BKK and Work

Hi, sorry this blog has been left unattended for a long while. Appreciate all who dropped by to catch my updates. This past several months are my training months to get me ready for my role as Personal Banker in Citi. The training wasn't easy, in fact it was demanding. But with God's grace, I have cleared all necessary papers and is now back in branch facing the real challenges ahead.

But before work really begin, I took a break to Bangkok. Not one but two trips over the weekends. One was a company sponsored trip and another with some friends. It was BKK over-dose for me. Nonetheless, it was a good break from all the late night studying the last 2 months to just chill abroad.

Now that I am back and fully settled into my job as a personal banker, it is now time to give it my best shot. God has been good and faithful. I am having faith in Him to see me through the road ahead. He has given me countless blessings which I have jotted down one by one. I can only believe in His unconditional providence in the days ahead.

Penning off and heading to bed. It's only Tuesday and I need some rest man =)

Roadside food @ BKK (Grilled Chicken and Stuffed Salted fish)

Exams and such

It has been a while since my schooling days and it was indeed a struggle when I went back to the books lately. There were just too many tests and exams lined up, one after another, up to 3 papers in a week. Waoh, how can someone cope with that? To make things worse, these are stuffs which I never were acquainted with at all before. Economics and financial stuffs etc.

But praise God for His faithfulness to see me through thus far. Apart from the first paper which I failed, I have passed every single one since then - 3 externals and 3 internal papers so far. It was not a mere pass, many were clear distinctions.

I have many more papers to go but the route seems less daunting now. Despite the exam stress, I will learn to enjoy the next 3-4 weeks even more before the real work begin at the branch.

Citi is fun

It is 2 weeks into my training phase at Citibank. I am liking it a lot =)

These 2 weeks are pretty much fast-paced, with trainings and seminar packed throughout the day. Taken 2 exams so far, only managed to clear one, retaking the other again. There will be 2 papers in subsequent weeks and the pace is unlikely to slow down. I have not seen myself studying so much since a long time. Gd job so far but more effort is needed. Just so I can finish these 2 months fast and join my branch asap. I can't wait to be in the branch and get into some action. Exciting, anticipating but also a bit of uncertainty. But uncertainty is ever present and it is just that small bit.

For now, I am still in my honeymoon period. I am enjoying it here at the training. Thou there were some apprehension if I can click w the crowd here but I must say things are moving on great. It is a bunch of fun-loving and interesting people. It's a very refreshing change from my previous workplace.

With the packed schedule ahead, I am already sacrificing my tennis and some social activities outside. But it should be all worth it. So for now, just hanging on tight while I enjoy the journey.

Transit

No, not the bus company.

But my move from Engineering to Banking. What a move and what excitement it will bring about.

3rd Sept marks the end while 6th Sept marks a new beginning. 

Tomorrow will be...

An opening to a whole new experience or the closure of an adventure.

Either way, my God is in charge =)

Is the Well full of Honey?

Something is brewing and I hope it turn out well.

In Camp Training 2010

Finally I can get away from work. I can now understand why people would rather go for ICT just to get a break from work. Well, sort of for me. Work is still calling and I have to work on the weekend when I book out from camp.

But things may change if what I have in mind comes true. An opportunity is presenting itself which I am contemplating to give it a shot. Still, possibility of it materializing is not high. Too many uncertainties along the way. But I pray God will open the door for me.

The right attitude

Saw this quote from a sports excerpt...

"Yet this is what makes him great, the ability to find belief in the midst of sustained defeat"

How true! To find belief in the midst of sustained defeat.. not just 1 time defeat but sustained defeat... is a building factor towards a person character. How much I can learn from this quote and this sportsman.

This sportsman is Rafael Nadal. Having sustained injury, he has not won any titles for 11 months. I guess this is a long period for someone who was once No. 1 in world tennis, ahead of Roger Federer. Having such a long period of trophy drought, it is so easy for negative mindset to sink in. But this doesn't seems to be the case for Nadal as he rose up to claim the championship in the recently concluded Monte Carlo match played on clay court. This win also put him on history book as the man with the most consecutive win in Monte Carlos.

I need to have this spirit for my work if Honeywell is still where God wants me to be in.

On a side note, how strange that I can link tennis and work together.

Quick update

My social life should come back to life after this Friday's tender submission. So busy recently.

Managed to get a good perspective of work lately with the help of a friend and much prayer support from my cell mates. Thanks a lot. It will be just me giving it yet another attempt.

Looking forward to jamming again at SCS jam studio. Very cool studio they have there and it's a great way for me to hone my drumming skill in private. Looking for jamming partners as well.

Fri tennis to Sun work

It's gonna be 2 hours of tennis after work tomorrow evening. Fantastic way to end a Friday and to start the weekend.

This weekend gonna be a quieter. No mad rushing between activities, so pace should be slower. Sunday want to head for the first service @ 9am and likely spending the whole day working from home. Some work due on Monday and has to be done on weekend since the necessary information has not yet filter in from client side. Well, I just need to keep my positive attitude which has been serving me pretty well.

JIA YOU BAH.

Work

I spent 15 hours in office today.

I am working hard.

But this is not what I enjoy.

Gonna look around more.

Time to move on

I am looking forward to changes - career wise.

I have decided to make a move by rejected the internal offer. I will now start looking around for something better.

I am trusting in God's leading every step of the way.

On my way to work, I see...

1) The Marina Sands Resort taking shape everyday. Now that the entire building is up, it's time for the sky bridge. The sky bridge is actually assembled chunk by chunk. Each individual chunk is constructed on ground level and after it's done, it will be lifted up to the top by cranes that are installed on top of these towers. I read somewhere that it takes 24hrs to transport every big chunk up to the top. All in all, there are many such chunks to be lifted and assembled. What an engineering feat. Interestingly, I was so fascinated by construction since a young age. Always brain-washed by my mum to be an engineer when I grow up. It came true. Not a civil engineer thou. A chemical engineer =)

(Taken using my HTC phone)

2) Another view also along ECP highway. You can see the new vehicular and pedestrian bridge taking shape. The one for pedestrians is called Double Helix bridge. Once completed, it will be a world first (kind of double spiral bridge i think) and it should look something like the one shown like the last photo.

(Taken using my HTC phone)

3) A cat. This cat is just near my neigbourhood. Saw it as I was waiting for the traffic light. Nothing much to add on about it thou.

Limitations

You are in a bath-tub with warm water. Every few minutes, the water temperature increases by 1 degree Celsius. You know the water is getting hotter as your skin tells you so.

But the question is...when do you know the water is too hot and unbearable and you need to shout STOP?!? When is too much, too much?

Dullness

Work load been super heavy these days.

Doesn't help when u r having comm problem w ur Boss.

Drained & tire out for now!

Let me get thru this period and I will see how it shd goes from here.

Kind of looking forward to next monday now for I'm taking a day off for driving test.

Good luck to me and I really need that day of rest.

Work again..

It's a norm to find me in office even at 7plus - 8pm. Just like today, time is 753pm and I am still around. Just finished up a submission, so taking some time off to... blog!

Here's my workplace. Neat right?
Boss sits just behind me. A total of 7 people sits in this room.



Just the other day, I was down for Go-Kart at Taman Jurong, organized by a vendor. It didn't turn out too well, the car was controlling me more than I controlling it. Anyway, just got a souvenir from the Vendor today. Here's a pix. Yea, a controlled racing car.

By the way, all these pix were taken by my HTC Diamond and blue-toothed to my Laptop. Cool eh.

just existing for now

It has been such a busy week for me.

All about work. Spent ~12 hrs in office everyday.

Just glad managed to get a breather today, despite the fact I was still doing work at home :(

a little worried...

It's my work.

One of my colleague is going for maternity leave, leaving just me and my Boss to manage the workload. As I have yet to master most of the required skill set involved at work, I am worried I will be of limited help to my Boss. Poor Boss will need to do most work by herself. Left 2-3 more weeks to learn as much as I can before my colleague goes on leave.

Just hope to quicken my learning for now.

Late work + Gym

Have been staying back in office late these days due to the added work load that comes with my new role. But I am not complaining. For the first time, I am learning systematically and experiencing the joy of having mentors. I foresee the exposure I am likely to get in my new role and it gets me excited. However, before all that, I first need to catch up with my technical knowledge.

And I am making effort to make my California Membership worthwhile. I have been going down often these days after my work at about 8-9pm. The gym turned out to be pretty empty, which is good. Less crowd and no waiting for machine.

Tat's pretty much what I been up to these days. Looking forward to Vietnam trip thou :)

The Letter

It is hard for me to express in words whenever people ask me how is my work coming along? I wouldn't say GREAT, because it isn't so. But it's not in the other extreme either. Something isn't right but I just can't pinpoint what is wrong until a while ago.

Just a minute ago, I sent an email to my Boss's B. My initial idea in writing him the email is to update him on how things are going for me (He has been asking me time and again to let him know should anything be not right, or any matter which I need discussion with him. Read: He is a caring Boss)
But eventually when the email was drafted, I could understand clearly what gone wrong. People are 85% nice in my work place, but the structure in place is only 50% nice. As a new hire, having no structure in place to assist me to understand my job role is very unpleasant. At the very beginning, I even need to figure out myself what is my job responsibilities and how much to specifically go about doing it!!!

Whatever his reply to my email I am not sure. But I do feel relieved having made my situation heard.