NKDS

My 24th birthday is approaching in a few short minutes.

I realize it should not be something to write about, at least not on this blog since my birthday is hardly anything of significance. When compared to the large events such as AFA and Daicon that NKDS has covered, the date of birth of a single individual hardly merits any attention from the masses, does it?

Well, except that my birthday happened to coincide with the end of a rather difficult and stressful period of time for me. Since I am feeling happy and free right now, I thought it would be a good idea to pen my thoughts and pay tribute to the people who assisted me along the way. And no, I do not plan to write a post for every birthday I go through. This year just happens to be… somewhat special.

Before I continue, I must say that this is going to be a personal post, with none of the information that readers are used to receiving from the site. Please feel free to read on if you are fine with that. Otherwise… well, I suppose there are other stuff in NKDS that can keep you happy for the next five minutes or so. After all, this site must have accumulated enough content for a good read if you simply wish to pass the time.

I recently ended my stint as a temporary sales executive in one of our local telecommunications company. It was one of the most interesting jobs that I had, but at the same time one of the most screwed-up. To put it simply, I had to recommend and sell mobile phone plans and mobile phones to customers, and as you can imagine some of these customers were less than friendly. Throw in 6-day work weeks, random off days and unruly/demanding customers and you have a situation that tests your patience and limits at every turn. I will be the first to say I profited immensely from the experience and emerged a more patient and understanding person with a lot more anime merchandise than before, but these improvements came at a cost.

6-day work weeks and random off days meant that I am hardly if ever out on weekends. It was a bit of a shock and it took me time to get used to not having my weekends free. That happened because I was used to having our group of friends meeting up nearly every week for outings and dinner, and my family always had dinner together on Sundays. Luckily, my family and friends were understanding and kind, with my parents never uttering a single word of complaint about how their son was perpetually missing at the dining table, while my friends actively took the time out to have supper with me after my work, or arranging meet-ups on my off days whenever they could. For the past five months or so, I was painfully aware that people around me were adjusting their schedule and timing to accommodate my own, and I am extremely honoured and grateful for that. Really, in the situation that I found myself in, one could not ask for more.

So, I offer a big “thank you” to all who pulled me through this challenging period of time. You have no idea how much those supper sessions and weekday meet-ups meant to me, but they really helped me throughout the past five months. I don’t need to name any names, you know who you are. XD

I only hope I can offer the same sort of support if you guys ever need it, because that is the least I can do for you guys.

And of course, I must thank Nana-chan for all her morale-boosting songs. And her pictures that always gets me recharged at the end of a lousy day. I think I am starting to sound like a stalker.

Anyway, the monthly Seiup feature will be up tomorrow. Please stay tuned for that.

This is Julius Firefocht, signing off.