A month since my last post. A lot has happened, I got a job offer, I lost a job offer (well, not lost, but the role substantially changed to something entirely different and I wasn't sure I wanted to 'downgrade' myself). When you have been in investment banking, commercial (or horror upon horrors, SME) banking ain't really your cuppa tea.
I got notified of my bonus, or whatever there is of it, and went on a mental MIA for days as I took out my bonus frustration on quest upon quest of Sims Medieval - at least in the Sims I get Sims coins and wealth when I complete a quest well, I thought sadly, but I killed myself for a year for THIS SORT OF PAYOUT?!
I wasn't the only one, believe me. A certain sector head completely disappeared for days. You see, you have sacrificed, allowed your personal life to deteriorate, friends to dwindle, tempers to shorten, all in the name of chasing the payout, so you tend to take it very badly when the bonus comes out short of expectations. I wasn't the worst hit, I got promoted at least. And given regional coverage. (which means more trips to Europe and USA)
Management is in damage control mode, but although I have the best A class bosses (and I really mean A star, not @$$ class), I can't help but feel they were powerless to do anything in this case. Some idiot traders lost an unfathomable amount of money; the only small hint that anything was wrong was a tiny news paragraph on our bank closing down a certain prop desk in March.
I can technically still buy my sports car, but the tinge of excitement isn't there anymore. Because he bought a house over the weekend, and I'm wetting my pants thinking about the housing payments, although he has told me not to worry about a thing.
But a RM1.8mn house before renovation? OHHHMAYYYYGODDDDD.
Yes, exactly the same reaction when I checked into my bank account from Marina Bay Sands Singapore tonight to see my post-tax bonus amount. Can't wait to move to Ritz Carlton tomorrow. Marina Bay seems really ... pedestrian. We had to queue to check-in, and S has been threatening to tell me what the mainland Chinese that practically haunt that place do in the nice infinity pool at the Skypark. That on its own put me off going to the pool, so we just stuck to Ku De Ta.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
what happens when the old becomes the new again?
Just when I thought I could wind down after a Singapore marketing trip last week, I find out I have to go to Jakarta and Bangkok next week. I guess this fully justifies my trip extension in Bangkok to go raid Chatuchak again.
Funny how as you get older, you get fairly set in your tastes and ways and you keep going back to the same places. I have a very specific set of things to do in Bangkok - where I've trekked to every year for the past 3 years to pay homage to Chatuchak, Platinum Mall, the tailor at Amari Watergate and my favourite Thai restaurant.
Similarly if I ever go to Singapore, it will be a beeline to that Singapore seafood restaurant at the Singapore Flyer and Takashimaya's Nespresso for my coffee pods. In Paris, it will be the food hall at Galeries Lafayette, that quirky colorful shop at the base of the Sacre Coeur and the signature Laduree on the Champs Elysees.
So, in that respect, how would you view a possible decision of going back to a familiar place in your career? Arguably, most things are different, but some things will likely be the same. Would you deem it as mere nostalgia, a sure sign that what you actually should be doing is keep moving on and away?
We grow as human beings. I am still too young to have learnt the lesson that sometimes you may grow back into a place which you thought you have outgrown. But I am learning about it, and I hope I will make the right choice when it boils down to crunch time.
There are a lot of things I miss - it's now just making sure I can handle facing the things I don't like which I'm positively sure are still there, in addition to returning to the good that has changed much, and to be (hopefully) instrumental in charting a course that goes nowhere but upwards and onwards.
Or in an oft-quoted wise man's words with almost always a solemn look on his face - "To infinity and beyond"
Funny how as you get older, you get fairly set in your tastes and ways and you keep going back to the same places. I have a very specific set of things to do in Bangkok - where I've trekked to every year for the past 3 years to pay homage to Chatuchak, Platinum Mall, the tailor at Amari Watergate and my favourite Thai restaurant.
Similarly if I ever go to Singapore, it will be a beeline to that Singapore seafood restaurant at the Singapore Flyer and Takashimaya's Nespresso for my coffee pods. In Paris, it will be the food hall at Galeries Lafayette, that quirky colorful shop at the base of the Sacre Coeur and the signature Laduree on the Champs Elysees.
So, in that respect, how would you view a possible decision of going back to a familiar place in your career? Arguably, most things are different, but some things will likely be the same. Would you deem it as mere nostalgia, a sure sign that what you actually should be doing is keep moving on and away?
We grow as human beings. I am still too young to have learnt the lesson that sometimes you may grow back into a place which you thought you have outgrown. But I am learning about it, and I hope I will make the right choice when it boils down to crunch time.
There are a lot of things I miss - it's now just making sure I can handle facing the things I don't like which I'm positively sure are still there, in addition to returning to the good that has changed much, and to be (hopefully) instrumental in charting a course that goes nowhere but upwards and onwards.
Or in an oft-quoted wise man's words with almost always a solemn look on his face - "To infinity and beyond"
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Good Morning Sunday
It never fails to amaze me how different things can get in 5 years.
5 years ago, a person I never thought would cheat, now suddenly has put some doubts in my mind about his integrity.
5 years ago, a guy who used to hate *with a capital H* going clubbing or for any club events - is now making a living attending those parties.
Few years ago, A and I were seated in the grandstand, equipped with caps and flags in the F1 spirit. This year, I just want to rest and rest ahead of the busy on-the-road schedule again. Yes, Singapore Tues to Thursday - the only saving grace is we have managed to book ourselves the Ritz Carlton instead of dodgy Fullerton and cheap ass looking Swissotel.
*shakes head*
And have I changed for the better?
God only knows.
Waiting for our compensation announcements is what I do now, rather than waiting with bated breath to see whether I got a Distinction or Credit in International Trade and Investments.
If the money's good, I'm allowing myself a "reckless"-type purchase - having rationalized that I don't want to work so hard and make it to my mid-30s and THEN only have a mid-life crisis and spend WAY more money - so might as well buy that sportscar now.
He he he. Cross fingers?
Heading to Bodega for brunch with S on cloudy Sunday morning. Spirits are up, and determined to enjoy the day before the terrible week starts.
Have a good Sunday!
5 years ago, a person I never thought would cheat, now suddenly has put some doubts in my mind about his integrity.
5 years ago, a guy who used to hate *with a capital H* going clubbing or for any club events - is now making a living attending those parties.
Few years ago, A and I were seated in the grandstand, equipped with caps and flags in the F1 spirit. This year, I just want to rest and rest ahead of the busy on-the-road schedule again. Yes, Singapore Tues to Thursday - the only saving grace is we have managed to book ourselves the Ritz Carlton instead of dodgy Fullerton and cheap ass looking Swissotel.
*shakes head*
And have I changed for the better?
God only knows.
Waiting for our compensation announcements is what I do now, rather than waiting with bated breath to see whether I got a Distinction or Credit in International Trade and Investments.
If the money's good, I'm allowing myself a "reckless"-type purchase - having rationalized that I don't want to work so hard and make it to my mid-30s and THEN only have a mid-life crisis and spend WAY more money - so might as well buy that sportscar now.
He he he. Cross fingers?
Heading to Bodega for brunch with S on cloudy Sunday morning. Spirits are up, and determined to enjoy the day before the terrible week starts.
Have a good Sunday!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Nusajaya needs bees
The not so sexy part of my job involves travelling long distances to poke around dusty construction sites or view millions of boring scale models which start to look the same by the time you see Semi-D Phase 20 of the n-th housing development.
Avoid such a visit I can't, because its exactly what my job depends upon.
So it was that I found my bleary-eyed self in the back seat of the car in the wee morning hours, clutching a pillow in one hand and a coffee tumbler in the other, bracing myself for a long drive down to Johor.
Besides getting diarrhoea and having to make a pit stop in Pagoh, the journey to Nusajaya was a fairly uneventful one.
The interesting part really, was how much of nothing there was in all those catalytic developments in Nusajaya. While the residential part is slowly coming up, they still remain far out of the average Johorean's price range, and depending on Singaporeans to turn their noses towards this end of the Causeway to sell your houses sounds just a tad bit too high beta for me. If Singaporeans come, they come like bees. How many times have you just seen one bee buzzing around with no hive nearby? To be fair to them, their houses are actually very good and well-designed. If I were working in Singapore, I wouldn't think twice about buying a house in Nusajaya.
In all, the client I accompanied was a bit let down, he had hoped to see people, but all we saw most of the time was land. Clearing land, plantation land, dusty land, undulating land, golf land, land under construction, but seriously very few people.
I pray for my stock coverage sake that those catalytic developments in 2012 do not get derailed by change of government, change of heart, or change of economic winds.
We left at 5, stopped to have tea in Pagoh, and then arrived back in the city by 8pm. If my driver hadn't insisted he wanted to stop for tea and chat with a fellow driver he bumped into whose from an office building near ours in KL, we could have got back earlier. I think he fancies himself a pilot, the way he sped down the highway.
Luckily I was asleep otherwise I might have freaked out.
Lucky my boss wasn't in the car too - the driver might have gotten fired. Boss thinks he drives too fast.
Avoid such a visit I can't, because its exactly what my job depends upon.
So it was that I found my bleary-eyed self in the back seat of the car in the wee morning hours, clutching a pillow in one hand and a coffee tumbler in the other, bracing myself for a long drive down to Johor.
Besides getting diarrhoea and having to make a pit stop in Pagoh, the journey to Nusajaya was a fairly uneventful one.
The interesting part really, was how much of nothing there was in all those catalytic developments in Nusajaya. While the residential part is slowly coming up, they still remain far out of the average Johorean's price range, and depending on Singaporeans to turn their noses towards this end of the Causeway to sell your houses sounds just a tad bit too high beta for me. If Singaporeans come, they come like bees. How many times have you just seen one bee buzzing around with no hive nearby? To be fair to them, their houses are actually very good and well-designed. If I were working in Singapore, I wouldn't think twice about buying a house in Nusajaya.
In all, the client I accompanied was a bit let down, he had hoped to see people, but all we saw most of the time was land. Clearing land, plantation land, dusty land, undulating land, golf land, land under construction, but seriously very few people.
I pray for my stock coverage sake that those catalytic developments in 2012 do not get derailed by change of government, change of heart, or change of economic winds.
We left at 5, stopped to have tea in Pagoh, and then arrived back in the city by 8pm. If my driver hadn't insisted he wanted to stop for tea and chat with a fellow driver he bumped into whose from an office building near ours in KL, we could have got back earlier. I think he fancies himself a pilot, the way he sped down the highway.
Luckily I was asleep otherwise I might have freaked out.
Lucky my boss wasn't in the car too - the driver might have gotten fired. Boss thinks he drives too fast.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
the whole world is up in the air
So Gaddafi is still hanging on, while Portugal's PM quit in a row over the country's messed up finances. Germany is reiterating its vows to go nuke-free and leaning towards renewable energy, while the paranoid Swiss have been warned NOT to take them iodide or iodine pills to avoid jeopardizing their health in the absence of a speck of radiation.
Meanwhile some market punters are advising people to buy timber stocks on a reconstruction theme for Japan - a very good fact pointed out was that a good number of people are dead and more likely than not the survivors would be getting their asses out of Sendai and Fukushima faster than you can say Jack Sprat once they actually get their hands on some petrol. So who exactly would you be building houses for?
But I've shed tears for Japan, not because CNN's Anderson Cooper or BBC did a particularly good job of covering the poignancy of the situation there, but because the truth stood out even when no words were said. And today I cried again because I thought Elizabeth Taylor was beautiful.
I suspect its PMS but whatever.
Credit Suisse is taking clients to the Sevens in Hong Kong, while we're trying to work on upping our market share. My friend in UBS got a 60% pay rise last year and he still complained about a bad bonus.
CPO Boy and I were lunching at Shangri-La when both our peripheral vision picked up on Jacob Yeoh, heir apparent to everything under the sun. We had initially been speculating about the table he subsequently approached, wondering if those were the Rothschild bankers.
I was of the opinion they looked more 1MDB than Rothschild, but CPO Boy said they had an air about them. I still think they're 1MDB.
At this point I need to categorically state that our lunchtime conversation is in no way a reflection of our professional selves - in fact, we spend 13-14 hour weekdays working hard not to drop the ball, speaking to clients from New York to Tokyo, pouring our soul into writing kickass and classy reports that we're not even sure anyone reads, to be honest.
But its a tough life.
I realized how bad it had become and how involved I have been in work when I decided I wanted to have a little night out with friends this Saturday at Velvet and found that I could only call one person.
The rest would probably scream at me and say where have I been for a year.
It's been so long since our days at Velvet - I clearly remember our episodes of downing Moet (looking back, who the hell downs champagne?), becoming totally best friends with people you just only met and seeing them week after week. I certainly do not miss it, but a work-imposed hermit-like existence isn't very ideal either.
---------------
Oh bollocks. A reporter just called me and asked what I think about a new acquisition and I realized I forgot to check the stock exchange today after market close.
yeah, life is bitchin'. -_-
Meanwhile some market punters are advising people to buy timber stocks on a reconstruction theme for Japan - a very good fact pointed out was that a good number of people are dead and more likely than not the survivors would be getting their asses out of Sendai and Fukushima faster than you can say Jack Sprat once they actually get their hands on some petrol. So who exactly would you be building houses for?
But I've shed tears for Japan, not because CNN's Anderson Cooper or BBC did a particularly good job of covering the poignancy of the situation there, but because the truth stood out even when no words were said. And today I cried again because I thought Elizabeth Taylor was beautiful.
I suspect its PMS but whatever.
Credit Suisse is taking clients to the Sevens in Hong Kong, while we're trying to work on upping our market share. My friend in UBS got a 60% pay rise last year and he still complained about a bad bonus.
CPO Boy and I were lunching at Shangri-La when both our peripheral vision picked up on Jacob Yeoh, heir apparent to everything under the sun. We had initially been speculating about the table he subsequently approached, wondering if those were the Rothschild bankers.
I was of the opinion they looked more 1MDB than Rothschild, but CPO Boy said they had an air about them. I still think they're 1MDB.
At this point I need to categorically state that our lunchtime conversation is in no way a reflection of our professional selves - in fact, we spend 13-14 hour weekdays working hard not to drop the ball, speaking to clients from New York to Tokyo, pouring our soul into writing kickass and classy reports that we're not even sure anyone reads, to be honest.
But its a tough life.
I realized how bad it had become and how involved I have been in work when I decided I wanted to have a little night out with friends this Saturday at Velvet and found that I could only call one person.
The rest would probably scream at me and say where have I been for a year.
It's been so long since our days at Velvet - I clearly remember our episodes of downing Moet (looking back, who the hell downs champagne?), becoming totally best friends with people you just only met and seeing them week after week. I certainly do not miss it, but a work-imposed hermit-like existence isn't very ideal either.
---------------
Oh bollocks. A reporter just called me and asked what I think about a new acquisition and I realized I forgot to check the stock exchange today after market close.
yeah, life is bitchin'. -_-
Thursday, March 10, 2011
its a love-hate thing
Today I scream and whine and moan and bleat about having to call the two most idiotic clients on earth - and slink away for a corporate lunch feeling absolutely depressed.
But suddenly as a result of that lunch, I get sent to... guess where....
Tokyo!!!!!
Again. For the 2nd time in 5 months. The reason why I'm so excited is because:-
1) Yesterday's cursory check for a 5 night holiday package for two in the cheapest option hotel in MASHolidays website cost RM22,906. Flying economy too.
2) I get to hunt down the fantastic sharks fin broth in Tokyo Station and whack and whack as much as I can
3) I get to go to that back lane alley in Tsukiji market and have that bloody fantastic sashimi rice.
4) Head to Laduree and Nenrinya at Ginza and buy back boxes and boxes of macarons and baumkuchens
Dammit I'm drooling already.
Oh, well and of course, there's work too.
Yeah.
But suddenly as a result of that lunch, I get sent to... guess where....
Tokyo!!!!!
Again. For the 2nd time in 5 months. The reason why I'm so excited is because:-
1) Yesterday's cursory check for a 5 night holiday package for two in the cheapest option hotel in MASHolidays website cost RM22,906. Flying economy too.
2) I get to hunt down the fantastic sharks fin broth in Tokyo Station and whack and whack as much as I can
3) I get to go to that back lane alley in Tsukiji market and have that bloody fantastic sashimi rice.
4) Head to Laduree and Nenrinya at Ginza and buy back boxes and boxes of macarons and baumkuchens
Dammit I'm drooling already.
Oh, well and of course, there's work too.
Yeah.
Monday, March 7, 2011
square one
It's funny how you can go round the world but end up coming back to square one, right where you left off not awhile ago.
Case in point - The contractors, after hacking about half the kitchen floor, hacked right back to the doorstep of the entrance to my home, and realized the leak was less than 20cm away from where they started digging. If only they had dug 20cm in that direction, they would have found that leak 3 weeks ago.
Case in point number 2 - I keep telling myself I do not need a coffee machine after spotting the sleekest black and aluminum Nespresso machine in Hong Kong 6 months ago, on my first marketing trip. I go everywhere, unable to put lingering wants to rest, and end up buying the coffee machine and 25 sleeves (of 10 capsules, ie 250 cups of coffee) in the same shop in Hong Kong's IFC mall where I first saw it.
A splurge definitely. But a splurge I've worked hard for this year. And anything that helps me wake up in the morning helps me work better too.
*rationalizes the exorbitant purchase well*
----------------------
I start work tomorrow. Bring on the 2 and a half month countdown, baby!
Nothing can derail this conviction, ever.
Case in point - The contractors, after hacking about half the kitchen floor, hacked right back to the doorstep of the entrance to my home, and realized the leak was less than 20cm away from where they started digging. If only they had dug 20cm in that direction, they would have found that leak 3 weeks ago.
Case in point number 2 - I keep telling myself I do not need a coffee machine after spotting the sleekest black and aluminum Nespresso machine in Hong Kong 6 months ago, on my first marketing trip. I go everywhere, unable to put lingering wants to rest, and end up buying the coffee machine and 25 sleeves (of 10 capsules, ie 250 cups of coffee) in the same shop in Hong Kong's IFC mall where I first saw it.
A splurge definitely. But a splurge I've worked hard for this year. And anything that helps me wake up in the morning helps me work better too.
*rationalizes the exorbitant purchase well*
----------------------
I start work tomorrow. Bring on the 2 and a half month countdown, baby!
Nothing can derail this conviction, ever.
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