Great coworkers

I recently came across Penelope Trunk's website when hf shared her happiness project, and the theory of having friends vs. Vulnerability.

She has now become my read during my incomprehensible statistics class.

I especially liked this one today:

"Your assistant is not someone whose top priority is to do the job you don't want to do.

He or she should be someone you want access to because their presence improves your day; someone you have always wanted to make your workday great."

I wish I had been that someone to somebody. Though so far, it seems that an assistant is primarily an extra pair of hands for somebody.

Push back

My client sometimes ask us to do the most ridiculous things - to the point that we are like their slaves, at their every beck and call.

I told my juniors to take a minute to think, before agreeing to do everything. We don't have to do everything, and certainly not by TODAY, certainly not when the request comes in at 5.30pm on a Friday night.

Research is not A&E department - so if it doesn't kill anybody, just push back and give a reasonable time to attend to that request.

Voice out if it can't be done - there's no wrong in that.

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The announcement made on Tuesday morning was depressing, as well as shocking.

All along we were assured and reassured that we will brave the weather together, but this is apparently not the case.

I probably love my colleagues more than the work I do - good relationships make working more bearable.

Being at work on tuesday was not as pleasant. All the textbook cases of how layoffs affect staff morale, it's all true. I couldn't make myself focus at work, and didn't want to stay up to finish up the work.

It's good that jason asked me out to grab a bite and drinks. Beirut at lkf had this middle eastern mystery feel to it, with lotsa gwailos drinking and smoking shishas, and looking so happy.

My thoughts kept running back to the scenes this morning. Even in such a relaxed atmosphere, I couldn't let go. It hurt to see them leave - the ones who are truly kind to me.

I asked jason if it's bad, unprofessional of me to let my emotions run haywire in the office, and he said it's fine, i just need to let it out of my system.

And that, i did,

coupled with goldfish eyes to work this morning.

vices

We are the vices team.

Just done with one alcohol report,

and right onto a cigarette proposal.

And I thought I finally have some days to breathe....

Time on my hands

I finally got some time to cut my fingernails today. And it's only because one of it cracked. I hadn't cut it in months?

It made me wonder how I manage my time to do everything else, but neglect some others - which can be really important.

Nail - cutting is important - the time you take for personal grooming is therapeutic.
The little seconds / minutes you sneak in to do mindless stuff - things which are technically not productive.

On the other hand, I had a productive day at work today - almost crazy. I didn't even have much time to go to the loo. Friday please hurry come.

I read two chapters of Tony Parsons' My Favourite Wife (which mich left behind). My aim is to finish reading this before I head back to SG. 16 more days to go. :)

my world is a battlefield

Every morning, I wake up, preparing to fight another battle.

I strut to the battlefield and find myself armed with literary ammunition.

Time is always against me and it doesn't help that you're in a foreign land.

I'm slowly being buried beneath piles of print outs.

There are times when I feel like throwing in the towel but something keeps me going

at the end of the day.

A friendly call, a few chuckles, the love you bring.

And I wake up to a better morning.

Survived my first week at work

Been in and out of meetings this week and

it's great meeting new people and sitting in teleconferencing sessions

Everything is so systematic here.

It's pretty easy to follow,

but I just need to get the workflow sorted out in my head.

The HR is organising a Wii Olympics competition which I think my team will most likely take part in

My singaporean colq has been extremely kind and helpful and it definitely feels better to have her around

My Hk colqs appear shy at the beginning but they're slowly warming up :)
Had lunch with one of them today and it was good

I wonder if age is catching up with me

I feel the passion in my team members towards research work and I always feel excited to meet a like-minded individual loves her job as much (or more) than I do.

And how small the world is - a sec sch classmate actually works two cubicles away from me and I only realised that on Thursday! She's been walking up and down and we didn't realise until we were introduced to each other - and then we screamed (in the office) - haha.. very typical of st nicks girls. :) It's good.

That is what's amazing about living - with some people, you tread on parallel lines. With others, the paths are crossed. Or perhaps, it's just a matter of time before all paths criss cross. Such is 'Yuan'.

Also found out today that someone intended to say goodbye. A goodbye I may have never known if not heard from another source. The news brought back a flood of memories.

All things take time.

First day at work!

First day at work

I need to brush up my cantonese.

Our HR is damn nice and they even sent an email round to remind us to have plenty of fruits and there are bananas, apples and golden kiwi in the pantry!

Still feel a bit out of place with everyone yakking away in cantonese in the office.

I've taken the step, now I need to do the climb.

Number counting

Clothing items to be shipped:

88 blouses

50 dresses

30 shoes

30 belts

19 pants

14 skirts

14 coats/jackets

13 sports wear

9 sweaters

9 scarves

5 caps

2 nightwear

A hell lot of toiletries and

1 Heavy heart

- - - - - - - - - -

The movers came by this morning to get my stuff. I'm finally done with packing (!)and filling up the inventory list for insurance purposes. Whatever I took 2 weeks to pack, these guys took 20 minutes.

I'm amazed at the number of clothing I have. Seriously I probably only wear 20% of what's in my wardrobe. Had to give two suitcases of clothes to yun for resale, and filled up another few bags of clothes to pass to her again.

Reality check - A conservative estimate of the value of all the items amount to 20k. Time to curb my shopping desires.

4 more days to go.

You're right - there're bound to be things which will be still left undone.

Today is a very sad day

'Today is a very sad day...."

That's the first thing boss said to me when he walked by my desk this morning.


I looked out, and indeed, it looked grey.


Went to Dempsey Hill to grab some bites and drinks at Margaritas.


Mexican food - haha - reminded me of my days in Mexico city.

Headed to Handle Bar for more drinks.

Spoke about HK, about relationships....

Boss gave this analogy which I quite like:

'Everyone has their favourite mug, but once their favourite mug has a crack, do they throw it away?

No, people then start to store their favourite mug in a corner. But what's the point of keeping a cracked mug? It's just a matter of time before you chuck the cracked mug away - so better to do it sooner than later.'

Well, he obviously told it more convincingly.

Mae said something else, which her shrink told her:

'People are always evolving and if relationships don't evolve together with the persons, someone's bound to be left behind.'

Boss also gave me a farewell gift which he kept saying I can have it exchanged in T&co singapore if I don't like it... but I love it! I don't think I can say my thanks enough for the times spent at I-A-L.

I don't like farewells - I cried my heart out. It's gonna be worse on 10th aug. gosh.

It's my last day

Here I am

on the eve of my last day of work

pen in hand

I clearly remembered my first day of work

where we had our first lunch

my first project and the ones that followed

my first overseas assignment in Taiwan

I wrote my 'thank you's to Boss and (ex) colleagues

who had been so extremely sweet -

he wrote:

'Dear all,

Poh Chin has decided to leave for the bright lights of Hong Kong and Synovate. In the long history, I have rarely tried so hard to keep an employee. Sadly, despite my every effort, she could not be induced to stay.

Poh Chin has been with us for over three years, in which time she had become a consummate research professional, mastering every aspect of the job from interviewing, to analysis, to project management and even business development. Her last day in the office will be this Friday July 25th.

She will be sorely missed.'

And I will miss them too.

Mulling over the options

When one door closes, another one opens

or in my case now, two more opened.

I finally plucked up my courage to approach boss this morning

white envelope in my head

one look at it and he knows what's going on in my head

'do you have some time for coffee downstairs?'

'Sure.'

Awkward silence while waiting for the elevator....

'So...you're resigning...'

'Yea, i've accepted an offer in Hong Kong'

Shocked look on face.

'This is not a good year for me.'

(I know.)

I told boss this is an opportunity for me to work overseas

he went into a rage

'but i've sent you overseas!'

I got pricked by guilt at this moment...

'I know boss.. but .. but.. '

'Well, is there anything I can do to make you stay?'

I should have said no. I should have said I've made up my mind.

And then he carried on...

'a longer secondment in hk? more responsibilities? anything?'

And i made the mistake of telling him the plans i made,

the route i had in my mind

to go from working in a boutique firm, and progress to a larger organisation

I love research, and I believe in the work I'm doing

and i'm lucky i have good appreciative clients.

I told him my old plan of trying to find a job in australia - to be closer to my dad, mr goh (when he studies there)

'What if we place you in the sydney office? You'll be doing something different in sydney, helping out our partner with a different job scope...'

Attractive... very attractive... it's an option.

and I hate making decisions.

This is IT.

This is it.

I have made my decision.

It will be a new direction,

it is exactly as I have planned,

as I have dreamed...

just didn't expect it to be Hong Kong.

I'm learning the lesson of letting go -

getting out of the comfort zone to explore new possibilities

giving up all the perks (frequent travels, extreme flexibility, etc etc)

so many loved ones, friends, things I will miss

such is letting go...

and I can't hide my excitement

such is the conflict of emotions in me.

wish me luck.

HK - BKK

it's been a while.


the one week in HK felt longer than a week.


watched SATC the second time in HK (uncut version) on mon

didn't cry as much, but laughed harder

TUES night: went for a dance class with zhijin

Choice of music: Falling out, by Keyshia Cole

It was way good. The instructor was way good. Couldn't say the same for myself. I've slowly lost the passion for dance. I danced thinking that my steps were not good enough. extremely conscious of my moves.

I should be dancing without any inhibitions. why didn't i?

WED: never a good idea to skip lunch. I had two dresses, one blouse, a ring, a thinning wallet and an empty stomach.

Dinner was at RED at IFC with Fion and Steph. Healthy fusion food - i like. So much laughing my stomach ached.

Got tipsy with glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon, and the world started spinning, and slow dancing, and i was ... smiling. :)

THURS: butterflies in stomach. I hadn't gone for an interview in years. I mean, i meet people and conduct interviews/discussions with them... but this is different - although I thought i did farely well. I'm surprised how at ease i was when i was there. please. make it happen. Before Sunset.

FRI: the 13th. Two presentations, same set of materials, to two different groups of people. Five hours altogether. My throat was killing me. I stopped myself from talking the next couple of hours.

Dinner at cwb with fion - this girl can't bear to have me away from hk. haha. what would i do in hk without her...

It started pouring - the red storm warning. My cable signal went haywire and images appeared in spurts and slow motion. Not a good time to stay home, so we headed out to beijing club - where (I curse the day he was born!) idiot man grabbed my boobie. The Jager bomb got me. I puked that night. =.=

and I realise i don't have tears no more. why?

SAT: Mega junk day, or supposed to be mega junk day. But the rain wouldn't stop. So everybody stayed in bed, until it's time for brunch, at the press room. And it's time for me to pack my luggage, and get ready for the land of smiles.

Wanton shrimp soup and a couple rounds of walk around CWB and the girls were headed to the ifc for more shopping and lotsa sushi eating. zhijin and eileen said i have to try desserts at 'sift' before i leave hk. Best i ever had. =)

It's becoming a ritual - to go prive during the last night in hk. It was still raining, we were drenched, but spirits were not. I cannot even imagine how we ran in the rain in our high heels. Must be quite a sight. haha

SUN: Yum cha and all those philosophical talk about karma, random talk about 90's cartoon, bryan adam music.

And i almost missed my flight again.

I was the last passenger to board, but it's definitely not the last time i'm reaching the gate on the dot.

SUAN LUM with eileen - felt surreal. Feels like we never left singapore. Sooo much to catch up on, in the span of a week and she's gone back to sg the next morning.

man, i wish i can be home.

Patience does the trick

So the long hours of work is continuing for another week

as Boss switches to Plan B

we're preparing the Executive summary

even before we're done with the main reports

I haven't been exactly 110% productive at work either

this long drawn warfare is wearing me out

Colleague asked me yesterday

when do i think all these will end

she hasn't been spending time with her family and children

she asked me if i have other weekend plans

besides working,

and I answered yes,

but work is my priority now.

Afterwards, I wondered how true that is.

Did I say it cos I want to motivate her to work harder

finish her part of the god damn project

or did i really mean it.

I know there's some neglect for family and loved ones

I will make up for it

and just hope that it won't be too late.

The lilies are wilting...

but I was in for more surprise

when the lily buds bloomed.

Cheer me up

Someone sent a vase of lilies to my office today.

The scent of the lilies filled up the entire office.

It is lovely.

I hope they last as long as they can.

Tis the reason I can't stop smiling

Hang in there.

The long hours are coming to an end.

Satisfaction report

Finally done with client presentation on this 3 country, satisfaction reports

clients seemed happy with the findings

more so because it ascertained their views of the market

and would be something useful for them to work on

hopefully raising their value add to their customers.

I'm happy,

knowing that the number of hours, and late nights i put in is valued.

I'm happy,

because, this project presentation

is bringing me back to Hong Kong and Bangkok

again.

=)

I'm happy too soon

because

my part two of my crazy working nightmare has just begun.

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Yet another spam email.

I'm still in the office. Tonight will be another working til midnight.

Couldn't take it anymore yesterday. Had to leave the office at 7. Not productive at all, so might as well.

Boss spoke to me about efficiency and management and the issues we should have noticed since the start of the projects. It's tough when you feel like you're working all on your own? Management hardly has time to manage you, and your colleagues don't support you. It's tough.

and i need to be rid of distractions.

Yah right.

I received this in my inbox this afternoon

Good Day
I am Mr Patrick Chan Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of the Hang Seng Bank Ltd.I have a business suggestion for you worth $30,000,000.
And I will prefer you reach me on my private email addressbelow;
Email: mr.patrickchan_2008@hotmail.com
Kind Regards,Mr. Patrick K. W. Chan
mr.patrickchan_2008@hotmail.com

I may be tired, overworked, and hallucinating a bit

but this is really a joker man.

4th late night in office

I'm going nuts.

It's friday night.

I want to party.

Private party in town.

BYOB (bring your own booze)

Call me

and we can blast the music in my office.

On a lighter note:

Qn: Why do farts come out from your butt?

A fart is an anal escape of intestinal gas. We should be grateful that we are not crinoids. The crinoid is a marine creature with a U-shaped gut, and its anus is located right next to its mouth.

EWw.

Haha.