a great launch but did not bring in consistent revenue monthly

But that’s okay – I’m accustomed to failures… and more importantly, how to bounce back from them.

I remembered 1st of January 2011 as a decently ‘peaceful partying’ day… no getting drunk for me. Instead, I was filled with motivation to achieve greater things in 2011.

This post has been split into multiple parts/sections to make it easier to read. It also allows you to read only sections that were relevant or interesting for you. The section/parts happened in chronological order (from start of 2011 to end of 2011), but no doubt there are overlaps of certain events as I attempt to classify them into sections.

1. Granny’s Passing and Chinese New Year
2. Academia and Happenings
3. The 1 Year Startup – QuizFunnel
4. Friendship and Business
5. Friendship and Business Part II
6. Experience Really Amazing and Special Moments Unto Students [ERASMUS]

The following section is a wrap up to all sections.

2012′s Resolution and the Future

Many people make resolutions only to not accomplish them at the end of the year.

Looking at myself, I fall into that category. However, at least I can say that I did NOT give up on those goals (except the fitness and diet part). I may not have accomplished them to the high standard that I wanted, but I am still carrying them out.

As such, my resolutions for 2012 are somewhat similar… but with more experience and knowledge, is probably more detailed.

Provided that I do not go on a Leave of Absence, my resolutions for academia:

• Good grades for university the upcoming semester, maintaining a CAP of 4.0 – 4.5 minimum
• To be accepted into NOC Silicon Valley

My resolutions for fitness:

• Fitness from some running (twice a week is enough for me)
• Get that 6 pack abs I always wanted since 15 years old (following the 4 Hour Body exercise and diet by Tim Ferris)

My resolutions for business

• To finish up the entire process of QuizFunnel by 6 months
• To be decent at Ruby on Rails programming to prototype and start my next business, Ruuva
• To find a co-founder who is willing to attempt this venture with me

Going through all these years of experience and surviving it for 22-23 years has been a great blessing. I had a lot of ups and downs, good and bad times, happy and depressed moments… and through it all, I still believe I want and should create my company to add value to the world.

The date is 1st January 2012. The time now is 12:00am. [12]

On the block to my left, about 50 metres or so away, are fireworks being launched into the sky. The backdrop of Stockholm city is spectacular and defeaning with probably hundreds if not thousands of fireworks being launched to usher in the New Year.

May everyone have a great 2012!

Jeff Lam T.H.

 

Footnotes (All sections’ footnotes are kept here)

[1] I made this up. I DID initially want it to be as dramatic as so, but procrastination of the large task at hand of writing down all my thoughts resulted in me watching drama series (Mad Men), reading articles and ebooks, playing an iPhone game and doing up graphics instead. But whatever, I just wanted to add a “dramatic feel” to my first post. ;)

[2] Again, similar to [1] above. I’m actually writing this on 3rd January 2012, 2:40pm, after a gym session and in the laundry room of Lappis (student residence) while my clothes are in the dryer. Writing this in the laundry room means I have no internet connection whatsoever, hence preventing me from being distracted by the 101 things on the internet.

[3] Ignore [2] now. My laundry is done and to prevent hogging of the dryer, I removed my clothes and proceeded back to my corridor. Writing this in my kitchen now (where there is a weak wifi signal…) as I cook some Spinach and Eggs.

[4] You can view the front-end website and video at http://clickka.com

[5] That’s the sole reason why I’m learning programming for my next venture. Specifically, server-side Ruby on Rails. I am also looking for co-founder(s).

[6] The other life decision was the selection of my Junior College (equivalent of high school). I wanted ACJC badly, and chose CJC as a last second decision, not knowing what CJC is all about. I wounded up getting into CJC (was slightly depressed initially), finished it, and absolutely loved the entire experience. Exactly like my Sweden exchange.

[7] Thankfully, as I sit here typing this after 5 months, both have improved. ;)

I now more or less understand the geography of Europe, and am able to guess the locations of each country and their capitals to a certain extent (well, far from perfect but it’s better than not knowing anything at all). I also understand more about the climate and the various weather that each country experiences (based on latitude and geography of course). And finally, I get a more decent understanding of how timezones work in our planet.

My cooking has no doubt improved too. Afterall, I had to cook for almost 5 months! Buying groceries and cooking isn’t as tough or complicated as it is (though washing up is still a pain). Cooking simple pasta and rice dishes, defrosting and grilling meat, frying and boiling eggs and mix and matching various food as well as adding some salt or pepper isn’t as daunting as it used to be

[8] Word edited for a family-friendly audience. I would use the phrase ‘shitting me’, but I do plan to use this section for my exchange writeup. :)

[9] If you know someone from Antarctica, please introduce him/her to me.

[10] Sweden, like most European countries, is rather diverse in environment in different parts of the country. In the north you have Kiruna/Lappland where you can see the Northern lights and bobsled, amongst other things. In the south you have Malmo and Lund which are smaller towns (similar to Uppsala, I would guess). In the west you have Gothemberg, Nykoping and Orebo which are all smaller cities/towns as well.

[11] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World’s_most_livable_cities

[12] As mentioned in point [1], I faked the time for a dramatic effect and to play out the scenes as I wished I had. The true date and time now as I finish writing is 4th January 2012, 5:39pm as I sit in my room typing this down. The fireworks however, were all real.