Doing the touristy thing

We did the touristy thing last evening - snapped pics of us & the Xmas lights. I don't recall doing something like that since my adult life but it was actually quite fun doing so. The lights this yr is abit bland and papers say it's becoz of the economic recession but nonetheless, the stretch from Lido to Taka was still quite nice. Here are the pics:

Never-ending meetings

I am still trying to get used to the never-ending need for meetings in this new place. I am baffled by the need to send meeting invites even for a teleconversation or a simple face-to-face meeting at one's desk. Meeting invites via Outlook are sent to the attendees and u'll simply have to accept, decline or propose new timings.

Just take today as an example. I had meetings from 11am - onsite, teleconference, offsite and then rush back to office feeling horribly starved (with nothing but food on my mind), only to be told at the last minute that the meeting was rescheduled. Best part of it all, this plc has no barriers to what time meetings can be scheduled - from 830am till 6pm. I don't mind meetings but u really can't deny that it takes hell alot of time, and sometimes, meetings have no conclusions! I begin to cherish my E66's calendar function and have already made it my electronic diary.

Need to turn in early tonight. I got a morning meeting at 9am. Damn...

4 weddings and a baby shower

This is the season to be jolly. Nope, not becoz Santa is coming to town but becoz one is busy attending celebrations of others & giving out monetary packets of blessings. i have 4 weddings in Nov & Dec & 1 baby shower to attend.

1) The union of doctors (22 Nov)

This doctor friend of mine is marrying another doctor and well, their wedding had a 500 strong crowd and needless to say, many medical staff. It was a gathering of the professionals and well, the conversations evolved around duty rosters, the latest happenings in the hospital and patients. I met up with friends that i had lost touch with & it was good to hear what everyone was doing with their lives.

2) The union of teachers (6 Dec)

Haha, i am expecting an intellectual environment for this one. I'd be pretty lonely, with only Munch for company. Chee Wee is marrying Julia and both are in the teaching profession. Kinda disappointed that there'll only be the 2 of us attending his wedding but guess we really should coz afterall, Chee Wee attended mine & Munch's wedding. It's time to return that monetary blessing and share this special day with the newly weds. Hmmm, guess the conversations will be about students & the latest pay cuts across the civil service? :)

3) Engineer + Accountant (12 Dec)

This one is interesting. I am a friend of the groom and this bloke just completed his MBA at NTU. I'll be seeing many of the folks i saw on the 22 Nov wedding and guess it's another time to catch up on the conversations that we left off. The wedding venue is interesting - Grand Shanghai restaurant opp Great World City. Heard there's a dance floor in the middle so let's see how interesting the wedding gets

4) Sarah Wang is inviting me!

I can't believe that Wang Kin is a daddy! His sms was so cute - sent on behalf of his first born Sarah, inviting all the uncles & aunties to her 1st mth celebration! Her existence reminds me of how long i knew her daddy! Wonder how will fatherhood change a man. Less crap & more serious? We'll see... For sure, Sarah has given daddy sleepless nights!

5) Wedding by the sea (26 Dec)

I kinda look forward to attend this wedding of a colleague from the Singapore team. We worked closely together for many projects and i am happy that she's getting hitched, at a grand old age of 26! This'll be a gathering of the Singapore team & i swear, there'll be tonnes of gossips & bitching abt what's going on in the office. Cross my fingers & hope that Rasa Sentosa has a parking lot for me.

With so many joyous occasions ongoing, i guess the festive spirit still lives on, despite the gloom in the financial mkts. I constantly wonder why do so many people love to have their weddings at the end of the yr & risk clashes with others. Of course, for many of us, the packets of blessings do burn a hole in our pocket so time but well, weddings and showers are a good time to meet up with friends that u haven't seen for a while. Afterall, how difficult can it be when u aren't the organizer? :)

When u think u look sucky, the day will be sucky...

When i stepped outta the house this morning, i thought my colour combination looked odd. I tried to console myself that i had no major meetings in the day plus, i had no after-work social life so well, no 1 will catch me in my less than glam state.

Well, call it a stroke of bad luck... I bumped into the wife of a friend & boy, she really changed heaps since university days & best of all, was looking like a million bucks - silk blouse, nice patent pumps, nicely styled bob hairdo & that lovely Miu Miu bag that i have been eyeing on for a long while. Honestly, no 1 would have guessed that she's 28 too! She simply excuded "tai-tai-ness" and haiz, i felt so lousy to have been caught in an unglamourous state and worst of all, bumped into a glamour puss! URGH!!!!! Lesson learnt - never head to work with the wrong outfit! U'll always bump into someone that u don't wanna meet!

Aside of my whining, MS mobilized their firing squad yesterday. The axe started to fall in the HK office yesterday and lasted till today. KL called me in the afternoon telling me that 3 of his colleagues from the HK team (whom he worked closely with during summer internship) has been asked to go. Best of all, he was speaking with 1 of them this morning!

With the gloomy outlook & my less-than-favourable outfit, i am feeling all so sucky.

Hear no evil...

Every weekend, the papers are filled with stories of how to cope with recession, the no. of job cuts worldwide, gloomy economic forecast & who's who hit by the financial meltdown. Seriously, apart from those couple of days where Obama graced the front covers of the mainstream papers, almost every day is gloomy news gracing the front pages.

From where i am seated in my new office, i seemingly can hear stories of who's been asked to go, which boss has been kind to request for better compensation, which country teams should restructure etc. I hate to hear such stories... Makes my heart flutter & adds more gloom to the day. A colleague currently on maternity leave texted me today to share that some of her ex-colleagues from DBS were asked to go last week. They generally had young families to support and well, the news hit them hard & stunned.

It's hard not to be affected by such news. From the Singapore office, there have been talks of restructuring announcements for weeks but to date, everyone's still kept guessing. I try to concentrate to do my work but the news are just everywhere. Especially here in this new team, i find that everyone seems to know how to play their cards so well. Meetings are in abundance & i have never had a more robust outlook calendar, constantly updated with meeting invites and reminding me to attend this meeting & that discussion. People massage one another's egos so much that sometimes, i take whatever comments with a pinch of salt.

I wonder what tmr will bring... More hearsay thru the walls maybe....

Freaking pissed

This evening at 7pm, i decided to just drop my work & leave, all becoz of a very nasty email from a fellow co-worker. No idea why the email had to sound the way it did especially when the earlier note i sent was pure courteous. This fella copied the whole world and while i am pissed at the reactions of this panicky spider, i am more concered abt the reactions from my new boss.

Well, when one is new in a team, we try to avoid miscomms & conflicts. Plus the fact that i am still learning/ adapting to a new working style, the last i want is to create negative impressions that can be hard to dissolve going forwards.

I am trying not to think abt the sabotage but erm, i am dreadful of reading my emails tmr morning... I wonder the reaction of the new boss... Will she jump at me and think that i am a useful fart? :( Damn....... & thanks to panicky spider for all that happen.....

My back hurts

The usual Sat morning routine is to wash the clothes and well, the silly washing machine had to fail on me today. The rinsing function is faulty so all the clothes were swimming in the soapy water and i had to manually wash all of them by hand. All the washing & removal of water from the machine is making my back ache...

The week at work had been plagued with rumours and the axe actually fell on 1 of the senior management folks i work closely with. I suppose she has been placed on garden leave & now staying at home. All the members of her team are reporting to another guy and well, the morale naturally, LOW. No 1 knows what's gonna happen & everyone is so jittery at work. Some part of me wish the storm can blow over ASAP. KL told me that MS is retrenching 15% of its global workforce & friends we have in other investment banks have already shared stories of how their colleagues have been asked to go.

We are moving into 2009 and the economic depression is just brewing...

The new kid on the block

It's my 2nd day in the new team. Finally got the new laptop all sorted out, took me 2 bloody days to get it done, thx to the inexperience MIS guy.

Well, the staff at this level is certainly more reserved and quieter. Cubicles are very low and the entire office is an open-concept ie. u can see the fella's face right next to u, & opposite. Apart from the keyboard "music", i can hardly hear any conversations, not even the person seated next to me. There are lotsa expats, many of whom are senior staffs and well, from every corner of the globe. & well, being on a macro level, I get to see more "plans" for the bank and am beginning to practise my Cantonese & business mandarin.

I am trying to get used to being the "new kid on the block" after being the most senior in my local team. I miss the vibes of the old office where we "shout" across (sometimes even over) the aisle. There'd be laughter & giggles from somewhere out there and well, everything just seems so much more "happening". Now, everyone speaks so softly that i am starting to train myself to do the same.

The agency was very nice, dropped by to present a nice bouquet of flowers on my last day at work last week. Here's a snapshot: