I divide my life into pre-report launch and post-report launch. No points for guessing which is my favourite time, but this weekend has seen my life return to some semblance of normalcy, one which I hope to extend through for the next week or so.
Had brekkie at a nice French-inspired place called Levain near Noble House (gulp! my 1st time moving out of my foodie comfort zone in months!), watched a movie (lordy, that's been long due!), had drinks with old friends in Ecoba (oh my god, nightlife!) had a leisurely dinner with my mum in Akari (favourite Jap haunt near my house in Solaris Mont Kiara)... Well I had to drive to freaking Puchong to attend a pre-launch of a set of semi-d's by IJM Land for work but still quite nice poking around show units than groaning at home over an Excel model or a blank Word document.
11pm before Monday, and I refuse to check my work email. I might have to pay for it tomorrow, but at least there's the gym session to get all the issues and any arising frustrations out.
9 more weeks to the end of 2010, and there's been alot to show for this. So much so I think I can afford to slow down the gears a little - mayhaps I will be working only 4 weeks more in November to put all the plans in place for what appears to be a one-month long sojourn starting from the conference in Tokyo end of Nov.
Konichiwa all types of sake and Tsukiji market - great start to the end of the year!
Then its a whirlwind marketing trip to HKG and SIN where I can try to locate the nice porridge shop down Hong Kong's Stanley Street and head back for a nice dinner at Nobu, soak in my favourite bathtub (yes i have a favourite bathtub) at my love you long time Ritz Carlton in Singapore, and then its off to hunting down a Goyard store in Paris, strolling along the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich, queuing up for the Boxing Day sale outside Harrods and watching Andrew Lloyd Webber's sequel to the Phantom of the Opera called "Love Never Dies" in London's Adelphi theatre.
My winter coats and scarves are all raring to go, and so is my exhausted little butt.
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On a quieter note, I thought of somebody this weekend, and I really really miss this person. I wish we could have had more time together, but I guess it is what it is.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
TKY-HKG-SIN-ZRH-LHR-CDG
If I ever want to quit my current job and join a property development company, it would be SP Setia.
Visionary conception and masterful execution. They win hands down and in my opinion I don't see anything wrong with them trading at a premium to the rest of the players in the property sector.
Two grade-10 strength Ristretto Nespressos, 5 consecutive days of working (weekends included), plus an all-nighter where I wandered bleary eyed out of the office at 3am, thought the better of going home for only 3 hours sleep, and just walked over to the hotel next door and charged a night to the corporate card.
The pain is almost done, and I've got only about another million client calls to wade through, and then its the weekend.
The boss really knows how to pull the puppet strings. After I pulled yet another all-nighter, (a different one this time where I stayed out drinking whisky on the rocks with a bunch of clients til midnight and then was up presenting the next morning on the conference call with a hangover the size of the African continent) he came up to me and told me they decided to send me to Tokyo for a conference.
Tokyo. Conference. It's only the last word I'm happy about. It means I get to eat hotel food 5 times a day and spend the rest of the time lurking around the buffet table waiting for the next meal.
Well, I probably have to do an hour worth of moderating discussions, but hey. Beats ole Malaysia any time.
So now I am officially away the entire month of December. Will be going to all the major financial cities of the world - Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Zurich, London and Paris.
If you're thinking "wah so lucky", don't.
I killed myself these 11 months for this, and half the time I still think it's not worth it.
Visionary conception and masterful execution. They win hands down and in my opinion I don't see anything wrong with them trading at a premium to the rest of the players in the property sector.
Two grade-10 strength Ristretto Nespressos, 5 consecutive days of working (weekends included), plus an all-nighter where I wandered bleary eyed out of the office at 3am, thought the better of going home for only 3 hours sleep, and just walked over to the hotel next door and charged a night to the corporate card.
The pain is almost done, and I've got only about another million client calls to wade through, and then its the weekend.
The boss really knows how to pull the puppet strings. After I pulled yet another all-nighter, (a different one this time where I stayed out drinking whisky on the rocks with a bunch of clients til midnight and then was up presenting the next morning on the conference call with a hangover the size of the African continent) he came up to me and told me they decided to send me to Tokyo for a conference.
Tokyo. Conference. It's only the last word I'm happy about. It means I get to eat hotel food 5 times a day and spend the rest of the time lurking around the buffet table waiting for the next meal.
Well, I probably have to do an hour worth of moderating discussions, but hey. Beats ole Malaysia any time.
So now I am officially away the entire month of December. Will be going to all the major financial cities of the world - Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Zurich, London and Paris.
If you're thinking "wah so lucky", don't.
I killed myself these 11 months for this, and half the time I still think it's not worth it.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Alamak
Alamak mati.
The first colleague from this bank just added me on Facebook. He's based in Hong Kong, and considered a superior, somebody I deal with when I want to publish reports.
I thought I was quite meticulous in enabling privacy filters.
Then I found out i forgot to limit privacy on photos that I'm tagged in.
Right on the last of 24 pages are the visuals of CPO Boy and me caught doing the shiny pinky glittery photo sticker booth pictures.
Cibai.
Who's going to listen to me when I talk about serious things now?!
The first colleague from this bank just added me on Facebook. He's based in Hong Kong, and considered a superior, somebody I deal with when I want to publish reports.
I thought I was quite meticulous in enabling privacy filters.
Then I found out i forgot to limit privacy on photos that I'm tagged in.
Right on the last of 24 pages are the visuals of CPO Boy and me caught doing the shiny pinky glittery photo sticker booth pictures.
Cibai.
Who's going to listen to me when I talk about serious things now?!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
we'll always have paris
It was my first social event after a long time. A kid's one year old birthday party. Wedding dinners usually don't count as social events because you don't even need to talk to anyone while seated at the table if you don't feel like it.
But kid's birthdays? Whole new different ballgame. It was one of the first ive been to in 10 years (thank god, im not THAT old yet to keep receiving kid's birthday invites from my peers) and it made me realize -
1) Having kids and a family is what normal people do, its a way of life
2) It's normal to coo and want to hug babies
3) Knowing what to say about a person's kid says a lot about your political savvy. Because even if the kid is wrapped up in a white dress that looks like icing on a cake gone wrong, you have to continue flashing your brilliant smile and say "absolutely lovely dress"!!!!
Did it make me want kids?
No.
It made me realize I have so many more things to do, achieve, see, smell, touch. It made me happy too, knowing that I have all these ahead of me in the future - a family, kids..
But whom with and how I'm going to get there is still out there in the wide unknown.
It doesn't stop the questions "So when's your turn?" from coming though - from his friend's wife yesterday at a wedding, from my family...
I always joke that he says he wants to wait to buy a house first and because all the houses we like are worth RM1-3 million dollars, I'll have to wait til I'm 40.
But in actual fact, I'm just happy we have Paris in front of us.
No matter what happens, we'll have Paris.
-------------------
And New York?
I'll always have New York in my heart. :)
But kid's birthdays? Whole new different ballgame. It was one of the first ive been to in 10 years (thank god, im not THAT old yet to keep receiving kid's birthday invites from my peers) and it made me realize -
1) Having kids and a family is what normal people do, its a way of life
2) It's normal to coo and want to hug babies
3) Knowing what to say about a person's kid says a lot about your political savvy. Because even if the kid is wrapped up in a white dress that looks like icing on a cake gone wrong, you have to continue flashing your brilliant smile and say "absolutely lovely dress"!!!!
Did it make me want kids?
No.
It made me realize I have so many more things to do, achieve, see, smell, touch. It made me happy too, knowing that I have all these ahead of me in the future - a family, kids..
But whom with and how I'm going to get there is still out there in the wide unknown.
It doesn't stop the questions "So when's your turn?" from coming though - from his friend's wife yesterday at a wedding, from my family...
I always joke that he says he wants to wait to buy a house first and because all the houses we like are worth RM1-3 million dollars, I'll have to wait til I'm 40.
But in actual fact, I'm just happy we have Paris in front of us.
No matter what happens, we'll have Paris.
-------------------
And New York?
I'll always have New York in my heart. :)
Thursday, October 14, 2010
running towards bajet 2011
All the young members of the team have been working late every night. At 11pm tonight, I was the earliest to leave.
In the run-up to Budget 2011 to be announced tomorrow, everyone's busy putting all their new launches / follow up reports in place. I'm supposed to launch a new report too, but I'm not panicking as much as CPO Boy (who can't decide on a CPO price), or Coklat Boy, who's company got suspended pending a corporate exercise which the whole world knows is a privatization, and which if it goes through, will see his current coverage universe reduced by 50%. (He has only 2 stocks at the moment)
The boss today joked that he could start writing his resignation letter as there is nothing left for him to cover.
So it is little wonder that Coklat Boy is heaving and panting to get one new company launched in a week.
---------------------
In a bid to build my fitness levels and get out of this fat rut I'm in, I am now a Platinum member of Fitness First, and have just thrown down over a thousand dollars for a personal trainer for 3 times a week for the next month. Coupled with the five hundred dollars worth of gym apparel, I've set myself back by so much just to lose 6kg, which is the difference between my current weight and my ideal weight.
Apparently one feels more energetic after a round of exercise at the gym, which I have not felt yet of course. Because I have been too busy squealing in pain everytime I move a joint in this creaking body. After 3 sessions, and I still feel like I got run over by a truck every time.
Or maybe its to do with the fact that my trainer used to train recruits in the Singapore police force for 9 years.
My mother is pleased - she thinks my sister's return for a holiday has influenced me to take up a much healthier lifestyle. But to me, nothing inspires motivation more than a belly that's getting flabbier by the minute. I am practically bulging out of my priciest cufflink shirts, and 3/4 of my dresses don't sit well on this lumpy frame.
-----------------
Weddings. Again. My college roommate just got married. My primary school friend just got married. What's with these people? Is it that easy to find true love? Where do you find the time?
In the run-up to Budget 2011 to be announced tomorrow, everyone's busy putting all their new launches / follow up reports in place. I'm supposed to launch a new report too, but I'm not panicking as much as CPO Boy (who can't decide on a CPO price), or Coklat Boy, who's company got suspended pending a corporate exercise which the whole world knows is a privatization, and which if it goes through, will see his current coverage universe reduced by 50%. (He has only 2 stocks at the moment)
The boss today joked that he could start writing his resignation letter as there is nothing left for him to cover.
So it is little wonder that Coklat Boy is heaving and panting to get one new company launched in a week.
---------------------
In a bid to build my fitness levels and get out of this fat rut I'm in, I am now a Platinum member of Fitness First, and have just thrown down over a thousand dollars for a personal trainer for 3 times a week for the next month. Coupled with the five hundred dollars worth of gym apparel, I've set myself back by so much just to lose 6kg, which is the difference between my current weight and my ideal weight.
Apparently one feels more energetic after a round of exercise at the gym, which I have not felt yet of course. Because I have been too busy squealing in pain everytime I move a joint in this creaking body. After 3 sessions, and I still feel like I got run over by a truck every time.
Or maybe its to do with the fact that my trainer used to train recruits in the Singapore police force for 9 years.
My mother is pleased - she thinks my sister's return for a holiday has influenced me to take up a much healthier lifestyle. But to me, nothing inspires motivation more than a belly that's getting flabbier by the minute. I am practically bulging out of my priciest cufflink shirts, and 3/4 of my dresses don't sit well on this lumpy frame.
-----------------
Weddings. Again. My college roommate just got married. My primary school friend just got married. What's with these people? Is it that easy to find true love? Where do you find the time?
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