k_tectonic

See also ##factors underpinn`key changes since first summer]US — a similar soul-searching.

In mid March 2020, I visited the same Toa Payoh swimming pool and couldn’t help comparing with my last bachelor phase around age 30, when I had a weekly afternoon swimming routine over a few months, around my self-employed years.

An exhausting exercise often leads to deeper reflection and a fresher look. As I reflect on the various changes (in my life) since then, I noticed my main focus starts to /drift/ from wellness to career , then to family livelihood. Somehow at my current age, wellness is Still not receiving as much sunshine as deserved.

• — a random list, but I want to have some items bubbling up, like unconventional and specific items
• i was pushing myself harder on coblood, self-improvement, biz wing. I felt completely left out, in the outskirts… watching the high flyers flying inside the walled city. We can look at SWOT in the Snd context.
• UChicago — I didn’t have UChicago brand. I didn’t have any insider info on the global elite universities. Also, I saw myself as 江郎才尽 after my EE-DL and FCH failures.
• [g] java — I couldn’t access java as a huge, lucrative pie
• [g] livelihood security — I didn’t have a dev-till-40 plan (let alone 70) or the associated security in livelihood for a family of four. In contrast, I did have the security in livelihood for myself, to the extent that I quit my job to pursue my dream of self-employment.
• [g] I had no idea how to get into U.S.. I had some appreciations for Singapore citizenship but no deep appreciation that I have now, after comparing with U.S.
• [w] I didn’t know any way to reach 61 kg
• [w] I didn’t have my currene level of commitment to yoga
• [w] I was then more committed to weekly workout but not about yoga.
• [g] I didn’t know any way to earn more than 5k. I didn’t know my killer talent at theoretical QQ topics like low-level, math, concurrency principles
• [f] I was young and healthy and didn’t care to know the low cost and relatively efficient long-term care infrastructure in SG, possibly supported by government.
• [f] shield plans — I didn’t know the Shield plans would be strategic to my long term financial planning
• — some of the familiar, the obvious or the high-level vague items:
• [f] I already had a good burn rate and savings habit, but my NAV was much lower.
• [f] I had no overseas properties in Beijing, S.E.Asia; I had yet to see windfall in my HDB flat
• [w=wellness]
• [f=cashflow]
• [g=gz]

Q: Looking through these changes, what is the #1 turning point in my life since then? It will not be wellness (my wellness has always been pretty good), or financial.
A: my crossing of the moat (i.e. tech screening) into WallSt dev job market, and becoming a proven veteran in c++/java.