The Times They Are A-changin'...

The WHH came to Singapore to work temporarily back in September 2004. By December, the MNC decided that he was the man for the job and offered him a 3-year contract starting January 1, 2005. To be honest, I freaked out at first. It was one thing for him to travel over here every 6 months or so, but live in Singapore? Then, there was the issue of our "stuff" and the house. There was no time to have a big garage sale and then sell the house. We gave a lot of stuff away, sold the cars to CarMax, put stuff in storage, and brought the rest with us (bad idea).

The original contract ended December 31, 2007, but it was extended until the end of 2008. The guy who'd hired him for this assignment retired earlier last year, so there was a new boss and a lot of changes. Then about a month ago, we learned that there were even more changes... BIG changes -- we will be repatriating in April (or thereabouts). He's fairly certain of his new position, but we don't know where that will be. A lot of things still need to be ironed out. Mainly the "where and when" of it all, but that will come in time.

I am ambivalent, yet again. I miss our boys and our family and friends terribly, and it'll be nice to at least be on the same continent (even though air travel in the U.S. sucks ASS and I cannot say enough bad things about it, really!).

Beyond being closer to family and friends... the only thing I'm looking forward to is the possibility of me going to TequilaCon '08! Yes kids, if Geeky Tai-Tai is going to be on U.S. soil, she is going to get herself to TequilaCon '08 come hell or high water! This year it is going to be in Philadelphia. I've never been to Philly, so this is another "learning opportunity" for me. Another cool thing? You don't even have to be a blogger to attend! So, my sisters and my BFF's can join me there for a fun-filled weekend in Philly. I have every confidence that they will do their very best to do that because they've missed their Geeky Tai-Tai so much! (heh).

A lot of other bloggers have decided that they will have a theme for the year. I've decided that I will focus more on what new American expats can expect (not that I know very much, but I have actually lived here). I've also been working on a couple of lists: the good and the bad things for Americans living in Singapore. I may wait to publish it until after I've repatriated :D

I also want to get input from my blogging friends about what to do with this blog once I've repatriated. I'm not a writer (where my blogging friends are), so the freebiness of Blogger is a good thing to me, and it's been mucho improved in the last year. I can link to my pics on Flickr; I'm not a photographer, either, although I did pay for the pro account because I wanted a second back-up for them. They are priceless memories to us.

So, "the times they are-a changin'" and I'm in a state of flux. Not that that's bad or anything.

PEE-ESS -- The Shangri-La's aircon system has lost another bearing or something. That sucker has been yelping and squealing all day long. I could tell that they tried to fix it, but the bearing probably needs to be replaced. I'll be hearing that all night long, only to wake up (if I can actually sleep) to more stupid-ass jack-hammers in the morning. Nighty-night! ;-)