Chronicle 93 - The way forward

It's strange what you would decided to do when you suddenly have a little more free time to yourself. Recently, I've ordered a harmonica and have been practicing playing some simple songs. It's actually rather fun, although my sisters have complained that it can annoying. For now, I'm trying to learn the tabs for Auld Lang Syne.

LAB has made it clear that she intends to leave soon and has already gone for an interview at another agency. It is always sad whenever I see someone who has worked alongside me leave, but ultimately, I think I've begun to be able to make my peace with that.

The big boss from London came for his regular pep talk session last week and this time at least, he didn't give us any cause for concern yet. I did however, request a little chat to clarify certain things. Not that he was able to give much clarity anyway.

SC will be going back to the UK after 2 years in Singapore, and her replacement is a beefcake, GK. It's still early days so nothing is conclusive but he does seem to be quite a nice guy... for now.
 After a long while, I've finally taken the International Certificate in Investor Relations, and thankfully have passed it. Not really glorious considering I cheated but I shall not go into details here.

Anyway, we have recently lost one of our long-standing clients which came as a shock to everyone. It was extremely depressing that it was a planned move by the Board of Directors without our knowledge. In the handover process, my colleagues have told me to do the bare minimum in terms of the handover process. I certainly share their frustration at having to give up years of hard work to someone; it leaves an incredibly bitter aftertaste in all of us. But yet, there is also this conflicting desire to want to be as helpful as possible so that the processes I have put in place do not die a natural death. I am incredibly conflicted. Oh well... this seems like deja vu. I need to learn to let go.

I've also decided to use the SkillsFuture Credit to sign up for the official certification for Photoshop. I do have some basic proficiency with it but think it would be worth having the official certification from Adobe. If I feel like I have some more cash to burn, I might also sign up for the Illustrator and InDesign certification courses.

I went for a bouldering session with D a few weeks back. I thought that since I have those roof jugs mounted on my ceiling I should be used to it. No such luck, my arms continued to burn and tighten as I tried to climb. The next day, the usual soreness and pain persisted. I vaguely remember D telling me that she'll be going for an operation then. Hope things go well.

C, F and me have booked our leaves for the end of August to go for an overseas trip. We have yet to really decide on the place but I guess it needs to be soon or the air tickets are going to be rather expensive.

The office has hired a dedicated HR person and she has told me to do this DISC personality profiling test. There was nothing surprising about the IC result; no change from the one I did in JC. However, reading through the report, there are so many things that I feel no longer apply to me and is inaccurate. We'll see what the HR lady has to say when she talks me through the results next week.

[Quotes]

"A young outcast will often feel that there is something wrong with himself, but as he gets older, grows more confident in who he is, he will adapt, he will begin to feel that there is something wrong with everyone else." - Criss Jami

"Changing and actually improving are two quite different skills." - Dr Sunwolf

"I do not believe in taking the right decision, I take a decision and make it right." - Muhammad Ali Jinnah

"Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways." - Sigmund Freud