Chronicle 76 - Trade?

This is one hell of a late post. Have been so caught up in other things that I've forgotten about this entry. As usual it has been a busy and tiring couple of months. SO's attachment to London only made things worse and we struggled day by day to keep up. The weekend duty we're supposed to cover has also gotten much worse and Thank God she's back now.

We've since won a new client and my bosses asked me if I wanted to be on it. I said yes, although there was this sense of discomfort. My new colleague MC and I have both pitched in to the preliminary work for the pitch although she handled more of the work towards the back. There wasn't any written nor verbal agreement, but I thought it was sort of assumed that she would be on the account if we ever won it. Turns out, when our engagement was confirmed over a conference call, my bosses called me into the room and expressed their desire to have me on the account.

That wasn't all. Recently, they've told me to offload some of the more tedious aspects of my work to MC so that I may concentrate on "more important stuff". I am flattered by the faith and approval in my abilities, but somehow, the whole process makes me somewhat uncomfortable. On a side note, D recently informed me that my new colleague MC was a classmate of hers. Small world indeed! When she told me that, I realized that both of them have some rather similar traits.

Just last week, there were some firing up of tempers when we had some wrong documents for a client meeting due to a miscommunication. Everything was resolved in the end, but it is a reminder that in our jobs where our reputation to clients mean everything, people can get very agitated and angsty if things don't go well.

To squeeze out some good news on the work front, SO has received the International Certificate in Investor Relations (ICIR) after passing the examination. Our incoming intern has also taken and passed the exam. Congratulations to them. But on the other hand, they might just have set the bar too high considering I am scheduled to take that exam early next year.

Anyway, I'm due for reservist next week so I might be able to catch a break from work soon. Reservist training sounds so much more appealing now for some reason.

In October, I been on two back-to-back Batam trips: 1st with C and F, and then with my University mates. Both trips were great breaks from work. For the second trip, D introduced us to cable-skiing. The experience was frustrating to say the least as none of us seemed to be able to master it.

I messed up the scheduling of the first Batam trip and had to forgo a martial arts competition I had already signed up for. I really wanted to be in that competition though, as such competitions are few and rare in Singapore. Now I'll just have to wait for the next one. To make things worse, I signed up for a race: Commando Challenge, but conveniently forgot about the date until 1 day before the race. Since I didn't collect my race pack, I couldn't enter. I need better awareness and control over my own schedule.

Anyway, I've done the math and realized that I'm working an average of 15 hours per day for the past few months. If only they paid me for over-time work, I'll be very rich. So it may seem counter-intuitive when I picked up two new games to play recently: Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor and SimsCity 2013. I would allocate 2 hours (from 12am - 2am) to get some playtime, sleep and wake up 4 hours later for work. This practice only makes work more tiring, but surprisingly, a bit more bearable too. It seems I'm trading my health for sanity - a good trade?

Speaking of trades, we have these ceremonies that we have to attend for one of our client from time to time.As it's pretty early in the morning and requires a bit of dressing up, no one likes to do it. Recently, due to scheduling, I was the only one free to go for 3 consecutive ceremonies. However, I didn't hate it anymore! The reason? None... Except for maybe that pretty girl that is always at the ceremonies as well...

The office has also started the Secret Santa draw; of all people I had to draw the big boss! As with experience, getting gifts for females is tough. Getting a gift for a female, who is your boss, and who has everything would be so much worse. Looks like I'll need to consult my mother for advice again. As for the annual draw me and my University mates do, it seems there might be some changes to the process this year. I don't really understand it but I guess I'll ask again closer to date.

As for my Dad, we're still not talking! Let's see... it's been 3 months and counting. I think that this particular silence might yet last for some time. The previous record was 12 months; let's see if we'll break it. To be perfectly honest, I prefer things to remain this way. No interaction, no conflict.

SO and I went for a drink after work on Friday and caught up a little as we haven't had much chance to do so she she got back from London. It was nice to just have a drink and talk in a little bar without the pressures of work, or anything else.

Perhaps it was inspired by the Big Bang Theory, but I'm finding a renewed interest in physics. I once found myself spending the designated 2 hours of playtime reading up on physics. I swear I'm not a nerd.

[Quotes]
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." - Albert Einstein

"Time and space are modes by which we think and not conditions in which we live." - Albert Einstein

“It's not the changes that will break your heart; it's that tug of familiarity.”  - Jennifer E. Smith