Year of busy-ness

This year has been the most hectic one of the 5 years of my working life. That means the highest grossing I ever have, and automatically, the most tax incurred, which sucks.

Early of the year was working at offshore Kemaman onboard MRC. Was actually got onboard on 1st Jan. Plenty of easy money there. Gansar, one of the wells that I've seen issue after issue.

After that was assigned to offshore Sabah onboard E8504 semi-submersible, the most live-able rig I've ever been. High profile job, world first BTR-s deployed. Did 2 hitches there including rigging down.

Right after that, made a solo trip to Xian. Hiked at Hua mount. Wonderful lamb BBQ in Xin Jiang style. Missed my returning flight. Lol...

Went to work at Labuan. There were some crews on VSS scheme. Had a wonderful BBQ at Pohon Batu beach.

Made a trip to Brazil. Spent 4 weeks there doing all the courses at Macae as well as Barra da Tijuca. Best part of it is none other than visit to places of interest around Rio de Janeiro.

Went to work in Labuan again.

Went to work in Gulf of Thai. Shit happened. One fuck up that caused the biggest mess ever that I've seen in my entire life. The silver lining, no one got hurt, and we learnt a bunch from a preventable incident.

Went to work offshore Miri onboard DD3. Did 2 hitches there. Equipment was not working properly. Thanks god there was no NPT and replacement came just in time. Stress but it all went ok. Too much of rigging. Good evaluation from Client anyway. The well was actually non drillable, even with MPD. Eye opening.

Went to work offshore Miri again onboard Naga 8, a new rig which is not even 1 year old. We're nearly drilling to TD in next few hours when a total losses occurred. Everyone was caught off guard. So happened it's at shift change time at 6am. Well kicked on us, and went into shut-in. PMCD was activated and got to TD. Gunk plug had no success, but cement plug did after the second one.

Going to go Noble Bully 2. Will be first time being onboard a drillship. Finally I gotta cover all types of rigs, from land rig to jack up, tender-platform, semi-sub, and drillship. Awaiting time to come back working 8-5 if opportunity permits. Anyway,  world first integrated BTR-s deployed, high profile again. Lol...

Snapped up commitments. House and car are in the pipeline.

Topped up stocks to nearly 200k.

Crude oil price has just breached the 2008/09 recession level, at ~35-40 per bbl. The cartel OPEC has decided to go ceiling less on the daily production level, than the original one at 30mil bbls daily. The whole oil and gas industry is in a gloomy climate. Lay off is nothing new. Keep finger crossed.

Finally a sure target has emerged. Let's go get it or break it. Finger crossed again.

Applied to Robert Gordon University, and a conditional offer has been secured. 50% chance to go for a master study in UK. Finger crossed again.

Still contemplating whether or not this offshore way of life is of any sustainability. Not too keen anymore for such unforgiving mobility / travels. Looking forward to a shift a path. No doubt that the headwind will be especially strong next year in light of industry cyclical downturn, lift-off by the Federal Reserve, against the backdrop where prices are hiked over and over across the board, life goes on, however the adversities are. So, keep hopes alive. Finger crossed.

Financially committed finally

It has been great to live with zero commitment for years, fear no losing my job, plenty of disposable cash. Gone are the days of stress-free on finances that I've just made couple of financial movements in just two weeks of time. 

While waiting arrival of friends, we paid an impromptu visit to a property fair, just so happened there was one taking place. and so happened there was one awesome deal, at least so I thought. I snapped up my first property, and paid the booking fee of RM 5,000. Housing loan was approved today, so it's pretty much a done deal. From hindsight, the way I've bought my first property is no different than buying vegetable. Almost minimal scrutiny or checks that I'd made...

After being turned off by the news that most imported cars will see price hike due to ringgit depreciation starting next year and so happened that Honda is putting up good promotion,  I waited no more and snapped up my first car. Loan approved today too. So it's a done deal too.

Was supposed to meet with a friend who is also a Great Eastern agent to discuss on life insurance matter, so happened that was a booth set up promoting the Public Bank Mutual Fund. Signed up to put portion of fund in EPF Account #1 to mutual fund.

Signed up with CIMB a Private Retirement Scheme. 

On the path to becoming a modern form of slavery to money. It's that much easy to snap up debts. Anyway, just hope that I could flip the unit in 5 years. Gotta keep budget in check now on.