Friday, December 28, 2007

the Rear-view Mirror

So I thought I'd do one of those corporatey things and write a "Year in Review" piece - like an overview of how the BPG corporation progressed over 2007.

2007 was a year of ups and downs... Um, have I actually said anything here?

Restart. I think 2007, for me, was the year of Obsessions (as in focusing on a single interest/passion to the exclusion of all else). Here's some of BPG's 2007 sessions of the OB:

  • Feb, March - Obsessed with my biz
  • April - Jun - photography and Flickr
  • Jul - Sept - Buddhism
  • Oct- prez - Obsessed with my biz.
There've been a few mini obsessions along the way too - reading fiction, facebook, apophenia, rugby world cup.

Obsessions are not entirely healthy creatures, but they're part of the BiPolar package - in my (head)case anyway - so we gotta take a position on them. Up until this year I used to fight the obsessive tendencies. Whenever I got really passionate about something, I'd dread the day that I would wake up (which was inevitable) when something new took its place and I'd have to wave Bye-Bye until Who-Knows-When. The impermanence used to frustrate the shit out of me.

I think that this year I've kinda made peace with the fact that I'm an obsessive. Like: "So fckn what?". Ride with the swells, surf the waves. ENJOY! I've also learned that the really serious interests ALWAYS come back. And hey, maybe its even a good thing that you have a break for a year or so, and then you re-unite with a fresh perspective. I mean, imagine the alternative - being friggin shackled to one interest yr whole damn lifetime (and not even really getting into it at that...)

The other Big issue of the year was the "Should we emigrate to New Zealand?" question, which raised its nasty head in about June. This is gonna be the ultimate goddam Y junction for me - pure "Should I stay, or should I go stuff" (my theme song courtesy of The Clash). I can see this whole issue is gonna play a MAJOR role in the next year or 2, and I'm not looking forward to the mind-wrenching havoc that it is in store. OK, so I'm not the only South African facing this horrible chasm, but trust me, being BiPolar just makes it a zillion times worse.

And I blame my ancestors for this predicament I find myself in. What the fck were they chasing gold in Africa for anyway? Did they seriously think we could just sail over, set up shop and kick the Africans off their own land? Africa, I have come to realise, is for the Africans. And as much as I try be one, centuries of ingrained european culture is never gonna allow me to. Our granddaddys shoulda stayed put in England and Holland, where they belonged.

Anyhowz, 2007 is ending on a good note - I'm back 100% focused on my biz and Miss L is now living with us again. And we're all getting on really well.

A Corporate "Year in Review" would now require a quick 1 paragraph wrap-up titled: "Prospects for 2008". And then the chairman of the company would say something like: "Providing the economic climate stays the same [read: interest rates, oil price, political situation, climate etc. etc] then the company should continue in 2008 with its good growth".
Ceteris paribus - the economists call it. Latin for "all things remaining the same". Which is why I never used to bother with Chairman's Reports in my days as an investment advisor. And which is why I won't be ending off with a "Prospects" paragraph here...

7 comments:

  1. Without emigration you would not have economic growth. The USA is a fine example of what 400 years of settlement can bring. Slightly tongue in cheek but you get the idea. Speaking on the behalf of my Scottish forbearers, they have gone everywhere and had an impact on their settled country. Especially in whisky production and consumption!

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  2. The courage of an overvriew. Well done. Your obsesssions have been helpful to track this past year. My doctors never know which to tackle first, my bpd or obsessivness. For me they're inextricably linked.

    Question: do you immediately move on to a new obsession or, like me, suddenly lose interest and fall into a depression thinking "I've just wasted the last f*cking months of my life on something I have no intention of pursuing further after having devoted every waking minute to making myself the world expert"?

    For me there's always that period of being without a purpose until the new obsession kicks-in -- a danger zone when I'm generally exhausted, feel like a total waste of flesh and a return to my ongoing research on carbon monoxide becomes imperative (sardonic emoticon here).

    One thing I hadn't noted that your post brought out: I too generally run a circuit of the same obsessions. That may be helpful to bear in mind during the in-between-times.

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  3. oh, faaaaaaaaaaaaacebuk

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  4. happy noo eer 2oo8, did i say it already? if i did, can't hurt to say it again, if i didn't, here it eez again:

    H A P P Y & H E A L T H Y N O O E E R 2 o o EIGHT !!!

    get off lamictal on schedule or be toast, if dawdy from furiousseasons.com after 17 years could do it, you can too!

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  5. & MEDITATE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT, MOFO!

    i'll make you a vid on how to do it, because apparently those nuns you've met in thailand didn't show you squat.

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