6 month checkpoint...

Without fail, at the beginning of everything month I remark how quickly another month has past. I can't believe it's September already. It's already been 4 months since I started my new job, 6 months since I quite my old job, and 6 months since I've been 27! I'm 27 and a half! OMG.

The only good thing about freaking out is that it forces me to think about where I am now - something I guess I never really do. Since I've grown up as a gamer, I tend to think of life progression of an accumulation of stats.

Relationships
Significant Other: +, things are going very well amidst a change with my new job
Family: +, hung out with my LA family, talking to my HK family
Friends: -, haven't been keeping touch/seeing my friends that much
Co-workers: same, lost some old ones, gained some new ones

Career
Work: +, content is more exciting and diverse with new challenges
Learning: +, learning more and lots of different training
Income: +, making a little more, and spending a less since I don't pay for things when travelling
Opportunities: +, meeting more people and more interest from headhunters

Personal
Health: same, working out more but also eating a lot more
Fun: same, trading off some personal fun (RPGs, anime) for more group fun (movies, Wii)
Happiness: same, work is interesting but new lifestyle is definitely harder on personal life

The problem with thinking this way though is that 1) you end up being competitive about your stats, and 2) you have to decide if you want to be a well-rounded average character, or a super strong specialist character. I think these are both issues I just need to think about and maybe re-position.

I used to think that there was one category of stats - career. Naturally, overtime I realized that there was really more to life than that but still I considered career first - in some sense, I always thought I would be a "career specialist". But this past year my priorities have gradually evolved. I've been hearing and seeing how these people in Asia just work, and true, there's probably more opportunity and possibility of promotion by working harder, but I guess the American in me is really questioning if this is the right balance, especially since I really am happy when I'm with Songi. She's away this weekend and my life just seems kind of empty. Then again, maybe I would feel just as empty if I had no career.

Makes me wonder if there's some way to maxing out your career, relationship, and personal stats. I've always been fond of the well-rounded character.


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Btw, watching Comedy Central, and they just had a Girls Gone Wild commercial right after a Gerber baby food savings account (wtf?) commercial. There is clearly something
wrong with the way ads work on TV. No wonder TV advertising is in trouble.