2011 Review

2011 was quite a roller coaster year for me. Not sure why, in terms of health, I seem to be put on short term medication ( 2-4 months) again. Last year was the same but for different reasons. No more for 2012 please. In terms of work I certainly hope whatever I went throught this year was all for a better 2012 and more. No more nightmares. I picked up Bikram this year. I must admit I wasnt as regular anymore. Library of excuses building up. Relationship wise, mixed feelings. The only thing I am truly greatful is that I have successfully passed 4 papers this year and if I continue to maintain my passing rate, I would be able to get my ACII by June 2012. Not sure if this is how I should live my life. Need to keep that adrenalin flowing.

Trips

I came home and was greeted by an A3 size carton in the living room. Yay! my Kitson bags arrived just before the BKK trip! Woohhoooo....

I treasure the ability to just relax and surf net as we just completed 95% of the tender document due for submission tomorrow!

This is my second tender preparation but hey, it was already a stark difference from the first. Less pressure, more certainty and better support.

BKK this weekend with family!

Next month end I shall be visiting Xiamen and guess what? Back to Yantai! I am thrilled at the thoughts of meeting up YY and pals! Happy :) Gonna spend a weekend in Xiamen too. Never been there and will have to research a bit i guess.

Things have gotten to so much better.

Yayee...

Love Taiwan - First Biz Trip since I came on board.

I must say that i really love taiwan.

Havent really immersed into the whole country and cities within but the language, books, people and of course FOOD is enough to make me want to go back again & again...

It was a really intense trip and of course, my immune system broke down thereafter. I seem to have forgotten how to take care of myself on biz trips. Forgot to bring my Vita C, forgot to bring my medicine and well, couldnt get used to the pillows in the hotel.

Nonetheless, it was a very fruitful trip, the multiple back to back meetings with cedents and client was really enriching, not forgetting all the wonderful people i met within the week.

Best thing is, the team in taiwan is great! Im sure such relationship goes a long way!

MAde very good friends also.

Expected to work really hard this coming week. Glad that there is an upcoming "good friday".

Short week for me but there is so much that i need to complete.

Yawn but yay

Can't believe I left smu library at 120am on a Saturday morning. School was kind and I was lucky to have my exams coincide with the kids.

Was torn between filet o fish & apple pie and I decided on apple pie in the end. Don't think the calories are lower, I was just hoping so but one thing that pleasantly surprised me was that it only costs $1. So the price went down?

Can't wait for exams to be over!

Taipei, Bangkok & shanghai upcoming! Yay.

Maybe I should just drop the idea of mugging during weekdays. The unproductively coupled with work stress is a little tad too much. As much as I need more time to sleep, etc, I am very much in a mental game. I cannot wait for next week to come. The part when she is not gg to be around. I cannot stand the negativity and self fishness. arrgghh. And I absolutely hate the disruption brought by the renovation. I need a run badly. And I need to do food control.

有一好，没二好

Exactly!

Work has been getting more intense. What's worst? I'm working on a tender, I'm still learning my bits and pieces and I have two exams in first week of April!

I have been working till 8plus the last few weekdays including today. No big deal except that I am suppose to mug three hours a day after work and I do actually want to run! Not enough time, limited energy. And work is piling up! I wish I was faster. But I can't rush through things. And there are a lot that I don't know still.

But I cannot afford to fail my exams! That will break the mOmentum I built up so far! Most importantly, I don't want to waste $ and go through the studying of the same paper a second time.

It doesn't helP that my place is gg through renovations next week! Save me somebody!

Feels a bit lost now. Not sure why.

Hate fire!

I need to let this off because it is truly agonizing!

Chapter 2 - fire and associated perils of my property underwriting text spans fro
Pg 14-71!!!!!!!

This chapter is dry, very technical with all the industrial terms and tests and a lot of chemistry and physics theories of fire and how it destructs, how insurers assess risk premiums based on all these characteristics and the last bit, the detection, control and signalling part of fire alarm system! I'm gg mad. Progress is slow because it is a dry topic and I now have to imagine myself to be a fire man to learn all the control and prevention methods and mechanism, with all the respective theories. Aarrgghhhh. Fire is certainly the no.1 woe to property underwriter.

I just want to skip to my marine and energy sections.

I hate fire!

Theft is only 20 page long. Fire is 50?!

Help!

I'm woken up early in the morning by this series of calls on my housephone. Tada, I'm unable to get back to sleep despite having the soothing rain pattering as background music on a dark, cold and lazy sun morning. Signs of aging?

I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow night. Got a hot date at tapas tree! My belated birthday dinner with cc! 4 weeks of absence wasn't long but it felt particularly unbearable during the first two weeks. After things were sorted out, the remaining two weeks seemed to have whizzed past unknowingly.

I look forward to this year of rabbit. Much of the hype was created by all these animal zodiac rabbit year analysis that are circulating around. It's a good year for pigs! And in all aspects. Of course there are areas that require special caution but looking at the overall, it's still one of the better animal in the year of rabbit. Pigs and rabbits are secret allies so that's why I think it's generally a good year for pigs. Pigs and snakes are apparently enemies so I will keep that in mind.

Right now, it's pig-monkey pairing for me and cc. 西游记？haha, that's the only combination I can think of. So far so good. I'm looking fwd to JB trips coming up. Massages, nail spa, food, old town!
I enjoy gg to old town perhaps because im always happy when I dine there with cc and sometimes family. It's like dining at Mac donalds in SG, it has always been pleasant and delightful. I especially look fwd to luk luk in JB. From refusing to alight from the car and only watching him eat from afar, to pestering him to bring me every night that I'm there, that's quite a big change. Sinful supper but addictive. Again, not sure if I'm addicted to the food or the fact that I'm enjoying the experience with him.

I'm tempted to order Mac breakfast delivery but since it's raining, I think I shan't add on to the poor deliveryman's work load as the roads are too slippery for riding.

Haven't exactly finish packing my room. Need one final round to prepare the room for mahjong haha. The most tedious stage is over so I'm not sweating over this. :)

Yay, Sunday morning !

Training - week 4

The training this morning at chevron house was rather interesting. Credits go to the marine litigation lawyer whose presentation slides were succinct, examples very apt, jokes really funny and he is obviously very experienced as well. I could literally picture myself on board the vessels he mentioned and most importantly, the gist of what he delivered was still vivid in my head.

M says she is thinking of bringing me along to jakarta after cny. I hope that will be realized as I have never been there and I can't wait to start traveling again.

Say HI-Yee to the 3 papers in early April. I have effectively two months for 3 papers. Textbook thickness was twice that of the last round. Twice the no. Of pages, more in-depth and certainly, more analysis. Round one will already take up 1 month I think. Assuming I can finish one round that is. But this is adv dip. Can't expect things to be easy. I'm looking forward to clearing my very last paper b4 to my ACII. And the incentive that follows of course.

The only consolation is that the books now cones with more colors. That will make reading more interesting. What I am really looking forward as well is that they teach the relevant clauses in the various types I. This should be the most appropriate time I guess.

Thank you!

3 weeks into the job and I got myself featured in tradewinds.
Will frame up the page when I get the hardcopy. Haha.

Opportunities are knocking my door. Very blessed to have these great bosses. Stretching me to stride through the steep learning curve. Oh it all seems impossible at the beginning but I now see more hope in getting somewhere in 3 months and hopefully being able to get a slip 90% right in 6 months time.

3 exams in 2.5 months' time I have a lot to catch up in terms of work and studies. That's beside all the industrial readings I need to keep abreast of and the readings I need to do to hone the skills that I still lack or I feel I am inadequate.

Once I have that, Im ready to go.

In three years, I should be able to take off!

Hope everyday can be as blessed.

I am truely thankful to be at where I am today.

Lost

Wasted time and effort.
Rather pissed off.
Lesson learnt. I will never do it again. Friends of such, why bother to keep in touch?

It was quite an emotional roller coaster the past 3 weeks.
Everyone is so busy, sometimes it is hard to find a dinner buddy. Shiying, it is also times like that that I really really wish you were around. I really miss having you there to listen to me blabber and just to hear things out.

Sometimes i need advice and i needed a lot lately, to straighten my thinking and just to make sure I am making the right decisions. Doesnt help that T & C are both so busy.

Im adjusting to my life back home. That I think I have not much problem. Im trying to settle down in the new job. That I think, will take quite a while. Im still a bit lost. I am trying to find the right footing. Im not sure If I am stepping the right stones but I hope I am on the right track.

树大招风，一言难尽。

In anycase, I have 3 papers to take care of in two months. I will be spending most nights mugging away. I hope I can speed up my ACII. Next up is to clear my advance dip and then to clear some marine modules and I should be on my way to getting my qualification. Cant wait to have that imprinted on my namecard.

I thank J for being the second MS.
I thank him for being so open.

I am still pretty lost. I have to get used to being lost.

Occupational Hazard

Here comes the new definition to occupational hazard.

Im not exactly sure if what I did was right but I felt a lot more comfortable talking it out with J&M about it. Of course, with J laughing out loud and he kept on teasing being quite funny but at least I know he is very open and I can share such with him. I do not exactly have experience at such. Used to have but somehow I thought things were more within control back then. Now and this time, I dont feel good about it.

I hope M will come back soon.

I need to consult her.

Arrgghhh......

This is an awkward phase. I hope things will get better moving on.

I am happy in general, but I realise I am eating lesser and lesser. Cant really digest lunch. Didnt mean to have leftovers but I really couldnt eat anymore. Doesnt look good for business lunch but somehow, the only thing I look forward to and seem to be addicted was the V.E beef tendon noodles that J first brought me and I subsequently look forward to every lunch.So far, I only went back once. But I am craving for it, even now.

Got to know a few more new colleagues, other bosses to be exact. The regional heads. I am loving the exposure and the challenge. I just hope I have more relevant skills equipped to keep things going smoother.

What do I do next?

Milestone 1

For the first time, in a very long time, I ran for 30 min non-stop. Not a big deal to a lot of people but it's a big milestone for me.
Running helps to put me back into perspective abt things which left me lost. Still trying to figure out my footing at work. Oh man, this certainly is a marathon.

Therapeutic run

The last time I ran was more than a month ago. This time round I needed to run because there was a lot on my mind. I had to take time out to think things through and focus to face these issues. It was a good run. I decided to go the reverse route. Better because I don't get onto a steep upslope right at the start.

Run more. I think I should save the $ for gym on for my dental and optical and a full body check up.

I want to get out of this phase.

Now

It's like a dream. Only difference? This is real. But it was unreal. So back to now.

Reflection on Week 1 at work

Week 1 at work was tiring largely because work started immediately after HK trip and I didnt have much time to rest in between. The other reason is because Im not used to snoozing from 630am every morning and by the time 1030pm comes, I can hardly open my eyes.

At work, I felt totally loss. I was used to knowing what to do, being good at what I do for a long time. Now, I am starting on a clean slate and everyday I am struggling with knowing how much I need to learn, read up and understand. I was trying to recall how things were back in 2007 when I first started with my ex company but hey, things are truly different now.

I must say that I have been very blessed and I am truly lucky to have been chosen for this. The goal is clear, their objectives are straighforward and they are all out to clone me into another figure in marine insurance. That said, I am giving myself a lot of pressure to get started fast. How far and how fast I proceed all depends on me.

I consider myself very lucky because I have a close mentor who is 24 years in the business whom I am going to tag along with and I have another one 37 years into the business whom I can regularly turn to if I need. That is not counting my big boss and my other seniors in the team whom are all so experienced. In time to come I will also be able to build rapport with the regional teams and that should help me in understanding the various markets.

No short-cut. Readings and a lot readings are all I need to intensely engage myself in for a start.

I always thought my double majors in Finance and Marketing would not really make a difference in my career because it seems that in my previous job, having a bachelor is sufficient. But within a short 1 week, my boss mentioned twice that with my marketing background, he is confident that I can use my knowledge there to assist with the regional business development. I didnt really quite know how to respond to that because right now, 4 years after graduation, I cant remember much of the marketing theories I studied back in school. I guess what he meant was it would be easier for me to put up plans, analysis and proposals with the fundamentals and draw on theories, findings, and concepts that will come in useful later on.

I need to get my professional qualifications by first half 2012. I will be taking 3 papers in April and this will help to hasten things up a bit. Maybe I need to go get more brain food since I am utilizing my brain 100% everyday for the whole of 2011.

I am beginning to love Raffles place too. And I enjoy the ladies' night with Tracy every wed when she would be in town to meet her agency and thereafter we will laze around for some turkish/middle eastern exotic food and a glass of wine. I never quite understand why people like to drink after work in the past but now I do. There is a large selection of bars/eateries/pubs to choose from too.

Another big change for me is my wardrobe. The shirts that I almost wanted to dump on many occasions the last few years are now the most worn items in my closet. I have to rearrange my closet too because I need to dress as if I have somebody to meet everyday because frankly speaking, that happens everyday at least for week 1.

Day 1 - Lunch with M
Day 2 - Lunch with big boss
Day 3 - Lunch with M
Day 4 - Lunch with T + M
Dat 5 - Lunch with E + M

Good luck to Week 2 and somehow, I am looking forward to CNY. Maybe because this is a new year and new phase of my life, I cant wait to welcome the Golden Rabbit!

....

I am physically exhausted.

For 1, I am getting up at 630am (snooze till 645am) everyday since I came back from HK. I didnt have anytime to get a breather in between and sleep is quite a luxury these days.

I am enjoying my first week at work. There is a very big change in office culture and the whole business structure. That makes things a lot more exiting. From a family business to an MNC, the exposure, the structure, the networking just to name a few, factors are salient items which is making my days here, particularly the first few more exciting than normal. This is my first time working for such an MNC and I guess it is ..... tbc, my eyes are closing