Something lost and something found....

So the big meeting is over, and my big presentations are over.

First, a couple of downers
- the traffic in KL - 1.5 hours on the first day to get to official dinner... i was about to chew my seat for food! and then followed by 2 hours back and forth from Bangsar on 2nd day to get to Miss M's swing class....good lord!
- left my handphone in KL. Grrrr. the cost is one thing, but the sheer inconvenience of dealing with being disconnected, and transferring all the numbers, is what's most annoying. Although it's probably scary how much of an unbilical cord the blackberry is now....

The much much more exciting uppers (is that even the proper use of the word?)
- presentations went unbelievably, exceptionally, amazingly well. 5 different countries asked me for my presentations, and i got tons of "good job", "congratulations", "impressive" comments during the last 3 days.

The best part of it all? It's not everyday that the WORLDWIDE COO of your company stands up at the end of your presentation and says that it was a best practice for everyone to learn from, and says it to all the Asia Managing Directors in the room. And it's not everyday that he mentions your name twice during his closing remarks, using your name as an example of how it's important for company to bring in outside talent selectively to challenge and stretch the company's thinking. Wow. All i know is i left the room smiling :)

Ok, enough shoulder patting and self-congratulations. Time to go running.

Update : Just got a sms that they found my handphone! And i'll get it back on Sunday!

Ajantis is way way way too connected (or addicted) to the digital world....

The km, it is a a calling

Just ran 27km. Now feeling like an old man. A proud old man who just ran for 2 hrs and 51 min. According to the treadmill, a proud old man who just burnt 1945 calories. That's how much one person needs in a day!

Ajantis is rummaging for icepacks and looking forward to a hearty meal.....

Mooning the reminisce

Was reading some old posts and smiling a bit (in a not-bad way) about the things that i wrote, especially as i was transitioning to this job. Can't believe i've posted 167 times since starting this blog! Have posted a lot less this year though... wonder if it's because i've gotten busier.

Am officially in love with the NPR website. Can't believe i never stumbled on it before till Heath told me about it....

Ajantis is semi-working on his day off....

Jobbo jobbos jobama

Updated my blog template today. It's been a while, but it was time to finally update with the latest gadgets and geegaws.

First, a random series of updates.
1. Finally set the highest score among all my friends in Word Challenge, a facebook game!

2. Bought a new car (Lexus IS 250). It's a real nice car, even if i still feel like it cost a ton. Part of the job, i guess

3. Ran 25km last week. On track for the marathon! (i hope). Can't believe i committed myself to doing it again....

4. Thinking of trying for a vacation in November, but not sure if i want to really rough it in Laos. Plus i can always see T when she comes back to Singapore end November.

5. Laughed my head off at the latest SNL spoofs on Palin, but also got scared witless by her interview on CNBC.

Other thoughts :
Felt amazingly happy about my job the other day. You know, one of those feelings you get which make you feel all light on the inside and smiley silly on the outside. Never felt that way about a job before, so i took the moment to savour a little. Maybe that's why i felt it a little when some teammates gave me feedback that they felt i was a little too distant and stern sometimes, especially when i didn't smile much. I love my job, so when i feel like i'm letting people down, then it gets a little to me. But i thought it through, and as always, got over it resolving to take the feedback as it was : a feedback given in the spirit of improvement.

Being in the private sector now, the recent economic crisis does of course leave me a little spooked, knowing that business could tumble and i could potentially lose my job. But it's almost my responsibility as a leader to keep the business going and ensure that everyone keeps their jobs.

My stocks have basically plummeted but i've decided to just not panic and check only sporadically. The key thing is to think long term, which is what my financial planner basically said to me : that i was in a good position, savings wise, and that i should focus on the long term. In fact, i only need to save 10 more years to be in a good position. That's a nice conclusion to hear :)

Anyway, been following the whole Obama-McCain saga lately. The vitriolic outbursts from some of the McCain/Palin rallies are downright disheartening and scary. I really do hope Obama wins, if only because Republicans are getting scarier each election. Don't get me wrong, radical Democrats are equally frightening, but Republicans just have that extra scary edge to them. Let me quote what someone said from a NYT article :

"Her fellow bartender, Crystal Porter, chimed in. “I know his wife runs a liberalist camp for teenagers, and when he gets elected, he wants to make it mandatory for all teenagers to go there. I also heard as a hobby he makes flags, like home made flags, one for each race. He has one for black people and one for white people and one for Indians.”

Alright, enough of such scary talk. Tomorrow is my day off, and i've cleared most of my work for this week. Time to sit back, play the computer game, and go running (so i can smell the roses)

Ajantis is wondering whether to go for vacation....

The unbearable lightness of Jedi mind tricks

Been a busy busy month!

Spent a week in London with mom and H. Surprisingly, mom did not get on my nerves as much, perhaps because H was there. I did, however, end up being guilt-tripped by mom several times who would say that H was a better son than I was -.- H observed that i started becoming snippy only towards the end, which was true. Don't get me wrong. I love my mom lots, but i guess i have a love-hate relationship with the way she tries to take care of my every need. It's nice to have someone take care of you, but it's also extremely annoying when that translates into an ignorance of your personal space! (case in point : reaching over to check what kind of potato chips i was eating on the plane!!!)

London was fun. Weather was good, and sunny (surprisingly!) and we walked all around town. In fact, mom was a real trooper, walking all over with us. We visited a ton of museums, as well as a lot of the well known attractions like Greenwich and Tower of London. My favorite two were Borough Market (tons of great artisanal food!) and Gordon Ramsey! Gordon Ramsey was truly a 3 star Michelin experience. Every dish was flavorful, and the service gave new meaning to the term "food theatre". The waiters would literally be inspected before they were allowed to serve you in unison.... Funny thing was, everyone kept asking me if i saw the ill-tempered Mr. Ramsey haranguing people in the kitchen.

What was not so fun : the prices. I ended up multiplying everything by three, which made prices astronomically high in Sing dollars. Case in point : Gordon Ramsey, dinner for 2 = 360 pounds or 1080 bucks....

We then came back to Singapore, where i got to spend a week with H. We ran the half marathon together. Although it was a little disappointing that H couldn't run it straight through, i was happy that we finished it together. During the time in Singapore, we also picked up my new car, a Lexus IS 250. Way too posh a car for me, although i have to have it for work. That said, it does treat me really nice. I'll aways miss my cute little Honda Jazz (aka Duke), but the Lexus (aka Basie) is quite a step up. Took me a while to get used to the different dimensions, and i'm still paranoid about scratching it, but Basie sure drives nice.

While H was in town, i also experienced the unfamiliar sensation of being torn between work and relationship. Maybe it's because i'm a lot more engaged with this job, but i found myself sneaking out of bed in the morning to get some work done, which was bizarre. I think that i'm definitely gonna have to schedule date time when H comes here in April next year so i don't end up sacrificing relationship for work.

Went back to work in September, and started the big transition this month along with a whole crapload of work. Just finally got some time to breathe, and now i need to think through how i need to lead in the next phase of my career.

Ok, that's a long enough update for now.

Ajantis is breathing, and pilate-ing, and yoga-ing, but is too stiff

New adventures and new transitions

Hey there! Got back from New Zealand over a week ago, where i thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Drove 500km by myself, went zorbing, schweebing, and freefalling in a wind tunnel on the 1st day in Rotorua, followed by sledging down some grade 3 rapids in the afternoon and a Maori cultural show at night. The next day, i went down to Hobbiton farms at Matamata, where the only remaining sets from Lord of the Rings were to be found (aka the Shire). The highlight of the day, though, was tubing down the underwater river in Waitomo Caves while seeing the glow-worms drift by ahead.

All in all, i am so glad that i did this, and proud that i did it all by myself. Had some truly unforgettable experiences. Many people ask me what zorbing is like, and it's like being inside a big gigantic washing machine of an amusement ride :) Sledging was fun, tiring, humbling (cos i obviously cannot survive without guides in rapids) while seeing the Shire and travelling through Waitomo Caves were truly one of a kind experiences that i couldn't get anywhere else. Truly awesome! Next time, i'm going back with H to do some tandem skydiving :P

Back on Planet Singapore, i'm currently preparing myself mentally for a big career move. I know i'm probably 99% ready, but my heart is still worried about the remaining 1%. That said, i also decided to make some tough calls on who i want in my new team, and it's NOT going to be easy to break the decision to my folks. Ah well, them's the perks of leadership i guess. Will definitely sleep over this over the next few days...

Ajantis is finally uploading some photos...