Wednesday, October 29, 2008

responsibilities vs paycheck

chaired my first meeting today and i think i faired pretty well given that everything went smoothly and ended within the right timeframe of 2 hours. its rather gratifying to know that some company heads view us as their key pillar of support even before any work relationship has been established. they are eager to bring me into their circle and actively updates me of important background information that could be vital to future negotiations.

perhaps unknowingly to them, their level of enthusiasm raises my stress level to perform up to their expectations. in this profession, we wear many hats. the question we always asked ourselves is... why arent we receiving the pay that commensurates with our responsibilities?!?!?!?!

i doubt it will ever happen.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

island trotting

25 oct was indeed a memorable day, having covered 3 different places in a single day, from bintan to orchid country club and lastly ending off at gotham city for a halloween party. the sights of scary ghostly characters and the heavy metal music at gotham momentarily made me sit up and realise that there is really an exciting life that i've been missing out.

looking forward to spend my remaining long weekend at southern ridges park tmr. hope there won't be a need for rainy weather plan :)

Friday, October 24, 2008

been there, done that!

wednesday was a R&R day entirely spent at shangrila hotel for a hr summit meeting. we were all treated to a rare outing at the end with a free ride on sg flyer including a sumptuous seafood dinner to wrap things up.

the mention of the sg flyer excites me. afterall, it's the latest sg landmark, a close replica of the london eye. despite the fact that it coincides with toastmasters, i didnt want to miss out the chance to ride the flyer for free!

the 'excursion' ended with nothing memorable except the walk up to the capsule which raised the level of excitement momentarily. the journey was smooth and view was predictable given that i'm familiar with the landscape around the flyer. i could only remember the constant snapping of photos and a glimpse some parts f1 race track which would otherwise be hidden by the barriers at ground level.

the lacklustre day was compensated by an excellent seafood dinner hosted by the organiser. at the end of the day, we were stuffed full with red/white wine, lobsters and the best of all, alaskan crabs dipped in butter cream sauce!

i guess trading learning opportunities at toastmasters for treats like this is well worth it!

Monday, October 20, 2008

learning day

while cracking my head to think of ways to become a better speech evaluator, help came along.

attended the humorous speech contest last sat and picked up presentation tips and speech evaluation strategies to improve my overall delivery. it was a great afternoon well spent at tampines chengkat to learn from the best speakers. now that i understand the benefits of attending speech contests, i'll have one more item tat i can add on to my weekend to do list :)

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

a learning journey

pple have been asking if i'm still coping well with work given that i'm saddled with overwhelming work fm many directions. to this, i replied that i welcome this new phase since it allows me to experience what the job is exactly like.



being an observer for the past 3 months, i'm only learning about the tip of the iceberg. as a mid career hire, i'm not daunted by the sudden decision to take over the entire portfolio. in fact, it could be the start of an interesting discovery journey before i can confidently decide what my next step should be.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

the greatest culprit

looking through the papers, tuning in to the news on tv and radio saddens me.

Have you ever wonder why the media keeps on harping on bad news?

To create headlines and increase sales loh...

with the unfriendly media reporting bad news everyday, i blame them for being the greatest culprit in creating a recession stemming from a teacup.

it doesnt feel good to hear bad news on tv the first thing in the morning when i'm just about to face work.

but at least, i still have a stable job. ironically, the workload is in direct contrast with the business cycle - the more retrenchments, the more companies to meet and the more work i have. in good times, they'll forget about you. one can just breeze through the day without much to do.

hmm.. i can see dark clouds forming...and a storm is in sight.. workload is piling up.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Escape No More!

hmmm... someone dropped a bomb on me at 530pm.

"XXX is gg to be posted out... hence you'll be taking over his companies from tmr onwards. You need not follow anyone for meetings anymore. Just concentrate on the handover work. His last day is on 30 Nov."

wat does this mean?

Honeymoon period is over.

No more half days, skiving and slacking on the job...

Friday, October 3, 2008

what's ur love language?

its words of affirmation.

giving speeches, going through evaluations and conquering table topics give me a heightened sense of euphoria that i can't get anywhere else outside of toastmasters. i build up my self esteem and confidence with the compliments and constructive feedback given by like-minded comrades.

for the first time in 1.5 years since joining CSTMC, i decided to move out of my comfort zone to visit a new club where i attempted my first table topic after a year's break. am amazed that only less than 10 members were present. as a result of some absentees, there was ample time to have multiple evaluations of the same speech. this presented an opportunity for me to do another evaluation within short notice. the less daunting environment created an excellent learning space where i could do my evaluation with ease.

the good thing about visiting smaller clubs is the level of appreciation they show as you help boast up their headcounts. thank you smses, handshakes and warmth from new friends made me feel special. the evening ended well. i'll be attending regularly to get my dose of ecstasy.