HN Help: I'm lost

Excellent advice. I think often times when we feel 'stuck' there are a world of other options we are not considering. If things are truely that bad on all perspectives, it shouldn't be hard to find a partial solution that improves them.

Sometimes when your stuck in a job that is really wrong it poisons your mind and absolutely everything looks bleak. Try and think back to the times you were having fun and either change your current job to fit that ideal (believe me, you may have more power to do that than you think), find a new, better job (sounds like you have some good job hunting ammo in your books, code and HN karma) or start up on your own.

If you do the latter, just be aware that being your own boss isn't for everyone - if you read HN too much it may seem that it's the only thing worth doing but that's very far from the truth. If what fulfils you is hard-core coding then spending a large percentage of your time looking for clients/jobs, doing accounts, sales & marketing etc. etc. etc. etc. may just make your situation worse.

I stayed among some of the the most poor people, I stayed with most astute people. I slept on railway platforms, traveled in bull carts, I stayed with tribal and I visited different temples.

I realized that there is nothing in this world that can make me feel complete except my inner desire. In this journey i was only with myself and hence discovered what that inner desire was. The journey also gave me strength to go with it.

I think the best approach is to make a list of goals and start knocking them off one by one. Keep in mind that the economy isn't the greatest at the moment, so it might not be the best time to make huge risks (although that can work out to, just depends on your style).

Sounds to me like the following would be a good place to start with your goals:

1) Reduce or completely remove your commute time. Do this by finding a job closer to where you live, or move closer to where you work (or where you can find a new job). Or work from home even, although working from home isn't suited to all of us since you might really miss the day to day social interaction (if so, try working from various coffee shops etc.).

2) Solve the boss problem. There are a few things to try here. You can try speaking to him and letting him know how unhappy you are and that your relationship with him is impacting your happiness and that it needs to change. You never know, he might turn out to be a reasonable guy and you can figure something out together. If he values your work enough then he'll help you to make the changes required to keep you happy. Of course if that doesn't work, you can start shopping for a new job.

3) Get a hobby you're passionate about. This will reduce the impact that a crappy day at work will have on you. Obviously you still want to solve the job problem, but even if you have the perfect job there will still be days that depress you. Diversify your happiness.

4) Put together a financial plan. You've expressed unhappiness with your financial situation, so start small and put together a plan that will evolve as you learn and save more.

Give yourself some deadlines for your goals. Really focus on them to the exclusion of less important (but seemingly more immediate) tasks.

You'll be much happier within 6 months guaranteed.

Call everyone in your address book and ask them to have a cup of coffee with you. Tell them you're ripe for a change and see what comes out of it.

Get a job in Singapore and see whether any startup ideas/opportunities result from it.