So I was hoping to stay with friends while I’m back in Singapore, but that doesn’t look like it will happen anymore. Unfortunately in my infinite wisdom I neglected to make very many friends with guys while I was on exchange. Apparently my girl friends’ boyfriends don’t really appreciate them offering to have me stay over.
How frustrating. Now this trip will cost an extra $500 or so. Oh well, I already booked the hostel. Now let’s just hope this trip is worth it at the new price point.
I miss:
- Jessie
- Sophie
- Daisy
- Radiah
- Mandy
- Chelsea
- Florence
- Hawker Uncles
- Amanda
- Jenni
- Mark
Maybe this time I will actually get the opportunity to meet some other people with whom I’m now friends (Eugene). See you all soon!
PS: Apparently my company is looking for permanent transfers over there. If the salary is right, I may consider it. Just a heads up.
I watched a movie recently that had an interesting dialogue in it. I Can’t quote the movie verbatim, but here is the gist of it:
- Character 1: I really wish I chad more time to train so that I could be as good as you.
- Character 2: We are all given but 24 hours in a day. You clearly don’t want it that badly, or you would train. Instead you do that which is important to you. We all do.
I think this holds a lot of truth. I really wish that I had time to post on this blog regularly as I have a lot to say, but I just can’t find the time to do so. Others who are equally busy have been prolific blog writers (Amanda) for the better part of two years. So what do I do with my time? Good question.
Thinking about it, I spend the better part of my day working. I log only 8 hours a day, but I am awake at 7:00am, working by 8am, and am not finished lately until after 10pm. I sleep around 12pm, leaving me with 2 hours of unallocated time. This time I typically use to catch up with friends, study, or read. This is atypical though, as I normally have a fairly different schedule. Things have been different recently because I’ve been working in Montreal. I fly out Monday mornings, and fly back to Toronto on Thursday evenings. Effectively, travel time is the largest waste that I have in a given week.
When I am working in Toronto I generally drive the following amounts:
- To work: 1 hour x 5 days
- From work: 1 hour x 5 days
- Errands: 45 minutes x 7 days
- Visit friends: 1 hour each way x 2 days (4 hours)
- Visit girlfriend: 1 hour each way (2 hours)
- TOTAL: 21.25 hours
Incredible. No wonder my car is ~30,000km heavier since I bought it in January.
Filed under: Thoughts, Work | Tags: Big Brother, Clients, Firewall, internet, Stop watching what I do, trouble, Websense
You know, I don’t particularly enjoy it when there is censor involved in any media type. This may contradict my mostly favourable views on Singapore, considering they are a nation keen on censoring information, but that is something that I have come to accept. However, censoring my access to certain websites at work is not a valid use of corporate resources. I spent far more time circumventing the firewalls that I ever would have browsing ‘restricted’ websites.
What I really dislike is the overzealous nature of most filters. Is it convenient that the client’s firewall blocks mrexcel.com/board, a forum dedicated to Microsoft Excel. Even Adobe.com was blocked, which I found out when I tried to download the trial version of Adobe Flash CS4 to help complete my work. Oh, what a world we live in.
Interestingly enough, at another project site, there are two delivery firms working for the client. Our competitors are running the PMO office, so they decided it would be worth 3 weeks of effort to monitor our internet usage by user, and present a report to the client outlining just how much time we had wasted, despite being ahead of schedule. I suggested we publish a report outlining how they wasted 3 weeks watching us…
And just so you know, the lack of postings coincides fairly timely with my current project start date. I just really don’t feel like blogging once I get home, it tends to be more of a spur of the moment thing while I sit at work and think of other things.
Yet there is one thing that I ought to get to, and I thought this would be an appropriate preface.
I was just browsing through some statistics on the company intranet, and they publish this lovely statistic that shows the percentage of employees that have a more recent start-date than yourself. It turns out that nearly 10% of my co-workers have joined after me. Fancy that… And I joined in June.
You know, once you start working you begin to think of what the firm can do for you. Right now, I’m trying to think of a way that I can visit Singapore on another occasion, but have my company pay for it. The question is, then, how to do that. I think the key is to find a training session in either Malaysia, Singapore, or Australia that I can apply for.
Then I just add on a couple of extra days for traveling around. Mwahhaha.
Anyone familiar with the courses that are offered by SAP that I could take down there?
Do you ever find that you come into work and really don’t feel like doing much? Well, I felt that way all of last week. This week, things are different. I have a new perspective going forward, and I feel that I should just do my best with whatever is given to me. I think this is a better way to look at things, and will be better for my (and another’s) future.
You know, interestingly, I think my drive at work is directly correlated to my mood. If I’m in a very good mood, then I work harder and better. If I’m in not so good of a mood, my work production is slower.
At least I know who to talk to if I want to stay happy 
.
Filed under: Love, Thoughts, Work | Tags: Life, Mistakes, Regret, Singapore, Work
Do you ever find that it seems like you are walking on the smallest tightrope, where any misstep will send you careening to your untimely demise? I feel like that presently, and in two different and distinct situations. And yet, despite the very real presence of unmitigated catastrophe, the rewards for both are much more than worth the risk.
One of these has to do with work. I am trying to balance all of my deliverables for two projects, trying to get staffed on either, but trying to do as much as possible. I’m trying to do whatever is possible to get myself early promotion. I need to be as effective as I can within the next 8 months to do this. 8 months for a promotion will be challenging, but it is something that I want to do. Once that is done, I should be much more readily able to secure a job in Singapore.
The other has nothing to do with work, and is of a much more personal nature. There are times where things that have happened in the past come to cause you nothing but grief. Although you aren’t regretful for what you have done, you somehow wish that they had not happened so that others could be more comfortable. This cannot be the case, as the past is unchangeable. It is something that we must deal with, and something that makes us who we are today. If the past had not happened, we wouldn’t be us. For example, if you care about me, then you must also realize that all of the events that have transpired in my life have caused me to become the person that I am. Dislike the events if you must, but they are what have helped to form my current state.
In any event, I just hope that I can keep on walking this fine line in both aspects of my life until there is a sufficient net that I can fall into if I make a mistake. Right now I feel like if I make a mistake, I will never be able to try again.
In numbers, here is the damage:
- Gross Pay: $4,500/month
- Taxes: $1,600/month – Rem $3,400
- Loan Payments: $1,600/month – Rem $1,800
- Trip Savings: $700/month – Rem $1,100
- Car Insurance: $250/month – Rem $850
- Gasoline: $300/month – Rem $550
- Phone: $100/month – Rem $450
- Toll Highway: $200/month – Rem $250
That is roughtly $8.33/day for a standard 30 day month. This is why I don’t understand how people can afford to be out shopping every day.
I ran into a friend of mine from Ivey who I hadn’t seen in about a year and a half. We were both on the Executive committee of the Western Aviation Association back in 2nd year. He’s now working as a consultant for Mercer, and I’m doing consulting for Accenture. Pretty neat. It turns out that he met a girl on the train who is 32, and they’ve started dating. I had a little laugh to myself, as I recently met a 27 year old who I just think is the best thing since sliced bread. Who says age is a problem?
On another note, I had another interesting conversation at work today. It turns out that the project that I’m on was going to hire another Analyst, but I managed to forestall that. I committed to finishing the duties of two people so that I could better place myself strategically. I’m the only Analyst on the project, and I report directly to two Managers and a Senior Executive. One of the Managers happens to be one of the 3 lead people in my line of business (the other two are my mentor, and my career counselor respectively). The Senior Executive on the project is their boss. There are 4 people that sit in on promotions calls. Yup, you guessed right, those four.
My Project Manager tells me that it’s a good thing that I am on great terms with the 3 who run my practice area, and that if I get on good terms with the Senior Executive, that I will have absolutely no problem getting promoted in March rather than waiting until March 2010. Woopee!
Conveniently, this project is set to end around April, so if I am listed for promotion, then I can leverage that to hopefully get me something overseas. You know what else? All of my sponsors know the practice leads in SEAAK (South East Asia, Australia and Korea).
Overall, a fairly boring day (especially because my client’s firewall blocks nearly all websites of interest), but I did glean some intriguing information. I’ve been on project work for two weeks, and already I’m enjoying the political game. Let’s just hope it stays interesting.
Communication.
How could communication, something that I value so much, be frustrating to me? Precisely because I value it so much, and because others unfortunately do not. In the same vein as other recent posts, I’ve a certain way about myself and how I interact with my friends. It sounds strong to say that I expect them to contact me every once in a while (read: every week or so), but I commit to doing the same.
Actually, what has been bothering me lately is people who don’t reply to things. If I send you something, I expect a reply. How can you just read what someone wrote and ignore it? I don’t care how busy you are (you’re likely not busier than me!), you should always be able to make time for a quick reply to a friend.
Another thing that I don’t really enjoy, is miscomminucation. You all know that recently I’ve been on the lookout for any single Asian girls within my extended circle of friends. This hasn’t been going all that well, and from what I hear, it is because people seem to have the wrong impression of me. They seem to think that I don’t care about people, or girls in particular. I wonder how such a thing could be, given my true feelings.
Yet it seems as if sometimes I unwittingly portray myself to be far more cold and calculating than I actually am. This has been inhibiting my chances of being set up by my friends. I need to find a way to stop hindering myself.
Interestingly, communication has also been playing a role at work. It seems that I am currently supposed to be in two places at once. How can this be possible, you might ask? Well, I don’t really have the answer. I just hope that this gets sorted out by the end of the week. I would prefer not to deal with the bother.
Oh, I’m also working in downtown Toronto now, at Bay and Adelaide. GO train to work nowadays for me. This means that I probably won’t get a place out in Markham, but having driven there so many times recently, I don’t think that will stop me from visiting.
Also, I’m considering making my blog visible on my Facebook page. What do you guys think?
