sian...................................

Today is the beginning of a boring week. I really really really really need a change. Take a step backward to go forward? Continue walking and hope for the step upwards? Working can be so boring, esp when nothing challenges you and you can actually feel your brain rotting.

Gwarr... Ponder ponder... This game of chess is so hard to play.

You know that......

You know that you are working for a rich employee when they say that an unexpected USD$1billion writedown is "immaterial". I expect to receive "immaterial" bonuses then.

Batam

Went to Batam over the CNY weekend with Dap and her family. It’s just a 90mins boat and bus ride away. I must say that the sleaze factor of the island is overrated, or maybe it’s because I did not go to the right places at the appointed timings.

The one thing that struck me was the drivers’ amazing driving skill. Their overtaking maneuvers can put any Singaporeans’ to shame. Of course, they are all driving beaten up cars and can afford to be more reckless with their cars.

Did I mention that we went there as millionaires? The exchange rate is $1 – Rp6,450, so go figure how much it takes to hit a million. A can of Heineken goes for Rp7,700 in their supermarket but our resort’s lobby is charging S$7 for a can. It is either exceedingly intelligent or stupid for the Indonesians to mix up the currency units, depending on which angle you look at it. Bought a couple of nice Polo-Ts there as well.

It’s not exactly a cheap place to go to once you factor in the transportation costs to travel around the island as well as the accommodation expenses so I guess I won’t be returning there any time soon.

Happy Chinese New Year 2008!

The first week of Feb is quite a slack one for me. On leave on Mon and Tue, half day on Wed, public holiday on Thurs and Fri and it's the weekend. It does sound like a great start to the New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone. Guess health, career and family are the top 3 concerns on most of our mind right now - so best wishes for them!!

A quick update on my new year re-solutions (40 days into the new year):

1. Save more spend less - Just got my latest credit card bill, very much WIP

2. Get fit trim the fats - Might shift office to Changi so gym membership put on hold. Dreams of 6 pecs remain a dream for now

3. Out with the old - Completed. I didn't take 2 days leave for nothing. It was spring cleaning time for my room and thanks to Dap, the room seems so much bigger and cleaner now.

4. Blog more regularly - So far so good

5. Switch job - very much WIP too

I'll be away to Batam from this Fri till Sun so hopefully I can catch some sun there.

Happy Chinese New Year 2008!

Another setback - just a day in Nomis's rollercoaster life

I knew things would be bad. But not this bad.

The world seems to be a little bit darker.

I want to be alone, to shrink into my little shell.

Cowardly, yes. But at least no one can see my tears.

Cowardly beats cowardly AND embarrassment anyday.

CFA results are out...

Judgement day come now and then and are like signpost in your life telling you the distance to your goal. Sometimes the signpost shows that you are further than your goal then you think; sometimes the signpost shows that it is a dead end straight ahead. So life goes on, seeking these various signposts to correct your direction in life and the pace of your steps.

Today is such a day for thousands of people around the world. These people are armed with the dream that CFA qualification is the ticket to better jobs and money. I do not know about Level 2 and 3 but 39% of these dreamers cleared the first hurdle, on this ardous journey.

I am glad to say I am one of them. Dap is one of them too.

I must admit I consider myself lucky to clear this first hurdle. Glancing at the result slip, I have failed a few topics and inside me, I know I am not strong in those topics.

And the dream is still alive.

New Year Re-Solution

It’s being a long time coming since I updated my blog again. No excuses, just plain lazy. And, my life is pretty boring. Weekdays work and sleep; Sat will have tuition and play mahjong, Sun play soccer. It had been pretty much a routine for the last year. I wonder if I can last this way for the next 40 years. I need to add my spices to my life!

However, if I were to look back and recap on the year on some events that stood out, I must say there were a few. In no order of importance, firstly, I passed my driving test! That should relieve me of the story that I gave Pingwen the ride of her life that fateful day in the NTU carpark (whoops). Secondly, I got my first car. It was a second hand OPC silver-ish blue (and some say bluish silver) Hyundai Getz. It was supposed to be quite cheap but it is still burning a hole in my pocket every day. But it does make travel more enjoyable (if no jams) and faster (if got parking lots). Thirdly, I went to HK / Macau with Dap, Jit and Pen for 7 days. It is always nice to travel and I doubt I will get sick of travelling (until I see the bill) and the trip rekindled my wish of working overseas one day. Any country will do, even my beloved India. Fourthly, I got into my first car accident (that required repair). It happened on the slip road leading to SLE at Sengkang. I blame it on the heavy rain and rising water level on the road. I had a lot of opportunities to look at drivers who got into accidents and standing at the roadside arguing and it was my turn to be gawked at back then. I wonder if the accident was reported on the radio.

I guess there are lots more stuff hidden at the back of my head, waiting for the right time to come flashing in front of my eyes. I think that right time will come in 50 years time, when I am sitting on a rocking chair and staring at a blank wall - It might be blank to others but it is actually a canvas to play back my own life.

Looking forward, I present to you Nomis’s New Year Re-solution 2008. See? It’s not really new resolutions being made; It is actually coming up with new solutions to meet the resolutions made in the past. Hence, re-solution.

1. Save more spend less

I realize that my savings are not as much as it should be and I realize too that part of the reason was due to the maintenance of the car, monthly mother tax and tuition fee loan repayment. With the tuition fee loan about to be repaid fully, I will be in a better position to save more. I am also thinking of getting rid of the car in a bid to save even more and if I do not need to pay anything to sell the car and clear the bank loan, I think I will do it. I do not have much free cash flow now and I hope that in 2008, I will be able to resolve that.

2. Get fit trim the fats

I am in a serious dilemma for this. Do I sign up for a gym membership? That will set me back by $1k and be a direct challenge to resolution #1. Do I go jog after work? I will be too tired by the time I reach home. Do I go jog at Esplanade area after work? Maybe I will do that but that will take a lot of perseverance. Do I jog before I go to work? This could be an option too. The bottom-line is that I want to delay the inevitable - being fat – for as long as possible. I can slowly see the deterioration of my body. What used to be a firm 6 pec stomach is now a flabby sometimes-can-see-4-pec-sometimes-can-see-2-sometimes-none stomach. Arggh.

3. Out with the old

It had been a long long long time since I cleaned by room, I think maybe since before I graduate from university. Lots of dusts are gathering in places not visited often. Spaces are running out as stuffs are piled on top of the other. I intend to take 2 days leave before Chinese New Year to clear out all the rubbish I do not need and to clean the room. I wonder if 2 days are enough.

4. Blog more regularly

Hopefully I can update my blog once a week. Taking 30 mins out on a Sunday should not be difficult but it had proved difficult thus far. I will see what I can do about this.

5. Switch job

To say that I am unhappy in my job is an understatement. I feel that I am not learning enough things in my current role and somehow, I am unable to work well with my teammates. To put it bluntly, I feel stupid in front of them and it had been like this for a year. I guess I have not yet found what I want to do or the niche which I can excel in. I am thinking of a life as a product controller but as of now, my career path is still hazy. So if possible, in 2008, I would like to switch to a better (paying) job where I can excel and learn lots.

Strange, I thought I had more than 5 re-solutions when I was forming the content of this blog entry in my head. Well, I guess these 5 are already quite a handful. Let’s see how many will be done in 2008!

Happy new year everyone!