I had graduated from NTU EEE majoring in Computer Engineering in 2001 with high hopes of leading a normal life, especially after getting my first job as a sales engineer. I even joined SDU with hopes of finding a wife, but it was not to be. I had started on a flexible online MBA with U21Global in 2003 and left my job in 2004 to study full time, but I did not plan well, and financial concerns led me to back to look for jobs again in 2005. Unfortunately, my mind, which was schooled into studying, could not relate the MBA I was doing to jobs that I could do. Undoubtedly, there were also problems already pre-existing in my mind, which led to my mental illness in 2006.
After I seemingly recovered, I was unwisely taken off medication by my psychiatrist, and from then on, even though I found several low paying jobs to work in, I could not stay long in those jobs. After trying out a security guard job in 2011 for several days, I had a relapse of my mental illness due to an inability to fathom how a graduate like me could end up as a security guard, I attempted suicide by jumping from a tower, and ended up disabled in a wheelchair. Although I recovered a little, and subsequently used a walking stick instead of a wheelchair, my life was never the same again.
I was in and out of a few jobs from 2012 to 2015, and had another mental health relapse in 2013 due to inappropriate medications. In 2015, I was blessed to finally re-meet a professor from NTU who helped me get a low paying admin/data entry position at a company dealing with foreign manpower. In 2020, just before COVID turned things upside down in Singapore, I was warded for observation for about a week due to a suspected relapse of mental illness. Unfortunately, my psychiatrist was wrong, and due to my absence from work, I lost my job.
Thankfully, I found a new job after 7 months at SMU as an assistant research engineer working remotely, and I'm finally paid a graduate's salary for 3 years, but I was unfairly terminated in August 2023 without official reason. I was only criticised unofficially for being a lousy software programmer. I've been officially unemployed since then due to no Singapore companies wanting to hire remote workers. I'm financially still viable because I had made a disability claim on my insurance successfully in 2011, and put the money in an annuity which is now thankfully paying me money every year. I'm also blessed to have a Christian friend give me some money every few months, and another friend who give me some money every month for helping him keep track of news and analyse stocks and shares in Singapore.
Health-wise, I am plagued by chronic constipation due to my neurogenic bowel condition, which arised due to my spinal cord injury caused by my suicide attempt in 2011. I've been taking medications to move my bowels since 2011, and the quantity of medicines used have grown substantially over time due to the medications failing over time due to tolerance by my body. I believe I'm now in the final phase of my life where my medical condition can be medicated away. When all medicines fail, specialists at CGH may need to implant a stoma device in my body to remove my bowels without going through my colon. Fortunately for me, my mental health is stable as I continue to take medications for it.