7 Up -- part 2

28: Location -- Vancouver, British Columbia

After finishing my degree in chemistry I went to the University of British Columbia to do a year and-a-half of work to get a degree in psychology. Needless to say arts degrees are easier than science degrees, I don't care what arts students tell you. Once that was over, and the final rejections for grad school came (UBC alone had over 600 applications for eight spots), I was left with little direction as to what I was going to do now. So I spent a couple of months looking for a job and passed the time playing games at a nearby game store -- Mishra's Game Factory. Out of the blue one of the guys who was part owner of the store asked if I wanted a job at the store, not sure exactly why they asked me but it sounded like a great deal.

Thus started a phase of my life which to this day I consider the most fun I've ever had.

I was already there a lot playing games and now I was getting paid to do it, selling the merchandise as well as organising gaming tournaments. Because the store was a hub of the local gaming community there were people constantly in the store playing the various games and I got to know a lot of people: George, Happy John, Bitter John, Bryan, Mike McPhee and his group of friends (such as Mike, Mike, & Mike, no I'm not kidding), Dean and Liz, Byrun (whose blog I have a link to), Matt Nakamura, Uri, Orson, Sing, Aidan and Kerry, Fred, Dennis, Peter and the other card sharks (like Terry and Terry), and many more whose names escape me at the moment. By age 28 I had worked there probably close to four years, enjoying every minute of it. I was living downtown sharing an apartment with my high-school buddy Jake and since downtown was pretty much where it's at I never needed a car. Life was good.

But by this time I was also finishing my entrance courses to become a Chartered Accountant. After a few years at the store I knew that there was no way I could continue doing this forever. Don't get me wrong, it was a blast, but I really wasn't making any money, store revenues were slowly going down, and I was getting concerned that if I did not make a change soon I would end up being "Comic Book Man" from the Simpsons. My father, who I'm quite sure hated my job, recommended that I study to become a CA. He agreed to pay the costs if I would agree to do it so I did.

So by this time 1998 I had finished my entrance courses and had found a job as a junior accountant in Kamloops, a city about five hours drive away. I was going to be moving in about a month to start my three year apprenticeship before becoming a full Chartered Accountant. The days of playing games and hanging out with my friends in Downtown Vancouver were about to end. Even at that time I knew that I would never have so much fun in my life again. At least though I had plans for the future and when I got my designation I would be able to make a decent amount of money so that I can actually start saving. I was 28 and barely had a couple of hundred bucks on me.

35: Location -- Bermuda

After my three years in Kamloops I had achieved my designation as a Chartered Account, including passing the brutal UFE exam (16 hours, four hours a day for four days) on my first try. I was not happy at the firm so as soon as I had my designation I immediately called a placement agency in the back of an accountant magazine that specialised in jobs in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. Had an phone interview with KPMG within a week and had a job offer about a week later. So I was off to Bermuda.

Shortly after I got to Bermuda my father passed away of cancer, leaving to catch my flight to Bermuda was the last time I saw him. Between that tragedy, moving to a new place where I did not know anyone, and being really busy with work I can definitely say that it was the worst winter I ever had. I spent six months being miserable and regretting my decision to move here.

That summer I was sent on a three-month secondment to the Bermuda Monatery Authority, the financial regulator. I was working in their Insurance Department helping out with some backlog. I worked well there, and they liked me working there, so they extended my secondment to the end of my KPMG contract and then hired me. I was now an insurance regulator. I liked my job. And because it was summer I was experiencing Bermuda's incredible beaches for the first time. Things were looking up.

Three years on I was still there but had moved on to the Policy Department by then. I was staying in a three-bedroom house on the water that I shared with two housemates, had a weekly tennis group that I played with, was volunteering at the zoo, and had a number of new friends: George, Knut and Petra, Janel, Gregg, Mike R and Jen, Lothar and Fiona, Martin, Zuzana, Eric & Fredericka, and others. But I had been in Bermuda for five years and it was a small island, very small. I was starting to get what locals called "Rock fever" and felt like I needed to get away. Also the Bermuda Immigration Department was very strict about work visas and would generally only foreigners work on the island for six years. And because Immigration also required that any job vacancy be posted my work would have had to post my new position if they wanted to give me a promotion -- so there was little room for me to advance. So it was either renew my contract for one year only or start looking for something else. By this time I was still uncertain as to what I was going to do, but by December I had made my decision...

38 (now): Location -- Qatar

And here I am, and insurance regulator in Qatar.

Looking back it is bizarre the path my life took. At any point in time if someone had told me where I would be, or what I would be doing, seven years later I would have told them that they were nuts.

A lot of other people can really plan for the future. They can tell you what the be doing 5, 10, or maybe even 15 years down the road and sure enough they do it. I can never plan like that, I always seem to just go with whatever opportunity happens to come by at the time I'm looking for one. Can't say that I have done too bad by it though, non?