A little hiatus

We are taking a short break from this polished sky scraper city, to a rustic less polished but to the equally (if not more) chaotic city of motorbikes! See ya in abit!

Burn out

Spending too many hours thinking about work, contemplating, prioritising, worrying. This results in sleepless nights, stressed days and lackadaisical enthusiasm in all things tasty. Need a short break soon and to turn off that work phone!

This thing about insurance

[via]

I received a telephone call earlier today which left me troubled. DBS rang me, to promote a cash benefit. In essence, insurance cover that is 'over and above' your regular health  / medical insurance. She rattled on with payments per day that is to be a 'cash benefit' of $150 per day in the event one is hospitalised, or $300 per day in the event one is hospitalised overseas. She goes on to say that as women, we are prone to breast cancers, kidney failures, ovarian cancers etc etc. To be fair, she did say, oh we do not cover pre-existing conditions.

This is all and fine, and I do not care for marketing speech. The product she was marketing befuddled me. It sounded like PPI  to me, up to a period of 60 days. Hospitalisation and compensation for 60 days, fair enough. Cancer and compensation for 60 days? I was confused.

So I asked her, can you please send me some brochures or paperwork -- I am keen to have a look a this but would like to know what exactly you are selling.

Her response: 'this is a telephone only exclusive promotional product'.

The audacity of it all, to sell an insurance product without any basic framework brochure or website to show for. Clearly, there will be a policy for the individual to sign at the end of the day, but insurance itself is a fairly convoluted and fuzzy matrix of inclusions (or more rightly, exclusions).  The UK insurance industry has been confronted with a plethora of class actions for the misselling of PPIS in the last few years, some going back almost 20 years (and still in the midst of dispute resolution). Surely, there needs to be some limit on allowing a bank like this to use an offshore call centre to cold sell insurance in Singapore?

Ludicrous.

Caveat: I may have completely misunderstood this situation, and there may well be proper processes in place to protect the layman consumer. I do not appreciate such cold calls being made to me, telling me that they do not have anything in writing to set out even in very basic terms the policy they are selling!

Last week

London - Angel, Elia Street and Belsize Park, Haverstock Hill

A whirlwind work trip took me back to my old city for a short but fulfilling weekend. Meeting up with old friends at our old local, the Charles Lamb Pub, having some dirty burger grub at Hache@Camden, crazy Saturday night bowling at the All Stars on the grubby streets of Brick Lane to celebrate Xiansta's 30th, a rainy queue in Soho for a cosy evening in Koya, coffee+ice cream at my favourite Gelup, and an old repeated visit to the Pain Quotidien to see pipi, and off on that old channel train, the eurostar. Very much like the old weekends, it didn't feel too long ago.

Paris - District 15

Then it was off to Paris for a week of work. Autumn is a lot warmer on the Continent, and alot crisper. I stayed in a hotel with the smallest lift in the world, walked each morning along tree lined streets of the Parisian sub-urbs to work.

You see, all big cities have this same look about them. Paris included. On my last evening, my lovely colleaguse, though knowing that I have spent many a day in gay Paree, took me on a lovely scenic drive through some of the main monuments of Paris after having a traditional sud-ouest(ern) dinner next to the Palais Royale -  the Grand Palais, the Louvre and its eery glow, L'invalides, and of course the Madamoiselle Eiffel in all its sparkly glory. One can trawl a gazillion photos of these, but I leave you with a photo of 'daily life' in Paris.

this is me, bewildered by the smallest lift in the world.

[via]

Good morning. I actually don't know who reads this space anymore, and I am sometimes tempted to move back to LJ [although the interface isn't very good, and it crashes all the time]. That said, I think I will start working on exporting some of my blog entries and streamlining it in one place, or two, simply because I'd like a backup, in case LJ disappears in to the big black www universe.

This week, I have been on a rather short fuse. The week started off with a difficult conversation with someone in my extended family. She asked many questions about my father and his condition. Many of these phrases were pepperd with the word 'Why?' Why did this happen? Why didn't you do this? Why do you do that? Why? Many questions out of love no less, but nonetheless so immensely difficult to answer. Workwise, it has been hectic, very challenging. And I hope that i am mentally able to separate my work day, from my personal life in the evenings. It is sometimes so easy to slip into that blurred line, and often for that, Mr Mo has to bear the brunt.

It is almost the end of the week, and the month has flown by. I have now officially completed my first month in the new company (M+1J!) and am happy to report that I am swimmingly busy, and becoming a real juggling act! The days fly by, as I potter about on my computer, speeding to be out of the office at a reasonable time, be it to be home for dinner with my parents, to be on time for that yoga class once a week, to make that one weekly dinner date with Mr Mo .... to sometimes make a day to see friends. After all that flurry of activity, I return home to my couch to flip on my computer. And continue to plod on for some time. That said, life is good, every day is a challenge, and it's just what i need to get those old lazy bones moving.

There is too much in life to be bogged down with, and too much to dwell on, with little or no positive result. What we can do, is roll with the punches, look forward, keep calm and carry on :)

October

*Penjor in Bali 2012*

Giving thanks

Where did the month go? One day we were frolicking about the sun and sand in Bali, and the next day we are back in the grind of things.

So I've started a new job at a new organisation. People are really lovely here. The industry is not particularly 'popular', there seems to be some stigma. My boss tells me 'it's very difficult to get Singaporeans in this industry. Apparently nobody wants to work in travel.' Should I then have negotiated a better package? I jest.

Someone asked me why I didn't want to fight on to stay in PE, as I already had something there.
I am not sure really. Maybe it isn't for me, on one hand I wanted very much to stay on, but on the other hand, I wasn't so sure.

Anyway, after many topsy turvys, I am where I am now, and I think (and hope!) I could be happy here. Sure, not everyone from senior management is a CFA or an MBA or a ABCDERFG, but here there are people smart in the way of life, very diverse in culture, genuine, and really hardworking. Real people. This environment is challenging, but nice. Plus, i get to polish up contract negotiation skills. It's not easy, but there's never a dull day in the office.

On this path and year of change, there are a few things that I have learnt about myself in the last 6 months.

1. Chase not, what everyone else is chasing. It might not always be for you.

2. You are your own person. I am thankful of the doors that have been open to me in the last year, through the grace of God and of friends, and it has allowed me to choose. Everyone has a different opinion on things, but at the end of the day, the path is yours and yours only to walk. So fight for what you want. Nobody else has to live with a  decision you make, only you do.

3. I always said that I wanted to veer away away from private practice type environments as I have never really enjoyed it. Now I am presented with a scenerio which (in my mind some months ago) was an almost perfect role for me. Yet, I am daunted by the expectations of leadership and mentoring, I am aware alot is expected for me. Can I live up to it? My mind goes back to a time when I was 5 and nervously fretting about my first piano exam. I was running a fever and was afraid to fail. I asked my dad 'what if i fail?'. and he says 'if you do, you try again. but you won't fail.' I didn't. He always had that faith in me. At each stage of my life, everytime I questioned myself, dad always repeated this story to me. Sure, sometimes it didn't always  work, I did fail from time to time. I guess, it is not so much about success or failure, it is about having faith in yourself to try, and to do the right thing.

4. Learning to be patient. Very often my friends tell me that I have a very good temparament, but it is often not good enough. Every day, and each time we see my parents, I am torn by both their predicaments. On the occassion, I have been pushed to the limit. But I constantly remind myself - Love is patient and Love is kind. Support, is the one and only best thing I can offer to my mom.

5. Be thankful. Always.

Last week

So week one of unemployment was spent in Bali a land of sun sea and beautiful underwater life. So sad to be leaving tomorrow but all good things have to come to an end. Updates soon, but for now, we are going to enjoy waves lapping onto the shore the salty sea breeze and the last awesome sunset.

Q3 round ups

Officially Q4

Last Wednesday was our 6 month anniversary back in Singapore. As the cliche goes, time flies! We are now set up in a little apartment near my parents, have rekindled old friendships, and forged some awesome new ones. For so many reasons and more, I am thankful. 

This week was a week of many changes.

:: I finished my 6 month contract in a PE firm and for once in my life, I thoroughly enjoyed my work. I had super understanding boss, lovely colleagues who will no doubt become long time friends, interesting work, and a good work life balance. Why did it end? We got acquired some months back and my job is likely to be moved to the Middle East. It was a tough decision as to whether or not I should have stayed on for 6 more months and 'see how', but I knew things were about to change by the end of 2012. I have good memories of this place, and I hope to keep it that way.

:: During my 6 months stint, I also busied myself with looking for a more permanent job, and hesitated between staying some time more in the financial services, or moving onto a more operational role. During this time I have been very blessed with a few options (all very different) on the table. For 18 months when I was desperate to get out of my old job in London - the phonecalls for interviews were few and far between, and the results, almost always disappointing. There were several twists and turns to getting to the next stage, and I have had to deal with some sticky situations (no less all caused by me), but I have been blessed with a supportive family, group of friends, and fairly understanding and kind 'adverseries'. For this I am very thankful.

:: On to the new role, the organisation is not one that is very well known on the high street, and whilst I will be doing all things (i.e. saigang!) involving APAC and the role is highly operational, it is a step towards being closer to a management team so the stategy aspect called very much to me. The other big plus, is that the global team in which I will report into is based in a country where Mr Mo is from. I don't know if doors will be open for us there in the future, but i guess it is a start.

:: This whole 6 months was a period of self-discovery, learning how to make choices, deciding what I wanted, and assessing how much of a risk taker I am (not very much it seems).  With three of the four options imperfect, I had to take the best decision with the information I had to hand. What I have come to learn that when so much thought and consideration has gone into the process, there can be no wrong decision, just a life choice that one makes. What happens there on is that you just bite the bullet and move on. Recently,  I re-read an old motivational classic 'Who moved my cheese?' The additional twist to that 'movement of cheese' is also the type of cheese available at the different cheese stations. Try, like it or hate it, then decide if you will stay or go in search of new cheese. Easier said than done? The most difficult part is breaking through that mental block -- actually 'deciding' to 'decide'.

:: My little sister graduated from university - the last of us 3. She's been stellar in supporting the family, and i am thankful that we have become much closer these days despite our age difference, and our bonds are strong. A lady at the photography studio said to me last week 'i'm so envious, your sisters and your mom all of you are so close, like old friends. It is so unusual to see such a tight knit family these days'. I smiled a little, my mom had a big smile when I told her that. 

:: Lastly, I also celebrated my birthday in Singapore for the first time in half a decade. I am thankful for family, friends and my loved one who have been so thoughtful to remember, taking time out to have dinner and cake, so many wishes on facebook (though more a function of the fact that timeline re-set my privacy settings more than anything) and messages from old friends asking how life is. I have no lack of any needs or material wants, no need for birthday gifts, just a thought and a gesture, is more than I could ever ask for. My most thoughtful present this year, is my dad singing me a birthday song with a big smile on his face. People who are close to me know that I am grappling with a challenging situation at home with my dad's condition. Words and smiles from him, is more than anything I can ask for.

Now onto the last quarter, may the next few months be full of adventure, joy, and good things to come. I look forward to discovering 'new cheeses' but for now, it's hello Bali for a full week!

xx