Stars aligning
I'm on the downward slope from a real boom period in business for me. Work should taper off somewhat till I'll be leaving on a jetplane to China. The last two years have both had a nice, profitable October-November period before my hours take a plunge at the end of this year and the start of the next. Complicating work will be hopping over the GST threshold - and taking a likely paycut as a response. This naturally should drive me to work more and harder - and if work continues its expansion, the chance of perhaps getting someone else on board. For me, that is a scary matter.
On the pessimistic side of things, I'll be losing at least one student over the New Year and there is always the worst case scenario of getting GST registered but have a drop in hours to the point where you're well under the threshold!
My imminent trip to China has spurred me into studying Chinese like there was no tomorrow. Earlier in the year I nurtured hope of taking the Advanced proficiency test, but my motivation ebbed and I couldn't study while my free time was consumed more and more by work. Now I find that even with a heavy schedule, making time to study is not an issue. It is funny how when you have the right motivation, things that seemed difficult can ease tremendously.
Spring has turned out to be turbulently nice. There have been some pearlers amongst the rough. I'm a bit sad to be missing out on a third of the summer. I had better get all my swimming and bush-walking out of the way before going just in case conditions aren't as favourable when I get back!
5 comments:
When are you out of the country? I would also like to get some tramping and philosophical discussion in during the summer :-)
We're leaving on the 15th December for China and will be back on the 13th January. And yes, I'm a little bit concerned that my summer may escape without a decent walk and its accompanying chatter.
Nick has proposed a walk on next Saturday, which is an option although if there is an accompanying throng (he is accomplished at getting a pile of people into it), it limits things.
Would you be interested in a Waitak walk?
Hey Daniel,
So you & Xin are going to China for a holiday?
Too bad that even though China & India are very close, it's not so easy to travel between the two, otherwise there are lots of amazing tracks in the Indian Himalayas that can make your trip extremely rewarding.
Although the weather condition in winter might make the tracks too tricky to walk I suppose.
Yeah, the Himalayas are quite high, I hear. The cold and the altitude are always issues when considering Tibet. It isn't likely we'll go there although Yunnan is a definite.
It will be a holiday but I'll be trying to convert it into a studying holiday. Naturally there will be a 'meeting the family' part to the trip as well as travel. A high school friend of mine is in Fujian and I am weighing up going to see him (it's a bit of the routes we were intending).
Cool, be sure to take photos & show me afterwards.
For some reasons I still haven't had the chance to see the photos from your previous trip~
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