2015 Wrap Up

2015 Wrap Up

Just having a quick look at the blog, I noticed that I tried to make a bit of a comeback last year while I was back in the US. With a whole 4 posts during 2014 and zero in 2015, I would say that the comeback to blogging was a pretty big miserable failure. Well, maybe 2016 will be the year… I wouldn’t hold your breath if past years are sets any examples.

There were a few big changes in 2015. One was changing jobs. I’m back working for a consulting company, albeit in an internal capacity. No external client work for me. It always fascinates me how some of these massive global corporations seem to be able to function so well on the outside, but looking under hood, there is a lot just being tied together with duct tape. Well, I guess that’s the kind of role I do now. Fixing things internally. I think this will be an interesting opportunity to work on a regional level and see how to better coordinate things with so many cultural and business differences. It's already been really eye opening working with people from different countries. So many things I take for granted or just assume is the 'right' way of doing something just isn't so.

We took a couple of amazing trips this year. The first big one was to France for a good friend’s wedding. I’ve been to Paris a couple of times and I never really saw what the big deal was. I didn’t experience the food that I had heard so much about and I just didn’t think of Paris all the highly. What I realized during this trip is that it’s not France that I didn’t like. It was just Paris.

In this trip, we went to the other areas of France, mostly Lyon and the French Alps. It was simply amazing! The food, the culture, the entire area. This is what you hear about in books and see in movies. Paris is basically a giant tourist trap, but go outside of it, things start getting amazing. I can’t begin to describe the amazingness of the food we had in Lyon. This was the height of French cooking (as the French says, it's the foodie part of the country and they were not lying). We didn’t go to any Michelin starred restaurants or anything. Just your ordinary brassieres and we experienced some of the most amazing food. There were flavors and combinations of food that I had never thought of putting together and it all finally matched what my brain had always imagined French food should be.

From Lyon we drove to the French Alps where the wedding was taking place. On our way there, we stopped by a castle built in the 1600s from an amazing concierge recommendation (this is the first time I’ve experienced the value of what a really good concierge can do for you). The concierge recommend a restaurant in the castle that had an amazing chicken dish (chicken with vinegar sauce and wild mushrooms) that was legendary in the area. He was not wrong.

The castle itself was pretty amazing. There has been very little done to modernize it so it kept most of its old characters. The upkeep has been well kept as I believe people actually lived inside the castle. It was a classic spiral wall design that made attackers go through a spiral walkway of death as they try to reach the central keep. Just standing there I could felt how difficult it would be to invade a castle of this design. I love looking at the archer holes in the windows and the areas where there would be bottlenecks where pots of oil would be dumped on invaders.

 

We then made our way to the French Alps. I have seen these types of villages in movies and TV, but so amazing to see it live. Have a look below. It’s exactly like how it would be in a movie. I don't think picture does it justice, but just take my word for how gorgeous it is. We got to meet up with some old friends at the wedding and met some new ones. We met some really nice French peeps who also didn’t like Paris (which I was so happy to hear). They thought Parisians are all rude and France (and the world) centers around them (which is exactly my compliant about them). I thoroughly enjoyed dancing till the sun came up with them. 

Shortly after we went to France, we went to Taiwan for a wedding. It’s been about 10 years since I’ve been back and overall, this is probably my favorite trip back ever. There’s a lot to write about so I’ll leave it for another post. See, I’m trying to comeback with more posts already.

One big accomplishment I checked off this year was going to Ibiza. Clubbing capital of the world. I really wanted to go before I became the creepy old guy. I had so many expectations of Ibiza, mostly from reading magazines all these years, so many were spot on and so many were just completely wrong. It was an amazing time and I’m so glad that I got to check that off the list. I’ll leave the details for another post as well so we can get into it more. I’m sure future me will enjoy reading it.

Everytime I travelled, and when I see tragedies unfold around the world, I keep having a recurring thought. As I visit more and more of the world, what I find is that people are all mostly the same. Everyone want the same things. What’s most important in life is not trying to please some imaginary ‘God’ or anyone else for that matter. Good food, good family and friends, laughter and love. That is all that's important for everyone. If we concentrate on this, and just this, our world would become a much better place. Maybe then we can focus on bigger issues that we will all have to face soon (i.e., climate change). If we can't even agree on these basic things, we have no hope of working together against such a huge global challenge.

 

Much like the last few years, I have been thoroughly lucky in my life with so much love and laughter. Like everyone else, there’re always a couple of little bumps, but they just make things interesting. It’s amazing when you know you have someone supporting you unconditionally, you never have to worry that much about anything that comes up.

 

We have some amazing trips planned for 2016. Hopefully I’ll get it together to write it all up and share the fun details.

Oh, the new Star Wars came out this year (last week actually). What a rush to see it in the theaters again and so excited that it was a great movie. I really believe this was the best movie that they could’ve made that satisfied both the geeks and the general public. Well done you.

Pup’s had a few surgeries this year, but am happy to report that he’s better than ever. He still sits around thinking about things that shouldn’t be published, but I think he’s mellowing out a bit more lately. I think it helps that the rabbit and the moose help talk him down and distracts him with their general silliness.

Much like the last few years, I have been thoroughly lucky in my life with so much love and laughter. Like everyone else, there’re always a couple of little bumps, but they just make things interesting. It’s amazing when you know you have someone supporting you unconditionally, you never have to worry that much about anything that comes up.

We have some amazing trips planned for 2016. Hopefully I’ll get it together to write it all up and share the fun details.

Here’s to a great 2016. To you and all yours, all the best in the coming year.