Being sentimental for a change! ;-)

I out of sudden decided to blog in the middle of my data crunching fun - SOGA! ;-) Aron said my weblog is really outdated. Not that his is so much up-to-date - excuse me, you can see his postings of 2005 on the front page! However, I tried to ask myself: what does it mean by blogging less? I not only blog less recently, I haven't journalled much either. Am I becoming a dry individual who doesn't have much inspiration left? Thank god that I keep quite frequent touches through email with some close friends.

I have just spent a weekend in Prague (July 1 and 2) and another one in Stockholm (July 6-9) and come back to the office. The new team was still away for their planning week. Our team talked about AI transition weekend at our MMM (monday morning meeting). The pain of leaving out of sudden hit me. I could vividly remember the same weekend last year this time when we were about the start hell of a journey as the new AIs. I still remember how everyone of AI 0405 had red eyes in our office on July 31st, 2005.

What makes leaving AI a particular sad thing?! Just my personal opinions though:
Our life is a LOT about living with each other. 20 expats in Rotterdam - all I can remember are working in the office, team days, soccer/volleyball together, heated discussions at team dinner, endless meetings in boardroom, traveling together, etc. I know we'll meet each other at different point of time yet it'll be different from this year.
Who understands us? This has nothing to do with arrogance. I am personally not sure if I'll find other friends who understand what I am talking, know what I am reading, share what I am thinking. I sometimes don't know if I should open myself up to talk about my interests or keep smiling and nodding. I guess most of us are scared of losing such a social circle.
How can I continue to make a difference? Some people said that we are anti-corporate. However, the truth is that most of us end up in GEPs. For sure we are apprehensive about any potential employers - that's probably why some people think that we are picky. Whatever it is, we are just more clear of what we want.
Ending our term seeing holes: AI members are naturally ambitious and with big ego - imagine a fast tracking success at such a young age. However, AI's direct influence on this organization is limited. We can only sigh at those helpless holes. It somehow shadows a bit the victory feeling after an intensive year.

However, the GOOD thing is that every year there are 20 extraordinary individuals get to 'taste' this incredible journey. You cannot choose not to love it. And you always do at the end of the day. For many reasons... ;-)