No, I absolutely insist that I haven’t been living under a rock. What’s that? Why haven’t I written anything in the last six months, you ask? Why, the very suggestion is preposterous! Of course I’ve written things! I wrote messages, and emails … oh all right. I’m just nitpicking as usual – you should know by now!

What’s been up? You do know that that’s a distinctly different question from why I haven’t been writing, don’t you? Which one should I answer? All right, I’ll make it easy – let’s talk about the former (don’t look at me like that – the latter needs a bit more thought and probably a post of its own, that’s why!).

I graduated. There was a moment (or two) in my last semester when I earnestly doubted this happening. NTU (thankfully for my pockets, if not my pride) thought otherwise so there I was, tossing my graduation hat in the air, mixed feelings and all.

I moved out of NTU. This was a direct result of the aforementioned incident. Hopping out of the comforts (or occasional lack thereof) of NTU’s halls of residence has been a mix of resuming my intermittent kitchen experiments (which have gone off quite well) and walking uphill with perpetually smouldering pockets (thank you, rent in the most expensive city in the world). On the bright side (literally), my room is all sunshine and warm yellow lighting (goodbye, depression-inducing tubelights!). Plus, the house is right on top of a breezy hill. Even the street has ‘hill’ in its name, in case you ever forget the climb.

We famously got a wifi connection before any furniture, and in the intervening months we’ve gotten a second internet connection. On the other hand, the sole decoration in the living room is a run-down coffee table. Priorities, you know.

I started work. Mornings now find yours truly bleary-eyed (owlish tendencies are harder to get rid of than you may imagine) and typing away at a keyboard, surrounded by pseudo-cubicles of numerous other not-so-bleary-eyed folks also typing away (and occasionally requesting help with their Git repositories). Full-time programmer in a big company, indeed. And no, it’s the latest web technologies – I even get to go to JSConf next week! Who would have thought?

Incidentally, programmers are probably some of the slowest typists I’ve ever met. I mandate that a typing test be a part of the interview process (resulting in our collective speeding-up).

---

And that sums it just about up. I also traveled to Bali and Krabi with the significant other (both are wonderful, as is she). I see a pattern emerging – I should discreetly suggest a destination with a name ending in a high front unrounded vowel for the next adventure.

Oh, and I also changed my name (at Starbucks’ behest). Say hello to Jahim, everyone!