Changes

Life is quite hectic lately despite the fact that we've just over the long weekend Hari Raya holiday, and came back from KK for a short escape...

Too much work, so little time. I haven't a chance to reflect myself what I have been through recently... So much changes already.

Someone in my department left the company. Most of her work are temporarily passed on to me, that is why I am so busy and have no time for any other thing in life. Have I been ignoring my close friends lately? I keep asking myself, but deep in me, I believe, my good friends will understand me eventually, I am sure they want to see my success. Being able to be busy at work is a good sign, it indicates that I am still wanted, and I love this feeling of being wanted and needed in an organization... It is this kind of feeling that keeps me going, pushing me breaking each and every personal record of myself. This month, I am being rewarded a free BND150.00 Orchestra ticket to see the Spanish Orchestra on November 9 with hubby, for I have achieved more than what was expected by me... Am I not proud? Honestly speaking, it is not the money that matters, it is the sense of success for taking up the challenge and able to overcome to challenge that make me proud of myself... BND150.00, it is too small an amount for me to fight for... but proving myself to the management is indeed the main motivation of it!

Hubby has successfully made himself as part of the new dynamic team that will shock the whole Brunei's travel industry! After about 3 years of silence, he finally resigned from the previous company and anticipating for a new beginning on November 1... My hubby is soon to be the Assistant Manager of Sales and Ticketing of this new company. For as new as this company is to be... eventhough they're still at its infancy period, I am very sure that with hubby's determination and creative mind, he can eventually shine like a star! Good luck, honey!

So much changes already...

Till then...

A lesson to learn - Lies & Confrontation

Something happened yesterday evening, which I thought would worth recording down.

This event involves my colleague - S and me.

Since I joined the bank 1½ years ago, S has been a buddy to me, she has been teaching and coaching me how to handle customers, how to handle objections, how to do research for investment, how to use some of the software... and many more. I deeply appreciated S for being there all the time to give a helping hand. No doubt, she smoothened my career path in the earlier days.

But 6 months into my career with the bank, something happened that makes me started to wonder the genuineness of S for helping me through all these difficulties and why she always 'bitch' about our other colleagues in front of me? After some long and deep observations over the months, I have came to a conclusion that, S is in fact not a 'real helper', she helped me all this while is just to proved to our boss that she's 'concerned', 'love sharing' and 'care for' her colleagues but as reality always has it... It doesn't take too long till I and others see her true colors.

A minor case happened in the office yesterday, it all spurred up because of a decent joke we have in the office. S was so upset that she refused to talk to me and even look at me. The whole yesterday afternoon, she has been showing her long face to me. As a straight forward person, I couldn't take this kind of cold shoulder for too long. Before the end of the day, I told S that, we need to talk!

We were in a meeting room, deep in my heart, I have got several things that need clarification from S so I opened up the topic by asking her to tell me what's going on with her? She was caught off-guard by my frankness and bluntness, she was shocked and I could see that she was shivering. She kept insisting that it wasn't me that she was mad about, but another of our male colleague has humiliated her during our joke and she really hates this male colleague, and she couldn't say anything because she felt so hurt of the joke he put her through. Then I asked her, if she was mad about our male colleague, then why am I feeling the hatred and sorrow coming towards me? And I even saw her talking to this male colleague like usual, like nothing has ever happened? She said she was too upset to even want to shout at him or even scold him... Then I think to myself, so you express all your anger on me instead??

After we settled this incident, just to clear the air once and for all, I confronted her few lies which I picked from her along the way, of which I never disclosed to her that I knew the fact. When I asked her about the lies, she diverted my attention to other colleagues, including our boss and one of the senior staff in the company (Ms O), and asked me not to trust anyone in the company! She even invited me to shake-hand and make peace with her, but I rejected her by simply telling her that, I have lost all trust in her, a hand-shake to make peace is a no-no for now. Then she wanted us to start building the trust again... I told her... She must show me how to trust her? And help me to see that she is genuinely sincere in building a team with me here, otherwise it is very difficult for us to work together again!

I never like to back-stab anyone. If anyone disagrees with me, please, come out to the light and tell me straight off! I am pretty sure that I taught her a valuable lesson yesterday, because she promised me that, even if she is being unfair to others, she would never be unfair to me - To this, I am only trusting her for 10%, because I told her that I need time to build back that trust that she has ruined. And in order for me to befriend her again like the old days, she really got to 'behave' and work hard to earn a trusty friendship with me. Someone like her can be quite pathetic in times, I couldn't figure out why is she doing all these and plotting all kinds of lies just to put others down? Maybe she is trying to protect herself... or maybe due to some historical incident; she has lost confidence in handling a genuine friendship... I have no idea. But anyhow, she could mess with anyone with her chronic attitude problem and lying habits, but she never tries to mess with me again!

Call me an activist or a fighter; I am as blunt as I could be, I have nothing to hide! This is one of benefits of being honest and open...

I am always the louder one when it comes to arguments, because I don't lie!!!

Outserve with Passion

Too much coffee during the day today, no matter how I tried to close my eyes and sleep, I just couldn't. Since I am so wide awake, I might as well write a post for my blog.

Today, I attended a 2-day training for 'Outserve with Passion' at Orchid Garden Hotel. This is one of the bank's initiatives to drive all the staff to - Service Excellence. 'Outserve' our clients, simply means, to go the extra-mile for our customers. As a Relationship Manager and a front-liner, this is indeed a valuable lesson not to be missed.

I am so glad to be selected as one of the 30 staff to attend this class, the theme for 'Outserve' is ALOHA - it is simply defined as: -

A - Attend to customer
L - Listen to customer's needs
O - Offering solution
H - Handling recovery
A - Appreciate. Close with passion

We were made to wear straw-skirts throughout the class and there were games and activities which stimulated our minds and get us thinking out of the box. We got out of our working environment, in a comfort zone where everyone is dressed-down and relaxed for the whole day for this course.

Despite the course being exciting and fun, I am still quite stressed out - partly due to the up-coming ChFC exam for Module 08, which we were told to create a presentation by using the 9 topics that have been discussed, our exam is just few days away, I need to get the whole presentation up and running at least by this weekend, exam date is 13th & 14th August. And another matter which pressuring me is the lack of time for my SOP completion this month, when I return to office on Friday, I have exactly another 14 working days to make it possible. I am quite worried, I won't be able to achieve this month. So much work, so little time... 1 day 24 hours seems never enough for me...

Whatever and however it goes, I shall strive my best and fight till the end!

The only place for human race...

Finished work at about 6pm plus today then hubby brought me to a private clinic.

I am having a kind of irritating itchiness on my arms & legs which caused rashes because of allergy. Doctor said I must've 'contaminated' some polluted rain water and dust in the air to get this allergy. I have been having this allergy for about 4 - 5 days already... The itchiness is so intense that I scratched my arms and legs till it turned all red... but the funny thing is that, there isn’t any scratch mark.

I am a cleanliness-obsessed woman, I have high level of hygienic practice and take 2 showers a day (at least!), and one must be very suspicion about my cleanliness when I have rashes like this... But as the matter of fact, according to my doctor, it doesn't matter how clean you are, as long you have very sensitive skin, highly polluted rain water and dust can caused this kind of allergy. And don't worry... This is not contagious.

I have always told people, love the planet! Be environmental friendly! Our planet is sick now and it is getting weaker and weaker, even the rain water and air now can be so polluted that one will get allergy like mine simply by being existing on the planet! How scary could this be? Planet has life, I always believe that. So much damage has been done by the human beings on this planet, now it is 'returning the favors' to us... Extreme climate changes, melting of North & South Pole icebergs, sand storms, increasing sea level, flood... Planet is kicking off a series of 'revenge' now, people! Do not ignore these obvious warnings!

Out of the 8 planets on our galaxy - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune & Uranus (Pluto has been demoted by The International Astronomical Union (IAU) on August 2006), Planet Earth is by far, the ONE AND ONLY planet that suitable for human race to reside. Not until one fine day when astronauts could find another better place for us to 'migrate'.

People, please... LOVE OUR PLANET; IT IS THE ONLY PLACE FOR HUMAN RACE.

Exam is over + 'Flash Point'

Finally, the exam is over!

I couldn't get up this morning, I slept until hubby awake me... and when I opened my eyes, it was 7.15am!!! My God, we're going to be late today! Well, not exactly we... But my hubby would be late. My working hour starts at 8.30am but his at 8.00am... I am going to make him late! And true enough, because of I... took my sweet time in shower, did my hair, make up and changed, hubby was late for almost 15 mins to work today... *blush* sorry....

Exam started at 4pm, I was in the examination hall as early as 3.30pm... exam was divided in 2 sessions, 1st the theory test from 4pm to 6pm and 2nd multiple choice, from 7.00pm to 9.00pm, but we requested to finish early. My theory part was a disaster, I wrote a lot on the test paper, but at the end, even I couldn't figure out how close or how far I went out of the topic! Whatever I've learned from the course notes seemed so irrelevant during that time! Nothing I memorized come to my mind, so I just wrote whatever I could, based on my common-sense and my best knowledge... *fingers-crossed!* let's pray the marker will at least like my hand-writing and let me pass! Second session, the multiple choice, it was OK, I found it a lot easier than the theory part, let's pray again... this multiple choice session could help me score some good points and push me pass!

Hubby fetched me from down-town at about 7.30pm, we went for dinner and I complained to hubby how difficult the questions were throughout the journey... Hubby just smiled and said, 'the worse is to re-take the test if you fail. Just relax! It’s over now!'... hehe... How could you be so cool at all times? I was panic to death for the test, but hubby's magic words soothed me down! :)

Our dinner lasted about an hour, and then we went to The Mall, Gadong for a HK movie - Flash Point, starring Donnie Yan, Louis Koo, and some 'older' handsome guys... Another great film from HK movie industry, Donnie Yan performed a very unique kind of 'kung fu fighting' called MMA (Mixed Martial Art) in this film, definitely another HK movie that worth my time and money. Louis Koo has a lighter character compared to Donnie Yan in this movie, he was not as 'super' in 'kung fu', but he is a good and determined cop as well, like Donnie Yan. Some of the older stars appeared in this film, like... Collin Chou (the main bad guy named Tony), Ray Lui Leong Wai (Tony's elder brother), Lin Guo Bin (Brother San in the movie)... just to named a few.


I can assure you that, not only will men appreciate this movie; tonight surprisingly a lot of ladies were in the cinema as well... of cos, one of the main reason for us, ladies, to watch this movie is Louis Koo... hehe... He's as cool and handsome as ever. In this movie, he was partnered with one China lady named Fan Bing Bing... Not sure if it is jealousy, I just couldn't find them matching, the lady seems too mature for Louis Koo... In some ways. Well, this is only my personal view, others might see differently.

Time to bed... It is 2.30am now... *yawn* - till tomorrow... Good night!

Official website for the movie: http://www.flashpointthemovie.com/

1st day back in office

I am so tired now.

My eyes are so heavy and dry.

Screened through about 400 emails in the office today, and attended not less than 5 customers. 1st day returned to the office after a long leave of 3 weeks... Tons of work piling up awaiting for my attention, the scariest part was when I logon to my email all the highlighted subjects of each emails indicate many work is waiting for me... (Hello! Reality!!)

Today, 2nd August returned to the office with a light peach shirt and a pair of new shoes... kicking off my long battles with the SOP (Standard of Performance) again. After those 3 weeks, I have enough rest and fully re-charged, I was all ready to face the new challenges infront of me! Or so I thought?! Sadly, just the end of 1st day... I am totally exhausted and drained out! Our new acting department head briefed me with the new market updates, Forex updates, new promotions of the bank, new upcoming events, trainings.... I counted, this month I only left 16 working days to achieve my SOP, 3-fullday trainings, 2-fullday ChFC 08 classes, 1-half-a-day meeting are lining up, I have diarise these days... Kinda worried if I could achieve my SOP this month... Maybe I should postpone one of the trainings... Let's talk to the Acting head tomorrow!

After a long day at work, I am still awake to finish up my final revision on ChFC 07, the exam is tomorrow - the moment of truth! Hubby keeps encourage me that after tomorrow, I shall be relief a bit and can truly rest for the weekend before heading for another busy week... Hmm... Hubby is always so sweet and supportive... How I love thee!

Better cut the long story short and back to my revision now. Last chapter to go - Trust and Offshore Planning, after this I shall zzz peacefully... Zzz... Zzz...

*So damn sleepy*

'My Wife Is A Gangster 3'

Hubby and I went for movie last night in Empire Hotel Cinema.

We watched 'My Wife Is A Gangster 3', it is a Korean film, starring Shu Qi, Hong Kong actoress and Lee Beom-Soo, Korean actor.

Shu Qi is the daughter of Master Lim, the head of Hong Kong triad. During an event Shu Qi was humiliated by some 'uncles' of another triad group, to ease her anger, she killed that 'uncle' the very next day. The story started off with Shu Qi running away from Hong Kong to seek asylum in Korea with one Korean Mafia Head who is her father's friend.

In Korea she met her 'tour guide' Lee Beom-Soo, who is an unpopular member of the Korean Mafia Group, he was asked to protect her during her stay. Somehow, her enemies from Hong Kong found her in Korea and stir off a series of assassinations on her. Through the several times of assassinations, we get to see the softer side of Mafia, and this movie gauranteed brings a lot of smile and laughter based on the hilarious intervals.

A good movie not to be missed! Shu Qi looks fantastic in it!!! She's always my Asian heroine!!!

Official website: http://www.showbox.co.kr/gangsterwife3/main.htm

What / Who is Quidam?

Even since I started this blog, I have got a few of my friends to visit it... Most of them would probe ~ 'What is Quidam?' (pronounced: 'KEY-dahm').

I would like to have a brief explanation of Quidam here, of which the text I extracted from Cirque du Soleil's (Circus of Soleil's, in English) official website. Quidam is an imaginery character in one musical performance. Quidam represents - "he is somebody and he is nobody"... Please see below:

Quidam: a nameless passer-by, a solitary figure lingering on a street corner, a person rushing past. It could be anyone, anybody. Someone coming, going, living in our anonymous society. A member of the crowd, one of the silent majority. The one who cries out, sings and dreams within us all.

This is the "quidam" that Cirque du Soleil is celebrating. A young girl fumes; she has already seen everything there is to see, and her world has lost all meaning. Her anger shatters her little world, and she finds herself in the universe of Quidam. She is joined by a joyful companion as well as another character, more mysterious, who will attempt to seduce her with the marvelous, the unsettling, and the terrifying.

The entire show is imagined by a young girl, named Zoe, who is alienated and ignored by her parents. She dreams up the whimsical world of Quidam in an attempt to escape her sadness, hence I put Quidam: Escape of Sadness. He is anonymous; he is everyone, and, at the same time, he is no one.

You shall see one of the posters for this musical that I posted here. They are performing in many countries but sadly not in Brunei. I am hoping to have a chance to see this musical... so if any of you, by any chance, know that they are around Asia, please give me a buzz :) *wink*

Official website of Cirque du Soleil's: www.cirquedusoleil.com

Brunch @ Empire with Hubby

It is Sunday today.

I got up at about 10am plus... Last night watched Astro with parents until almost 3am... It is always good to spend time with my folks. Since my brothers are always not at home, I knew that parents really appreciate my presence.

Hubby got up earlier than me today, and my poor hubby waited for almost 2 hours for me to finally got up from bed, shower, make up, choose my clothes and eventually ready to leave parent's home... Hubby is a very cool man, he is always very patient, never rush me into things that I love taking time. Contrary, I am not as cool as him; I am impatient and easily get agitated. I have to thank God for granting such a wonderful man into my life! Like my parents, hubby loves me whole-heartedly... And I know that. Thank you, God!

We went to Li Gong for brunch, today Li Gong has the special promotion for His Majesty's 61st Birthday, special food, special price, and it is BND29.00 nett per person. Hubby loves the chicken cha siu and I love the soup, but unexpectedly, the Shark Fin Soup today is quite disappointing. We had Steam Salmon, Stir-fried Prawn with soy sauce, Chicken Fried Rice, Sea Cucumber with Mixed Vege and lots more main dishes. After the main course, we had dessert; the Pandan Snow Ball in Li Gong is always my favorite. A thin layer of shredded coconut skin with local fragrant Pandan in it... Hmmm! Heaven!!!

We finished the brunch in about 2 hours, and then headed home... Nothing much has been done today... I shall look at my note course soon... and HELL! I am starting work this coming Wednesday, 1st August 2007... My long holiday is finally coming to an end...

*Feeling so helpless*

When is the next holiday?

Mommy's Magic Portion

Today is Saturday... I have promised myself to study today, since hubby is working and I am all alone at home, I should've plenty of time to catch up with my ChFC 07 revision. But too bad, I fell asleep twice with the course notes lying beside with me! *so ashame*

There are total of 12 topics to read and I am only at chapter 3... I am starting to wonder, how am I going to pass this module???

Hubby and I will be going back home to my parents today... better bring the notes back home to burn mid-night oil. Or shall I drink some Mommy's magic portion in order to pass? Haha!

Mommy has make soup for us... yummy... I missed mommy's soup. On leave for almost a month, I haven't a time to go home and taste mommy's good food! I missed her 西洋菜湯... My mommy is the world's best chef, she has all sort of secret recipes which from time to time, she'll pass on to me... hehe... Am not a great cook as mommy, but time will tell when I could be as great as her, My Super Lady!

I LOVE YOU, MOMMY!

'Invisible Target'

Last night, hubby and I went for movie Marathon - an activity which we both will do every now and then to pass time.

We watched Simpsons - The Movie and continued with Invisible Target, starring Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue Man Lok and Jaycee Chan (Jacky Chan's son).

It has been a while since we last watched any HK movie, but I have to give it to the director and crew of Invisible Target, this is indeed one rare HK movie that worth my time and money. This movie fully illustrated to the audience the spirit of HK police and the righteous of one when one strongly holds firm to his believes. Nicholas Tse and Jaycee Chan had shown tremendous improvement in their acting skills, even though Nicholas Tse is still on those ‘I-hate-the-whole-world’ characters, but in this movie he carries a bit of comedy elements in it. And Jaycee Chan, a boy who is too skinny to fight has shown the determination spirit of a police at the end of his role in this film, no matter how painful he is, he didn't let go of the bad guy. This part, I almost have tears in my eyes, Jaycee's pain was so real on his face that I could almost feel it!

Shawn Yue Man Lok, he has been an actor for a while now, but this is definitely the movie that makes me notice him. I have seen quite a few movies starred by him, but nothing compare to this. He has a very strong character in the movie that often keep him distant from others, but somehow due to targeting the same group of bad guys, he, Nicholas Tse and Jaycee Chan became good friends and he was moved by Jaycee's determination to arrest the bad guy that he even cried! This part of the movie shows that, no matter how strong / cool a man is, he still has a sentimental side!

This is a Benny Chan's movie. Go and watch it, if you haven't!

A film that you shouldn't missed!

Official website: http://www.invisibletarget.com/

Friendship

It is raining again outside. I've lost count of the number of days Brunei has been raining... This kind of groomy weather often makes me reminisce the good 'ol days - when friendship was the biggest part of my life.

Suddenly, I think of 2 close friends of mine. They are both my long time friends of more than 10 years. We have a lot of good and bad times together in the past - we laughed, we cried together, even for the tiniest things in life. Sharing so much wonderful moments together and listened to each other's happiness and sadness. But today, everything has changed...

I do not know the reason why we drifted apart and I couldn't find a satisfied answer to this situation, deep in my heart I always wonder if they will miss or even think about me just for 1 second? I tried to call them to set up gathering, but once, twice... numerous times they rejected me, are they really so busy with they own life, or there is something along the way of our friendship went wrong without I realising? Or to the 2 of them, we have never been close friends before? Those were only my fantasies alone? What went wrong? I keep asking myself...

All of us have our own life to live, we all have to juggle between work and family, it is indeed difficult; but, I never agree this is a reason / excuse to seclude any friendships. I have been trying, to mend every broken piece of our friendships with the 2 of them, but till today, I still see no clue. Hubby advised me that - Why should I priorities them, if I am just their options? But I argued with hubby that - in a friendship, we shouldn't look at who's wrong or right, we should be honest to our own feelings towards the other party; until this very moment, the 2 of them still stand a special part in my life, I still geniunely care for their wellbeings. As long they're living a happy & contented life - with / without me, it doesn't matter, if they are OK to live on without me, I shall wish them all the best and I sincerely hope happiness will bestow them and those they loved. As for me, I will continue to live my life, reminiscing those good times they once brought to my life and I am thankful to God that, He has once allowed these 2 wonderful ladies shared part of my life.

May the love and light of God shine upon the 2 of you... wherever you are....

Chain-saw & Trees

"You are allowed to open the test paper now and read through it, but do not write anything on it until I say so..." says the examiner.

"I wonder what's the questions they have today... Standard Deviation? Economic Analysis?" I thought to myself as I flipped open the first page of the test paper.

Suddenly I heard a loud noise, "Damn! Who's making that loud noise with a chain-saw" I am annoyed. "Chain-saw? How could someone bring a chain-saw into the examination hall?" Then the loud noise again!

Slowly, I opened up my eyes... "Where am I?". Lying on my bed, wild awake and annoyed, I saw the ChFC 07 course notes sitting beside me... Suddenly, I realised... "Damn! It was a dream! But I almost get to see the questions on the paper!!!"

Upset with the continuous high-pitch loud noise from the chain-saw that spoiled my dream, I got up from the bed and opened up the curtain to see what the hell is going on!?

As I opened up the curtain, I was surprised to see a few workers trying very hard to carry a tree trunk up the pick-up car... "what happened to those trees that were lining up infront of my windows? Ah! Maybe they finally realised that the tree branches are knocking on our roof whenever the wind blows!" Excited by the scene, I stand at the window to supervise the workers. Again, I hear the chain-saw loud noise, they're cutting down yet another tree at the corner of the garder, and like the previous one, once the tree is down, all of them gathered around the tree and pull it up to the pick-up car to send it away. This action continue for a few hours, as I on and off supervise their work... Now next door garden seems rather empty, as the trees are gone and the workers are picking up the remainder of branches from the ground. I suddenly have a sense of emptiness...

I still couldn't figure out why they decided to chop down the trees, but whatever it is, it is their decision. I am amazed to see how fast the trees are being pulled down and sent away... but God knows how many years it took for the trees to grow this tall and strong. The workers are now resting and having their lunch, wouldn't they have a slight feel of sadness and emptiness? I do not know about them... but I do.

The chain-saw sits quietly next to one of the workers... it has ended up the precious life of these trees. In a world of nature, if the trees and chain-saw talk... would the trees scream in pain, "please spare my life! please don't kill me!"...

Exam coming soon...

The rain has not stopped since 6pm... it is cold but I have no intention of lowering down the air-conditionining; I just want the extreme temperature in the bedroom to keep me awake.

Today I started my preparation for ChFC 07 examination, I have another 8 days to do my revision until the examination day itself - well, should've started earlier! This module is rather difficult, or is it me that hard to focus on the studies?

On leave since 10th July till now, I am getting lazy... but I can't let myself go. I must be strong and study hard for this exam, afterall, this is Module 7 already... 1 more module to go, I'll be a Chartered Financial Consultant. This is indeed a hard journey, but I am heading the end now... I can't give up! Theory, calculations, theory and calculations again... I am cracking my brain!!

I am feeling a little sick today, sore throat and a light flu, guess the cold weather is catching up with my health now. I always feel cold lately, need to carry a shawl around the house even when out for dinner with hubby... my throat is dry, this is the symptom I'll get if fever is coming up... Hubby insisted to bring me to clinic, but I refused, guessed I am as stubborn as him... Hubby is experiencing backache this few days, but refused to go hospital as well! Haha! We are indeed a match from heaven!

Better stop dreaming now and get back to my revision... Standard deviation, wealth management, wealth accumulation planning, basic WM skills, economic alanysis, portfolio management & asset allocation, derivatives... Ahhhh,.... so much more to learn~ God, please open up my heart and mind, so that I can focus 100% on my revision, Amen!