我的日記

Why Us?

2011-10-17T22:40:00.002+08:00

Recently I had discussion with a few friends regarding career vs. relationship and career vs. family. By the time there are conflicts between the two, guys will put their career at first priority while at the same time they will expect their girls to put relationship or family first. For example, when a girl got an overseas opportunity, if they guy thinks it's not suitable for him, he won't go and expect the girl to forgo the opportunity as well. On the other way round, if the guy is the one having prospective opportunity overseas, he will expect the girl to leave everything and follow him. And it is not only the guy, the whole society expect it to be this way.

Some guys clearly state that he is the family-leader-to-be, hence, it is OK for his girl to follow him. Some guys use a softer way to convince the girl to follow him. But deep down in their minds, they never think of give in their choice. Some girls struggle to get their aspirations heard and fail, some girls consciously and voluntarily opt to sacrifice, maybe because of love, maybe because the society deem it as the right move. The result is only one, the girl follows the guy.

The moment I heard about this I felt hit. Why? Are our education easily earned? Are our career easily built? Are guys' careers are careers while ours are not? Helloooooo, the effort we put is not less than guys! Sometimes we even put more effort than guys. I used to believe I always can compete with guys in par, but sadly, the reality is not like that. This society is still guy-centric society. However, I'm not going to give up, I will fight until the furthest I can go.

New Update!

2011-10-11T16:45:00.000+08:00

I have abandoning this blog for quite some time. Life is getting more and more packed these days especially during the weekdays. Everyday I have tons of work to do in office. After going home at night, I am so tired to do anything else. However, at the same time I feel life is getting more and more stagnant. Some of my friends also share the same feeling with me. I think I really need a change in life.

On a lighter note, I am organizing a charity trip to Saigon now. Apparently it is quite fun although there are lots of things to do as organizer, majority of which are chasing people. We are going to a small town 200km from Saigon, called Tra Vinh. The bad news is now there is severe flood near Mekong Delta, the place we plan to visit on our free time over there. Hope everything is getting better when we come.

Another Milestones REACHED!

2011-08-16T23:39:00.000+08:00

Today I finally managed to achieve another milestone in my career, I PASSED CFA Level III exam!Yeah, one step closer to become the charterholder.

My memory goes all the way back to 3 years ago, the day I decided to pursue CFA Program. There are days I didn't have anything other than work and study. There are weekends I stayed in library from opening time all the way to closing time. There are times I felt like giving up and losing my motivation. However, I managed to go through them all and here I am, passed all 3 levels of CFA exam on my first attempt.

Wish to dedicate this success to my Lord Jesus, for all His plan in my life, to my parents and sister for their unconditional support, to my previous manager for all the support and understanding and to all my friends.

Welcoming the Month of July

2011-07-01T10:43:00.000+08:00

Time flies very fast and it's July 2011 now. I can't believe that the year 2011 has passed its midpoint. Sometimes I start wondering, what have I done so far. So let me recall what I did at least in the past half year apart from work and study.

I moved house in February, I rent a 2-bedroom-unit in Commonwealth, sharing with Wang Xuan. There are plus and minus in renting a whole unit. Privacy is definitely the advantage. However, it doesn't come for free. The rental price is more expensive and on top of that, we have to take care of every single matter in the house. From SP Bills all the way to cleaning the bathroom. But so far, I enjoy it a lot. I am getting closer with Wang Xuan too, we can share lots of things and it's nice!

We went to Srilanka to attend Sachini's wedding. She has been one of my best friends and my best travel buddy. People asked me before, why we bought so expensive ticket and went so far just to attend a wedding. We squeezed our annual leave, yes we always have tight annual leave, fly so far to tell her that we wish her a happy married life directly. On the other side, Sachini also squeezed her time out of her busy schedule preparing for her big day to prepare every single detail in our itinerary. It was the most detailed itinerary I ever had in all my travel experiences so far, it even included where to have lunch/dinner and what is suggested to try. And this is what we call friendship. Thanks, Akki!

Now is the last two weeks in my current team. I will start a new phase in my career with a new team on 18 July 2011. A mixed feeling of excitement and anxiety. I really have a good manager and team here. All the encouragements and advice they gave me recently really show that they understand me well. I understand for the past three years, they have been guiding me, at the same time also protecting me. I'd love to stay with them, but I have to grow up as well. I have to step out of my comfort zone and learn new things. So here I am, walking to another path of life.

Moving On...

2011-06-17T10:32:00.000+08:00

I have been disappearing from writing since Easter and now I'm back. I have done my exam on 5 June, I am not confident that I am going to pass it, however I am not confident that I'm going to fail either. I hope I can pass this time, a bit hard though considering it's level 3 exam.

Another update, I'm soon moving to a new team. Yeah, after 3 years in this team, I think this is the right time to move on. Everything is nice in my current time, I have the best manager, I have a strong team, but I want to learn something new. I'm moving to Credit Risk team, feel very excited for new learning as well as new challenges. And this new role is not an IT role, so for sure there are lots and lots of things to learn. I feel a bit sad also leaving my current team. I have great 3 years here.

The Servant King

2011-04-21T23:43:00.000+08:00

From heaven you came helpless babe

Entered our world, your glory veiled

Not to be served, but to serve

And give your life, that we might live

This is our God, the Servant King

He calls us now to follow him

To bring our lives as daily offering

Of worship to the Servant King

There in the garden of tears

My heavy load, he chose to bear

His heart with sorrow was torn

Yet not my will but yours he said

This is our God, the Servant King

He calls us now to follow him

To bring our lives as daily offering

Of worship to the Servant King

Come see his hands and his feet

The scars that speak of sacrifice

Hands that flung stars into space

To cruel nails surrendered

This is our God, the Servant King

He calls us now to follow him

To bring our lives as daily offering

Of worship to the Servant King

So let us learn how to serve

And in our lives enthrone him

Each others needs to prefer

For it is Christ we're serving

This is our God, the Servant King

He calls us now to follow him

To bring our lives as daily offering

Of worship to the Servant King

The takeaways from Holy Thursday Mass today, He taught us to serve each other always...

Kartini Day

2011-04-21T10:14:00.000+08:00

21 April is celebrated as Kartini Day in Indonesia. I still can recall clearly when I was in primary school, Kartini Day is always marked with dressing in Indonesian traditional costume followed with some competitions in school. But what is Kartini Day? R. A. Kartini was a woman of 18th century, who is famous for promoting the idea of women emancipation. In the midst of limitations placed on Javanese women at that time, she had the idea to elevate the status of women through education. She was indeed a great woman and heroine. Hence, her birthday is always a celebration of women emancipation in Indonesia.

But how do you understand women emancipation? Emancipation is a broad term used to describe various efforts to obtain political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchised group, or more generally in discussion of such matters. The key word here is equality. However, there are tendency to divert this meaning that emancipation means women need to be given privileges. When majority of the leaders are men, we start complaining that there is no emancipation, we need more women leaders. Personally I believe, emancipation doesn't mean women have to be privileged. Emancipation doesn't mean there should be equal number of men and women in strategic posts. To me, emancipation means women and men are able to stand on the same ground and compete at the same par. There shouldn't be any disadvantages to neither men or women. Whoever emerges as a winner through a fair competition process should be accepted in the society, be it a woman or a man.

You Can't Say (by Ronna Reeves)

2011-03-21T10:45:00.002+08:00

You can say all things must end

You can smile and even pretend

And you can turn and walk away so easily

But you can't say you don't love me anymore

You can dream of what might have been

You can cry for what won't pass again

And you can say there's every reason you should leave

But you can't say you don't love me anymore

You can say I'm right, you're wrong

You can make your plans

To find somebody else

But I can't believe you can carry on

We know what should be said

But you can't find the words instead

You say all things must end

You can smile and even pretend

And you can turn and say

You're leaving me for good

But you can't say you don't love me anymore

Just say you don't love me anymore

Listening to this song a lot recently, and remember the Korean drama All About Eve...

Two Things Learnt

2011-02-22T17:12:00.000+08:00

I am currently watching a Taiwanese drama and there is this thing that the main character said. Most of the people in the world spend their time waiting, from small waiting like waiting for bus, waiting for somebody to pick them up to big waiting like waiting to grow up, waiting for right opportunity, waiting for a change and tons of other waiting. Indeed, it's true. We all want things to be better in life, but most of us don't do anything to change things to be better. All we do is just waiting for change to happen. The truth is nothing is going to change in our lives if we never initiate it.

The second thing I learnt recently is to stay positive when negative things happen in your life. Recently, my company moved my whole team to Serangoon Industrial Park office. Transportation there is not convenient at all, it's far from my current house and the list goes on. I used to be unhappy with the decision. But then, after 2 days here, I realize one thing. Being unhappy and keep looking at all the negative things will just make my life more miserable, yet it won't change the decision that I have to work from here. Keeping the positive attitude, behave professionally and adapt well here apparently help me and the whole team more. There is one more sentence here which I am not going to write now, but one day...

Recent Update

2011-01-20T11:49:00.000+08:00

I have been pretty busy recently. First, I have to move out by middle of next month, my landlord's wife is delivering baby soon, hence, they want to use the room. Actually I don't feel like moving out, I feel so comfortable already staying there. They are nice owners, they never trouble me for big and small things.

House - hunting in Singapore is never easy, especially facing those housing agents. I met an ultimately irritating agent as well. First, she said she got a unit in Tiong Bahru Block 29, we arranged for viewing on Saturday and it was raining. She refused to pick us up from Tiong Bahru MRT. So we searched for the unit and after we reached block 29 and called her, only she said it's Havelock Road block 29. OK, fine, we walked to Havelock Road which is pretty far from MRT. Once we reached, she didn't even introduce herself, she guided us to the unit which is apparently on ground floor. We were really pissed off by her. This attitude doesn't deserve her a place in service industry.

There is a sad news also, one of our senior in office passed away suddenly in a car accident in Malaysia highway. It was so shocking news that few weeks back I just bumped into him in MRT, and that became the last time I met him. Life can be so short, some people can just disappear from your side. We really should learn to appreciate life and appreciate the people around us. Farewell, senior!

Work-wise, recently, I have been feeling a bit stagnant. I want more challenge in work, I guess I should take up more challenges in my objective settings this year! Yeah, way to go...

Become CFA Charterholder

2011-01-07T15:33:00.000+08:00

My friend showed me this interesting article about Becoming a CFA Charterholder. The article was written quite some time back in 2008, however, there are some interesting points to note for those who are going for CFA exam or are considering to go for it.

Although you do not need to be a nerd to pass the CFA examinations, you do need to be serious about them. Rote learning will not work for the CFA program. It appears that the benefits that the CFA designation will provide to professionals are immense but taking the course will require a lot of hard work. It is an investment on the future of your own career. It takes three years, but the dividends last a lifetime.

What Comes Into Your Mind When You Hear about Singapore?

2011-01-06T17:00:00.000+08:00

6.5 years ago :
- Developed
- Clean and Safe
- Good place to stay and work
- Rich

Now :
- Harsh competition
- Too much of result - oriented
- Stressful life
- Kiasu - culture
- Complain and complain

My life and way of thinking have changed...

2010 Wrap - Up

2010-12-31T10:50:00.001+08:00

Time flies very fast and today is the last day of 2010. 2010 has been another special year of my life, another full-of-learning year which marked the end of my early twenties time, I'm 25 this year.

Beginning of this year was not good for me, I went through a rough relationship which gave me useless quarrel over quarrel in the middle of my CFA exam preparation. However, reflecting back now, I could say I am proud to be able to end it, at the same time still managed to pass my exam. That was not easy but I did it. It taught me to be stronger and independent. Life is not easy, and it won't compromise and be understanding to you. The only way is to be tougher and stronger and you will triumph.

Middle of the year, I passed my CFA level 2 exam. All my effort and hardworking are worth it, my boss commended me for this success as well. It has been 2 years that my life has been jumping between work and study and I will keep going.

After exam as usual, it's travel time. I went to Tioman with Shishi and Fanfan, then a day trip to Batam with Diana, Jiahui and Jo. I went to Vietnam with Sachini too, visited Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sapa. The next one is our very first family trip to China, when we met our long lost family there. Suddenly I found out that I have big family, lots of uncles, aunties and cousins and I found a home there. Last trip of the year was another China trip with Sachini, Vijani and Gaya. We visited Xian, Gansu and Sichuan, visited the beautiful Jiuzhaigou. It was a great trip and so far the most challenging I ever done.

End of year is a bit boring because I ran out of annual leave, hence, I am here grounded in Singapore for the whole Christmas and New Year.

Welcoming 2011, I hope it's going to be a better year, I could be a better person to tackle all challenges in life. I want to fly higher!!!

飞得更高

生命就像一条大河　　

时而宁静时而疯狂　　

现实就像一把枷锁　　

把我捆住无法挣脱　　

这谜一样的生活锋利如刀　　

一次次将我重伤　　

我知道我要的那种幸福　　

就在那片更高的天空　　

我要飞得更高飞得更高　　

狂风一样舞蹈挣脱怀抱　　

我要飞得更高飞得更高　　

翅膀卷起风暴心生呼啸　　

飞得更高　　

一直在飞一直在找　　

可我发现无法找到　　

若真想要是一次解放　　

要先剪碎这诱惑的网　　

我要的一种生命更灿烂　　

我要的一片天空更蔚蓝　　

我知道我要的那种幸福　　

就在那片更高的天空　　

我要飞得更高飞得更高　　

狂风一样舞蹈挣脱怀抱　　

我要飞得更高飞得更高　　

翅膀卷起风暴心生呼啸　　

我要飞得更高飞得更高　　

狂风一样舞蹈挣脱怀抱　　

我要飞得更高飞得更高　　

狂风一样舞蹈挣脱怀抱　　

我要飞得更高飞得更高　　

翅膀卷起风暴心生呼啸　　

飞得更高　　

When I Have To Be Nasty

2010-12-17T18:15:00.000+08:00

I grow up in a society where pleasing other people is priority number one, being perfect in anything we do is a must. I remember when I was in primary school, having arguments with teacher or even with friends is a big no, while being liked by teachers is a desirable thing. Even some parents tried their best to be friend with teachers in the hope their kids become the favourite in the class. For us, making mistakes is a big sin and must be avoided at any cost. This environment made me grow up as a person who cares too much on how people are thinking about me.

As I step out to outside world, I found lots of things are not working that way, and in some of the things, I have to learn it the hard way. I started questioning, why I have to please everybody anytime, why I have to be always right, why I can't have different argument with other people and defend mine, why would I care if some people dislike me or even hate me. Some people will like me if I slave my ass to help them do some donkey work or absorb their mistakes, and they will hate me to death if I keep doing the right thing by pushing them to do things in the correct way, sometimes no choice but nasty way. In fact, I don't need everybody to like me, I only need them to respect me.

After all, what matters the most is I put my best effort to achieve the goals and learn from every mistake that I made, this way, I could grow to be better each and every day.

Another Learning Day

2010-12-08T15:14:00.000+08:00

Yesterday we had the follow - up session on IT Women's Council Development Day held back in August. We were splitted into few groups of 7-8 people and we are assigned with a task to give presentation on one of the following topics : leadership, personal branding, career development or self - awareness. Our group chose to present about self - awareness. The event was closed with talk on "Dressed for Success" and year end dinner.

Some of the take - home points from the learning :

Being self - aware is knowing what makes you happy and what you want in life.
Your behaviour affects everybody around you, don't let your feeling effect your performance.
Self - confidence should come from self - awareness, self - confidence without self - awareness is dangerous thing.
When you receive feedback, especially negative feedback, sit back and reflect on it, because more often than not, your alter ego will come first and you become defensive.

I had quite some discussions with my manager recently regarding career planning. Finally I made a plan to move, I want to move to business engineering and analysis role. My manager is kind enough to help with the plan. It's not an overnight plan, but I am working towards it. One thing that I realized throughout the discussion, I'm a realistic, engineer - type person and not a science-type person. When I do something, I need to see it in use in reality and I can't do just for the sake of doing.

Anna in Singapore!

2010-11-23T12:04:00.000+08:00

Anna is in Singapore these few days, I met her last night for a long dinner cum chatting. It has been a long time since we had such a long chat the last time. Guess it was when I was back in Bandung to prepare for my CFA level 2 exam.

It is always interesting to chat with her, we talked a lot about life. We have taken a totally different life path now and it's interesting to see what is happening in each other's path, the different environment we are living in now, and what we have learnt from that. The next question is always what to do next. Lots of choice in my life paths, yet I don't know what to choose, homework to think about it...

Post-Trip Post

2010-11-12T17:13:00.001+08:00

Coming back from a long trip in China, these few days I have been tied up in a stack of work. It is quite a challenge to get my brain back on track after such a fun trip.

What do I get from this trip?
Memory
1000+ pieces of pictures, some are good, some are bad but every single picture has its own memory in it.

Experience
For the first time in my life, I sit in the lowest class cabin of train, the hard seater cabin for 12 hours journey from Beijing to Xian. Even in Indonesia, I never take such train before. It was uncomfortable when I was sitting there, but after completing the journey, I think it's not that bad, we made it to Xian.
For the first time in my life, I see snowing, yeah, snowing below 0 degree C. Snowing is beautiful, but it is way too cold for tropical girl like me.
Looking at the vast grassland to feel that the world is big, expanding my horizon, looking at the heavenly-beautiful Jiuzhaigou, to feel that God is great, He could create such an amazing scenery for us.

People
I had chance to interact with Chinese Tibetan and Chinese Hui people. Their cultures are really different and that open my eyes, China is not all about Han Chinese, China is far richer than that. Because the drivers that sent us from Xia He to Langmusi and from Langmusi to Jiuzhaigou are Tibetans, I had chance to talk personally to them. Each of them left deep impressions in me. The way they are thinking are different, the way they are living are also different. We had chance to see how Tibetans people are living in the grassland with the yaks and lambs in nomad tents. They are so blended with the nature, something that have been missing from city. They move from one grassland to another, there is no competition no pressure in their life, they are satisfied with the simple life. Somehow I feel, if you can live a simple life, it's a blessing in a way.

Culture
The colourful and unique Tibetan culture left a very deep impression in me. Tibetan Buddhism is similar but different from Chinese Buddhism that I know. They are so spiritually devoted. Although I didn't manage to see the Sky Burial Ceremony, but the driver told me the meaning of it. In Sky Burial, the dead person's body will be eaten by the eagles in the hope that the eagles will bring the person to heaven. It's a way of returning back to mother nature. Tibetans don't eat fish and chicken as well, because 20 people can be full by killing one cow, while killing one chicken hardly could make a person full. Hence, it's less sinful to eat bigger animals. This very unique culture really attracted me a lot that I wish I could visit Tibet one day

Achievement
3000km journey on land in China, and going up to 3840m above sea level, something I have never done before in my life.

All in all, what I get from the trip justify all the sacrifice I made for it. Looking forward for more and more trips next year, maybe Yunnan or Tibet.

A Quarter Century

2010-10-15T17:59:00.000+08:00

I'm going to be a quarter century, or in other word going to be 25 in few more days. It sounds so old, isn't it? Like what my cousin said, we can't say that we are early twenties anymore, we are MID twenties. Oh God, I really feel old now, soon, I will become late twenties, thirties etc.

What has changed in me being 25 years old? I think I have changed a lot. I'm not the girl who believes in fairytale anymore, I'm not the girl who has a very straight and simple thinking anymore. The days being a teenager, following news about boybands, secretly have a crush on somebody and dreaming about the future have long been over. I grow to be more skeptical and realistic (Is one of the factors because I'm studying finance now?). Future is not a dream anymore, it has to be realistic and concrete goals to be achieved. My time is not to be wasted anymore, it has to be invested wisely towards my goals. There is no more room to think "When I grow up, I want to do xxx, yyy, zzz". I'm here at the so-called "when I grow-up". Life is tough, but I'm not going to give up, never!

When something is too good to be true, it is usually not true

The Old Story

2010-09-02T00:42:00.001+08:00

Few more days before I left for China, suddenly this story keeps lingering on my mind. This time I go to China, is totally for different purpose than my usual travelling. I am going to visit my family there, which are my uncles, aunties and my cousins.

My grandparents originally came from Jiao Ling in Guang Dong province in China. Around the year of 1948, they went back to China to visit my great grandparents, bringing 4 kids together. Due to the living in China was better at that time, my great grandparents insisted to have the kids with them. My grandmother was reluctant, but had no power to say no. Hence, she only could insist to bring the 1-year-old youngest kid back to Indonesia.

In the year of 1949, Chairman Mao founded People's Republic of China. All the situations over there make the 3 kids' living there became worse, it was hard to even make sure that the day after they had something to fill their stomach. My grandmother couldn't stop thinking about the 3 kids and passed away at a very young age. Ever since that, the 4 siblings never see each other. The youngest kid who was brought back to Indonesia, is my dad.

Now, 60 years after that, we are going to visit them, the 4 siblings are going to meet. It triggers a weird feeling in me. But for sure, I'm really looking forward to meet them. Recently I have been in touch with my cousins (my uncles' sons and daughters). When my cousin saw my dad's photo, his comment was "he really looks similar with my dad, only difference is your dad wears specs and my dad doesn't". Another cousin's comment was "blood will never lie, when I see your dad's photo, it reminds me of my brother, they are alike in some way". Now I'm starting counting down...

Everyone is Number 1

2010-08-25T23:37:00.008+08:00

A very inspiring song from Andy Lau ...

我的路是你的路
我的苦不是你的苦
每个人都有潜在的能力
把一切去征服

我的泪不是你的泪
我的痛不是你的痛
一样的空不同的光荣
有一样的感动

不需要自怨自艾的惶恐
只需要沉着只要向前冲
告诉自己天生我才必有用

Everyone is no.1
只要你凡事不问能不能
用一口气交换你一生
要迎接未来不必等

Everyone is no.1
成功的秘诀在你肯不肯
流最热的汗用最真的心
第一名属于每个人

我的手不是你的手
我的口不是你的口
只要一条心
狂风和暴雨
都变成好朋友

不需要自怨自艾的惶恐
只需要沉着只要向前冲
告诉自己天生我才必有用

Everyone is no.1
只要你凡事不问能不能
用一口气交换你一生
要迎接未来不必等

Everyone is no.1
成功的秘诀在你肯不肯
流最热的汗用最真的心
第一名属于每个人

不害怕路上有多冷
直到还有一点余温
我也会努力狂奔 !

Everyone is no.1
只要你凡事不问能不能
用一口气交换你一生
要迎接未来不必等

Everyone is no.1
成功的秘诀在你肯不肯
流最热的汗用最真的心
第一名属于每个人

My road is not your road
My pain is not your pain
Everyone has hidden abilities
To go and conquer

My tears are not your tears
My pain is not your pain
The same sky with a different glory
Has the same feeling

There is no need for fear or guilt
Only need to be calm and continue running forward
Tell yourself I can do it!

Everyone is no.1
As long as you never ask whether you can or can't.
Just take a breath to renew your life
Go welcome the future and never wait

Everyone is no.1
The secret to success is in your own willingness
Flow the warmest sweat use the truest heart
No. 1 belongs to everyone

My hand is not your hand
My mouth is not your mouth
Only need one heart
Wind and storm
Become good friends of yours

There is no need for fear or guilt
Only need to be calm and continue running forward
Tell yourself I can do it!

Everyone is no.1
As long as you never ask whether you can or can't.
Just take a breath to renew your life
Go welcome the future and never wait

Everyone is no.1
The secret to success is in your own willingness
Flow the warmest sweat use the truest heart
No. 1 belongs to everyone

Don't fear how cold the road will be
As long as there is a bit of warmth
I will also gather all my strength to fight

Everyone is no.1
As long as you never ask whether you can or can't.
Just take a breath to renew your life
Go welcome the future and never wait

Everyone is no.1
The secret to success is in your own willingness
Flow the warmest sweat use the truest heart
No. 1 belongs to everyone

Travel Log!

2010-08-19T10:17:00.000+08:00

I bumped into this website when I was researching for my travel plan http://alexuk.com/. Seems this group has travelled all over the world, from America, Africa to Asia and New Zealand. I want to do this kind of travel as well, challenging and adventurous ones, exploring the places people seldom go (I think Sachini will agree with this, haha). Anyway it's always good to travel, seeing how people are thinking differently, living differently, it will make it easier for you to accept differences. However, it is very low of a person to use travelling dream as an excuse to runaway from reality!

ITWC D-Day

2010-08-13T10:23:00.000+08:00

On 5th August, there was an event organized in my company for women in IT and it was awesome. The key note speaker for the event is really an outstanding woman. When she stood in front of us and gave her speech, she simply outshone the whole room. The takeover from her speech that I got are the 3 things to be successful in career

Agile
In order to climb up in our career ladder, we have to be agile. Just remember that the skills that brought us to where we are now, might not be able to bring us further. Hence, we need to be flexible enough to change.

Authentic
Just be yourself in your job and life. If you feel it's hard to be yourself in where you are now, this place might not be suitable for you.

Assured
Be confident about yourself, most of the time, especially women, they think too much of whether other people like them.or not, while actually other people might not care at all about it.

亲爱的，那不是爱情

2010-08-03T23:59:00.001+08:00

Listening to this song now, by 张韶涵

教室里那台风琴
叮咚叮咚叮嚀
像你告白的声音
动作一直很轻
微笑看你送完信
转身离开的背影
喜欢你字跡清秀的关心

那温热的牛奶瓶在我手中握紧
有你在的地方我总感觉很窝心
日子像旋转木马
在脑海里转不停
出现那些你对我好的场景

你说过牵了手就算约定
但亲爱的那并不是爱情
就像来不及许愿的流星
再怎麼美丽也只能是曾经

太美的承诺因為太年轻
但亲爱的那并不是爱情
就像是精灵住错了森林
那爱情错的很透明

那温热的牛奶瓶在我手中握紧
有你在的地方我总感觉很窝心
日子像旋转木马
在脑海里转不停
出现那些你对我好的场景

你说过牵了手就算约定
但亲爱的那并不是爱情
就像来不及许愿的流星
再怎麼美丽也只能是曾经

太美的承诺因為太年轻
但亲爱的那并不是爱情
就像是精灵住错了森林
那爱情错的很透明

太美的承诺因為太年轻
但亲爱的那并不是爱情
就像是精灵住错了森林
那爱情错的很透明

I PASS!

2010-07-28T22:49:00.000+08:00

CFA Level II exam result was out on Monday and I PASS it! It has been a long journey that now I have completed 66.67% of it. I'm for sure going for Level III exam next year, will register in few days before I lose the momentum of studying. Like what my boss said, it's never easy to do both working and studying at the same time. Hence, I am proud that I have managed to do it for the past two years. Wish me luck, friends!

Happy 2 Years

2010-07-14T16:17:00.004+08:00

Today marked exactly 2 years for me to be in Credit Suisse. It has been an enjoyable experience. We started as graduate recruits or the so-called Technical Analyst. 33 of us participated in the same training, built a friendship and network.

Happy 2 years in CS, 2008 TAs, happy to know all of you!

Viva Espana

2010-07-12T14:20:00.003+08:00

The third match I watched for World Cup 2010, the final match, my favorite team Spain defeated Netherland to be the World Champion for the first time in history. Both team played very well to make the score 0-0 for 90 minutes. The first and only winning goal of Spain was scored by Andres Iniesta at 116th minute. Awesome! Two years ago, I also watched them winning Euro 2008. Congratulation, Spain!

Spain - 2010 World Champion

David Villa - My Favourite Striker

Iker Casillas - Saviour of the Team

男孩子 vs 男人

2010-07-09T17:55:00.004+08:00

男孩子追求女生的时候，他会不顾一切的去追。当他喜欢一个女生，他会疯狂的喜欢她，一整天讨好她，什么都为她准备，为她做。为了让那个女生喜欢她，连自己都能改变，变成那个女生梦想里的王子。最初，对那个女生来说，他是一个完美的男人，很理想的对象。可是，他根本不是那个王子，就算现在他能让那个女生喜欢他，有一天，他会觉得很累，不能继续演下去。他真正的个性慢慢会出来，而那个女生呢，最终得到的，只有一个失望，一个空白的梦，因为，她爱上的男人，根本不存在。

而男人呢，他追求女生的时候，他已经很清楚自己是什么样的人，他要的是什么样的女人。无论怎样，他不会改变的，也不会让那个女生变成别人。他努力的，不是让自己变成那个女生喜欢的人，而让那个女生爱上真正的他。这样的感情才是成熟的感情，才能长久的。

Long Never Ending Day

2010-07-06T22:26:00.000+08:00

Today is really a long day, now the clock is 9.25pm and I'm still here in my not - so - nice cubicle in office doing nothing. Yes, I am practically doing nothing, waiting for some SQL statements to finish running on 5 millions records (IT folks will know how painful it is). Tomorrow morning I still have to wake up early to kick off another job in the morning. Nobody is left in the office at the moment. I am so hungry now. My friend once said "hungry people are angry people", and yes, it is applicable to me. My mood is getting worse and worse when I am hungry.

After almost two years working here, now I started getting the feeling of being a professional employee. I started to forget how it is to be a student. Working life and student life are really two different worlds. When you are a student, all the path in front of you are well defined by somebody else (by your parents, your teacher, or by society). After graduated from primary school, you go to high school, then go to university, after cleared one semester, you go and clear the next semester's subjects. That's how simple students' life is.

Real life began the moment you stepped out of school gate. During convocation ceremony, where all the students are celebrating that they have finished their study, actually that's the moment their life starts. After started working, all the paths in front of you become blurr. Nobody defines for you where to go next. You have to keep searching and searching. Once you make wrong decision, it will take ages for you to revert back. All the decisions like whether you are going to change job, whether you are going to pursue further education, whether you are going to move to other places, need your own and only your own thinking.

A Refreshing Weekend

2010-06-29T17:51:00.001+08:00

The past weekend has been refreshing for me. I went to Tioman Island with Fan Fan and Shi Shi. Travel log is in My Travel Diary. This trip made me realize some important things in my life.

When we took the speedboat, the sea was not calm. I looked at the blue sea and the blue sky. As we kept moving faster on the bumpy sea, I got to see the beautiful shimmering sunlight's reflection on sea water around me and the horizon where the sky meets the sea. It somehow reflects our lives, even though it's rough and difficult, we have to be brave to keep moving faster and we will be able to see the beauty of life. Life is never easy but we have to keep moving forward and we will see that it's actually beautiful.

On the other hand, during this trip I feel grateful to my parents as well that they really took a very good care of my health since my childhood. One of the lady on the trip could not enjoy the snorkeling because she is not feeling well. I feel so far my health is very good, I went travelling here and there with all the tiredness and lack of sleep, but I did not fall sick even once. I believe it's because of my parents, they kept giving me healthy and nutritious food, like half - boiled egg, vitamins, etc since I was small. It is really a long term investment, now only I could feel the result.

The Yellow Sweater

2010-06-25T12:46:00.003+08:00

This morning it was raining heavily. The weather is so nice to sleep but hey, this is not weekend yet. I had to drag myself out of bed to shower and be ready to go to office. The weather outside is cold and the freezing aircond in office will make it even colder. So I decided to wear sweater to office and I saw the pretty yellow sweater inside my drawer, the one given by Anna long time back. At that point of time, my memory flew back to those days in NTU, those days when we were sharing room, sharing our joy and sadness. It is amazing though how life has led us to a totally different path but friendship lasts...

Anyway, another friend of mine, Shi Shi is here in Singapore for holiday, looking forward to the fun we are going to have! Her first remark when I met her this morning : "Shan Shan, you look happier now!"

A Good Weekend

2010-06-22T10:06:00.003+08:00

After months of hectic life, finally I could have a weekend for myself. I went out with a CS friends on Friday night, had a board game night. I could sleep as long as I like after that. On Saturday, finally I could do what I am supposed to do since a long time ago, to clean up my room, get rid of all my rubbish. Amazingly, I managed to throw away two boxes out of my room. There are lots of things that I packed inside boxes since I left NTU and until now it's still packed, which means I never use it for the past 2 years. Then I met Astrid for church and dinner.

On Sunday, I went out to meet Nata and friends to go for shopping. Haha, and I spent money again to buy some new clothes and shoes. Oh God, I just throw away things and now I bought new ones already. It has been a long time since the last time I had time for myself. I accompanied Nata to register for a Japanese class on Sunday and I asked around about their Chinese class as well. I want to brush up my Chinese again up to the standard where I can live and work in a Chinese - speaking environment. We agree that we need to enrich our life and upgrade ourselves. After we started working, if we stopped improving ourselves, one day we will realize that our life is meaningless. So yeah, way to go...

少年杨家将

2010-06-18T10:14:00.005+08:00

最近每天下班以后，我天天看连戏剧。考试以后，真得很得空。现在，我再看少年杨家将。那个演杨六郎得很帅哦。故事是大宋时代的，有一个大将军，很伟大的将军，他和七个儿子连年征战，保护国家，保护子民。

我从小很喜欢看武侠连戏剧。许多朋友会问我，你是个女孩子，为什么喜欢看打打杀杀的戏啊？对我呢，武侠连戏剧比较有意思，因为可以教我们什么是忠义，什么是信用，还要教我们一些做人的道理。也许，那些卫国家这类已经不适合这个时代了，可是，还有很多事情可以用的。像做人要守信用，无论对朋友，对同事，对任何人，答应过的事情，一定要做。我们也不可以为了达到目的，不择手段，加害别人。这样简单的道理，其实有很多人不懂。杨将军说：“仗可以输，但人心良知决不能输。如果连人心良知已经没有了，我们输给自己，不是输给敌人“。

Life Redefined!

2010-06-14T10:54:00.003+08:00

It has been a long time since I wrote on this blog the last time. I was busy preparing for my CFA Level II exam which was on 6 June. It was good, I hope I could pass the exam. It was never easy to prepare for CFA exam, and I believe that is the reason CFA designation is highly respected in investment world.

My life has been good, I am single and happy, determined to chase all my dreams. I have stopped putting effort for somebody that doesn't deserve my effort at all. I am planning a family trip to China in September, for the first time in my life, I am going on a trip with my parents. We are going to visit our relatives there for a week, followed by a-week-trip to Beijing. I went to Beijing before in 2007, so I guess it shouldn't be difficult to go around there. I am so excited to meet my uncles/aunties and cousins there. We have been writing emails to each other for the past few months, and I want to meet them face to face now. Especially for my dad, it would be special to meet his brothers and sister (yeah, real brothers and sisters) over there. Looking forward for the trip!

Lesson Learned

2010-03-11T16:11:00.004+08:00

Once you make a careless mistake, people will question the accuracy of your result, be it correct or not

Once you deliver rubbish, people will question the quality of your delivery, be it rubbish or not

Once you lie, people will question all your words, be it the truth or a lie

Moral of the story : be careful in anything you do and you say :)

What A Life?

2010-03-10T12:46:00.002+08:00

I want to express myself but I am forced to keep quiet

I want to cry but I am forced to stop

Even I am on the way to have my lunch, I am forced to go back and work

Where is my freedom?

One of The Scariest Thing in the World

2010-02-01T09:56:00.001+08:00

I just found out that one of the most scary thing in the world is when somebody smiles in front you, looks happy and usual, and actually he/she is hiding something behind it. The next time you see that smile, you can't help to think there might be something behind.

Free Ice Cream! Cheap Luggage! New Office!

2009-12-21T10:32:00.004+08:00

I went to Suntec City after studying in library on Saturday. We only bought 2 dollars things from Carrefour but we needed to queue for a very long time due to some problems happened to the person queueing in front. Then we could not find the queue for free shuttle bus from Suntec City back to Cityhall MRT, so we had to walk through Citylink mall. We were not really happy, but who knows that it was a blessing in disguise. On the way when we passed Marvellous Cream in Citylink mall, they are giving free ice cream! When the guy said the queue start here, it was just nice where we stood and yeah, we got free Marvellous Cream's ice cream worth 5.9 dollars each. It's delicious, just a bit overpriced. hahaha.

Yesterday, we planned to buy new luggage for myself to replace my 6-year-old luggage. After checking the price, we decided to buy hardcase luggage from Kenji Yamamoto. It is 100 dollars, in Giant, Vivo City. The moment we entered Giant, there were few luggages, big and small, catching our eyes. The thing that caught our eyes more was the price tag, there is softcase cabin luggage at 16.90 dollars! We directly grabbed the only 2 available there, and proceed to the cashier, forget about Kenji Yamamoto hardcase luggage, hahaha.

Starting from today, I have been moved to One Raffles Quay office, a prime office at Raffles CBD area. I love it!

Indo Lunch

2009-12-17T13:31:00.002+08:00

We just had lunch together with all Indonesians in Changi Business Park, or the so-called "Indo Lunch". There are 24 people coming, I never know there are so many Indonesians here. It is the unique thing about Indonesians, even though we might know each other, but we always feel the bonding with other fellow Indonesians. In a way, thanks guys and girls for coming, it's great to know all of you :)

It's December

2009-12-16T10:37:00.002+08:00

Yeah, last month of the year is here. Life has been normal these days. The last week was like a dead week for me. I needed to release something to production, my first release and I successfully screwed it up. I did a lot of silly and careless mistake, hence, I promise myself now to be more careful in doing anything, especially if it is related to production. I went back home on weekend, had a great time with my family. Saturday was my cousin, Lianna's wedding. Wish both of you an everlasting happiness! I almost couldn't go back home due to the release problem. I missed the flight to Bandung already. In the end, everything went well, and I could catch 6 pm flight to Jakarta. For the first time in my life, I went to airport, approached AirAsia counter, and buy ticket for next flight to Jakarta, then check in and fly, hahaha. Now I am in the middle of contemplation about my future and my career. That's the not so nice thing about being an adult. We need to decide everything ourselves and be accountable for what we have decided. One wrong decision could make us go one big round to sort it back. Miss my old sweet school time ...

Recent Update

2009-11-16T11:13:00.005+08:00

有些事情, 可以原谅, 但是一生中也无法忘记

Life has been normal recently, nothing much to update, except for my travel experience which can be read in my travel blog, Step The WORLD. We went to Hangzhou and Huangshan already. Now we are preparing for the trip to Yogyakarta and Taiwan. That's all for this year. From workplace, I started getting more and more busy in my daily task. I guess the honeymoon period of fresh grad hire has been over for a long time already, time to contribute more towards the team, and see less planes everyday, haha. I have started doing some readings for my next year CFA exam too. To my surprise, NLB has implemented a proper queueing line for the study lounge, to make it difficult for people to jump queue.

我忘记了

2009-10-17T13:47:00.003+08:00

我忘记了怎样笑

我忘记了幸福是什么

爱情和梦想都破碎了

Bad Day

2009-10-08T11:15:00.002+08:00

Today is really a bad day for me. I woke up late already, usually I wake up at 7.10, today I happily dozed off until 7.40. Then once I reached Tanah Merah MRT, the train just left, and I had to wait for 10 minutes plus. When I reached Expo, usually the Changi Business Park shuttle bus to office will come in 1 or 2 minutes, this time it made me wait for around 10 minutes too. Once reached office, I found out that for China Visa application, I need my old passport since I entered China before with my old passport. And, my dear old passport is in Bandung, and I didn't bring it back to Singapore when I went back home last weekend. Yeah, so I couldn't apply for visa now until my parents send it to me. Now it is very dark outside, which means I can't go out for my lunch, I have to buy the so expensive lunch in sandwich shop downstair. Hope the rest of the day will be better ...

IT or Finance

2009-09-18T10:27:00.003+08:00

Today I was asked what field I want to pursue in my career, is it IT or finance. Suddenly I realized I didn't have much of an answer yet as of now. Currently I am working as an IT staff in an investment bank, and I guess I have to think which field I want to put my effort on. Let me recall why I end up in IT at the moment. I remember when I was in Primary 1 or 2, the subject I liked the most was history and geography, not that primitive time of history, but more on country history, and not on soil-mountain-river type of geography, but more on country's geography. As I grow up, I started to change my favorite subject towards science, particularly maths. Reason is simple, I could score better grade with less effort in science. And there is this stereotype thinking back then that social studies is only about memorizing thing while science is a more 'brainy' line. So yeah, I switched to science. And why IT? I remember when I was about to choose my course in university, with my strong background in science, particularly maths, it was like a common sense and logical choice to go to engineering. At that moment, IT was a hot area, and I believe, the nearest application of maths is IT. I am not that good in physics or chemistry. So yeah, I took up NTU offer for Computer Engineering course. Why finance? In my final year of study, banking jobs have become hottest job around with its slightly higher pay than other field. I managed to get offer to work in a bank. Then I took CFA exam, and found out, hey, finance is good also. With finance, I could contribute more to the company and do a more value-added job rather than merely making things operate. There are more opportunities open for finance in banks. So, here I am at the junction between IT and finance. Can I have something that combine both? Along the way, I never leave my interest in history and culture. I read books and wikipedia about this. I grow my interest in language as well. I learn chinese language from my dad and through self- learning. Hence, I like travelling. I want to see new things, see how beautiful is the world, and how long history they have. If you ask me what I want to achieve in the end of the day, my answer is pretty simple. Being a CEO or successful career woman is not my dream. I only want to have enough money to live a comfortable life and travel around the world. By that time, I only want to have a small family to share all the happiness and live peacefully (having a farm sounds good for me :D). I wouldn't want to compete anymore.

I Love Australia

2009-09-09T09:54:00.003+08:00

After a 4 days recharging holiday in Perth, I think I like Australia already. It is a beautiful and safe country, the people there are friendly, and the land is big. Tall buildings only exist in the city centres. Along the roadside outside city, there are massive land of green grass, which make driving experience there is superb. It is spring in Perth now, the temperature is between 10 to 20 degrees. Infrastructure is good. There are free public transportation running inside city as well as free barbeque facility inside their parks. The only minus thing I guess would be the shops close very early in Perth, so when we need to buy something after 6, either we wait until the next morning or we buy from convenient stores with inflated price. Overall, I love Australia, and think of going there again in the future, for a trip or for living there.

人

2009-08-19T10:09:00.001+08:00

人, 伤心的时候睡觉也能流泪哦, 哈哈

Girls & Guys

2009-08-14T16:49:00.005+08:00

Girl : I am not asking him to treat me nice, he volunteered to organize gathering for me, he volunteered to do things for me Don't be too naive, girls, when a guy treats you nice, think about what he has in mind by treating you that nice. Don't simply use his kindness and dump him away when he confess to you. Girl : I am so depressed, my boyfriend treats me like crap, I can't stand the pressure of being with him... Don't complain too much about your boyfriend to other guy, girls, he is your choice, accept all his plus and minus. When you can't stand being with him, you are free to dump him. Complaining will never solve your problem. Guy : I used to chase her but she is my best friend now, she is like my sister already, she treats me as her brother too Don't be stupid, guys, when a girl told you that you are like her brother already, it might mean that she wants a girlfriend's treatment from you without treating you as a boyfriend. Guy : A friend has trouble, I just listen to her, nothing more... Don't be selfish, guys, you would mind if your girlfriend complains about you to other guy, so don't keep listening to other guy's girlfriend complaining about her boyfriend.

Social Networking Site

2009-07-20T09:43:00.003+08:00

Social networking site has been very common in society at the moment. Almost everybody has a social networking site account. It is a platform where we can find our long lost friends, build a network, regardless of the locations of the people. Through a social networking site, we can find almost all our long lost friends, maybe including first love, ex-bf or ex-gf, etc, then we can follow their status update, notes they are writing which is only one click away, etc. Believe it or not, although I find it silly, some people do update their status on hourly basis, writing something like eating at xxx, feeling sad, etc. We also can say hi through chatting facility provided to update news from each other or sharing, and so on so forth. However, in a recent article that I read in Kompas, the features provided by social networking site could lead to a big problem. The article could be found here, written in Indonesian, so let me write a brief summary of that. There are two cases written there, first one is about a girl who fell in love with a guy through a social networking site, got a wrong signal from the guy and suddenly the guy got married to another girl after the first physical meeting. The second case is much worse, a wife with two kids cheated with a high school classmate (who has a wife already too) after they found each other back in the internet, and now the 24-year-marriage is at the verge of divorce. Well, it is not the social networking site's fault that the girl is broken-hearted now or the marriage is in danger. Here I am not saying that the usage of social networking site will eventually lead to a problem too. It is just examples of problems who might arise when we misuse the technology. It might just start as normal like following status updates, saying hi to a friend, regular chatting, sharing and stuff. Things will go wrong when all these things become the central part of our life, we spend most of our time in front of computer screen interacting with those virtual friends rather than with the people around us. So, be aware be wise be smart, don't ever let technology take control over your life, don't be the victim of advance technology.

1 Year in Credit Suisse

2009-07-14T14:15:00.006+08:00

Happy 1 year in Credit Suisse for all TA batch 2008 including me :D. Exactly one year ago, I joined CS as a fresh graduate in IT department. I joined the induction training for 3 weeks where I know some new friends. Time flies and here I am one year after that day. During this one year, I think I have changed, the way I see the world and the way I am thinking. I grow more mature although I am still searching for what I really want to do in life for my career. However, I won't stop searching, one day I will find that out ... Some of the photos with TAs throughout the year ...

Farewell Dinner with Shi Shi and Shuai Ge

Me and Shi Shi

Me In IT Expo 2008

After Meeting with Global TAs

Like Mum Like Daughter

2009-06-29T10:17:00.004+08:00

yes, it's a monday after a holiday and i met this super irritating person in mrt early morning. the story is like this. this morning, when i reached tanah merah mrt and walking to the escalator, suddenly i felt something beat me or maybe touched me from behind. it was somewhere if a stranger guy does that, i will definitely sue for molestation. so i turned with unhappy face and saw a girl-kid did that. oh, it was a kid, so i just continued walking to the escalator. when i stood on the escalator, i heard some irritating shout behind, so i turned again and see the same kid shouted. in my heart, i only said oh my God, how can be this kid so irritating. after the end of the escalator, when i was walking towards the control station, suddenly a fat woman who is apparently the kid's mum shouted at me, asked me why i kept staring at her kid. i tried to explain that she beat me and shouted so i turned and didn't stare. then she kept talking about there are other people push inside the mrt, why i never stared at them. excuse me, push and beat are different, mam, and it depends on where you beat/touch ok? then i thought trying to explain to this irreasonable woman will just waste my time, so i ignored her and kept walking and she even became more unhappy and said something like studying so high is useless with this attitued and so on so forth. so irritating, but i don't care. now i know why the kid is so irritating... like mum like daughter

About Pursuing Dream

2009-06-10T17:37:00.002+08:00

recently i often think about these topic. what do i want to achieve in life? what will i be 5 years from now, 10 years from now? what kind of career do i want to pursue? yes, i think my life has been smooth so far, i have a job with quite good pay (not that high but enough to cover all my expense including my travel expense :D). that makes my life stagnant, i don't think that much about my future and my career. even when i decided to take CFA, it's just because my company is willing to sponsor me, not because i think i need to upgrade myself. but hey, i'm only 23 years old, it's not time to be stagnant in life. there are many more things that i have to do to develop myself. life is not only about earning enough money to live. one of my senior advised me, career planning should be done as early as possible, right from the beginning of my career, or else 10 years will just elapse without trace. so i started asking myself what my dream is. i want to travel around the world, it's my biggest lifetime project, Step The WORLD. financially, i want to be able to retire at the age of 45 so that i have more time to travel. with those in mind, now i start to plan my future. my nearest goal at the moment is to clear 3 level of CFA exam at earliest date. second one is to get my master degree in finance. i'm working towards that now...

Happy Birthday Sister!!

2009-05-22T10:41:00.003+08:00

today is my sister's birthday, 21st birthday. oh my God, she is 21 years old already. hahaha, last time i always took her as a little girl and now this little girl is 21 years old already, who is not a minor anymore according to singapore law. when both of us were still in bandung, we often quarreled, even for small things. after graduating from junior high school, my sister went to singapore on scholarship, so proud of you :), 8 months later i also came to singapore. ever since that, we almost never quarrel anymore. i really feel so lucky on this small island, i have a sister to share all with me. anyway, happy birthday, sis, wish you all the best in everything you do, wish you to achieve all your dreams and get all the happiness in the world. GBU always. on the other side, i will start my CFA leave next week, so today will be my last working day before 2 long weeks of studying and studying and studying. i feel lucky that i have honghong to study together with me, fight together for the same dream. although the next 2 weeks would be tough, i'm looking forward to it.

Bangkok, I'm Coming

2009-05-11T10:31:00.002+08:00

yup yup yup, managed to secure another 100-dollar-ticket to bangkok for june, by tiger airways now. it's even before our bali holiday, wohooo. i'm so happy, huahahahaha. but this has created another distraction in our preparation for CFA. planning for holidays is always 1ooo times more interesting than reading CFA books or notes. one year ago, my parents went to bangkok, i was so sad that i couldn't join them because i have started working already, no more holiday. now, i'm coming to bangkok soon!!!i really hope that swine flu spread is not getting worse, lots of travel plan coming for us, would be very unfortunate if any of them have to be cancelled. last weekend we went to library again, we didn't realize that saturday was vesak day and library closed on public holiday. so we ended up in mcdonalds for half day studying and went to watch 'Taken', a nice movie about a father who tried to save her daughter that is kidnapped in paris. good break in the middle of studying, hahaha.

Weekend

2009-04-27T15:31:00.003+08:00

in the past one month i have been picking up badminton, at least once a week, with the last two weeks, we went for 2 or 3 times a week. i have been enjoying it so far. sometimes i just went with hong hong for one hour session, sometimes we invited more friends for longer session. we went swimming once also and plan to go more. i didn't do much exercise during my university life, only went for some gym session with anna last time. but now i really feel the need for the exercise to balance out my life. after exercise, i can really get a good sleep and feel energized the next day. counting down to my CFA exam, i am left with 41 days. i need to spend all my weekends and free time on studying studying and studying. it is really difficult to find a nice place to study here. the nicest place for studying we have been found so far is NLB study lounge. however, to get a place there, we need to go very early. it opens at 9 am daily and amazingly people start queueing in front of the door from 8 am!!! we didn't get a place yesterday and it made us forgo studying and went watching movie instead. hahaha, it's bad but the movie is good. we watched The International, about corrupted banking business. the movie said the heart of banking business is to make people become slaves of debt, hahaha. we ended the day with a pizza dinner and a walk in tiong bahru park. anyway i had a great weekend and busier and busier weekends are waiting now ...

Quote of the Day

2009-04-15T23:01:00.002+08:00

如果你真的爱一个人, 你必须包容他的一切, 接受他的一切

Road To CFA

2009-04-06T15:44:00.002+08:00

62 days to go to my level 1 CFA exam. all my weekends and free time are full of studying and studying now. last weekend hong hong and i went to national library. it was really amazing to see the queue in NLB study room in the morning. the study room opens at 9 am in the morning. we arrived there around 8.30 and we were not the first in the queue. some people have been there, they might arrive around 8 am? NLB study room is really a nice place to study, it has big tables and comfortable chairs with nice view from the big windows. just that we really have to arrive early in the morning to queue. so far i have finished reading the textbooks and started doing revision already. the scary thing is i forget lots of things already. some topics seem like totally new for me while actually i have read it few months ago. i will try all my best to study and if i still fail, i think that's a good sign that finance might not be the right field for me.

Travel Luck

2009-04-02T10:41:00.003+08:00

i think hong hong and i have a matching travel luck. by any means, we always manage to get cheap air ticket to fly here and there. hahaha. the most recent one we just booked last night, flight to perth by jetstar for 84 dollars per person. one week ago, two of our collegues went to perth with promotional ticket for 248 per person, still triple of our tickets. and even the australian visa will cost me more than the ticket itself. really so happy. anyway below is the list of cheap tickets we managed to book so far : 1. singapore - kuching by malaysian airlines for SGD92 2. singapore - bali by jetstar for SGD100 3. singapore - cebu by cebu pacific air for SGD107 4. singapore - perth by jetstar for SGD84 5. kuala lumpur - hangzhou by airasia for MYR231 hope this SGD 1xx ticket trend can keep continuing, hahaha, waiting maybe one day we can get tickets to europe for SGD 1xx too. however, all the holidays will come only after CFA. now i have to study study and study all the way. 66 more days to CFA. wish me luck :D

愛

2009-03-26T15:44:00.004+08:00

把你的心我的心串一串

串一株幸運草　串一個同心圓

讓所有期待未來的呼喚

趁青春做個伴

別讓年輕越長大越孤單

把我的幸運草　種在你的夢田

讓地球隨著我們的同心圓

永遠的不停轉

向天空大聲的呼喚　說聲我愛你

向那流浪的白雲　說聲我想你

讓那天空聽得見　讓那白雲看得見

誰也擦不掉　我們許下的諾言

想帶你一起看大海　說聲我愛你

給你最亮的星星　說聲我想你

聽聽大海的誓言　看看執著的藍天

讓我們自由自在的戀愛

Love

Take your heart and mine, string them together

String them with lucky grass, string them in the same circle of hearts

Let all those future breaths waiting to be exhaled

Take advantage of being together while we're still young

Don't let your youth become lonelier as you get older

Plant the lucky grass in the field of your dreams

Let the earth turn according to our circle of hearts

And never stop spinning

To the sky, I shout the words "I love you!"

To the passing clouds, I shout the words "I miss you!"

Let that sky hear, let the clouds see

No one can erase the promise we've made

I want to bring you to the seaside, and say "I love you"

Giving you the brightest star, to say "I miss you"

Listen to the sea's oath, see that stubborn blue sky

Letting us love freely and unrestrained

just listened to this song, really like this song, share with you all :)

I Need a Break

2009-03-19T11:58:00.004+08:00

ya i guess i really need a break. the last two weeks have been tough for me. after my holiday in kuching, it took really an effort to get myself back into my daily routine. workload in office, CFA study, and all the things that happened recently really pushed me a lot. when i open my eyes in the morning, only a severe laziness and hopeless feeling come out in my mind. as a result, everything becomes not right, i become sensitive and easily get irritated. even a slight push inside mrt can ruin my mood all the way to office and it can take forever to do a simple task at work. life has ups and downs, i guess this is the down part of my life. i am tired now, need little support and encouragement. ok, enough with the complaints, need to cheer myself up and continue to fight. jia you... on a brighter side, we managed to secure again a cheap ticket to bali in july. this would be our post-CFA holiday, i think after all the effort and hardwork for CFA, we deserve a nice holiday, hahaha.

Nice Wordings

2009-03-18T17:21:00.001+08:00

出生一張紙，開始一輩子；

畢業一張紙，奮鬥一輩子；

婚姻一張紙，折騰一輩子；

做官一張紙，鬥爭一輩子；

股票一張紙，起伏一輩子；

金錢一張紙，辛苦一輩子；

看病一張紙，花錢一輩子；

悼詞一張紙，了結一輩子。

Personality Quiz

2009-03-12T13:06:00.002+08:00

Your view on yourself: You are down-to-earth and people like you because you are so straightforward. You are an efficient problem solver because you will listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision that usually appeals to both parties. The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for: You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true. Your readiness to commit to a relationship: You prefer to get to know a person very well before deciding whether you will commit to the relationship. The seriousness of your love: You are very serious about relationships and aren't interested in wasting time with people you don't really like. If you meet the right person, you will fall deeply and beautifully in love. Your views on education Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can. The right job for you: You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don't focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success. How do you view success: You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying. What are you most afraid of: You are concerned about your image and the way others see you. This means that you try very hard to be accepted by other people. It's time for you to believe in who you are, not what you wear. Who is your true self: You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve. is it true? take the quiz at http://www.quizbox.com/personality/test82.aspx..

Update update

2009-02-27T12:54:00.002+08:00

long time i never write about my daily life. now i started getting more and more busy in office. i have something to do and somebody else's work will rely on my work. the good thing is time seems go faster when i have something to do. sometimes i stay late in office also. there are two guys in pune who are working together with me. my manager also started giving me more and more responsibilities. in a way, work has become more and more challenging now. the next thing is CFA, left with like 3 more months to prepare for my CFA level 1 exam. so far, my progress in well in-track. i have read like 70% of the materials, although i have forgotten most of them. i should be able to finish my textbooks hopefully by end of march or latest mid-april. from then onward, i can start my revision. for Step The WORLD project, there is no new plan laid for travelling yet, only kuching and hangzhou waiting now. hopefully i can have some trip after CFA to release all the stress and one more in the year end. looking for a nice place to countdown to 2010. then for all bandung-ers, now we all have direct flight from singapore to bandung launched by airasia. so happy that i can get rid of the 3 hours bus trip from and to jakarta everytime i go home. i love airasia sooo much. i am going to try the new route in june for my dad and my mum's birthday.

List of Coming Holidays

2009-02-13T11:03:00.002+08:00

when we started working already, what we can looking forward to is just holiday holiday and holiday. this is the list of holidays that i am looking forward to at the moment : 1. 14 - 16 feb : desaru beach in johor, malaysia (which is tomorrow, yayyyyy) 2. 7 - 10 mar : kuching, serawak, again in malaysia (oops, my passport will be full of malaysia's chop, hahaha) 3. 24 - 31 oct : hangzhou, china, this one we managed to get a cheap airasia ticket for KL-Hangzhou, RM462 for 2 people, hahaha. so we just booked first, hope we can get the leave for that period. ok, back to work now :D:D:D

New Room

2009-02-11T13:50:00.003+08:00

i just moved to a new room at bukit merah view, it's near tiong bahru mrt. the room is nice and tidy. so far i like the new place. the landlord is a working couple with one little kid. there is another female tenant in the house. the new landlord is really the opposite of the previous one. this landlord likes everything to be clean and tidy. he also likes the house to be quiet. the environment in the new place is nice, it's walking distance to tiong bahru mrt and tiong bahru plaza. there is a nice park nearby too, nice to just sit or walk around. there is a community centre nearby also with a study room and gym facility, suitable for studying CFA as well as maintaining health. most importantly, it's walking distance to hong hong's house too so that we can spend more time together :D:D anyway, i just realized that i have lots of things. there were around 15 boxes of things when i moved. of course i use professional mover, but it's still too much. there are lots of things that i don't use anymore, but too expensive to just throw away, like my university textbooks. there are some cute funny stationery that i got from career fair, etc that i don't use, but too cute to throw away too. i should really stop buying things. hahaha.

Happy Chinese New Year

2009-02-04T17:44:00.003+08:00

actually it's a bit too late, but happy chinese new year to you all. this chinese new year is special for me, where i could have it at home with my family, including my sister. my sister brought lots of food home, she is really really good at shopping, hahaha. she also bought yu sheng also, something usually only can be found in singapore and we happily had it during the reunion dinner. on the chinese new year eve, all of us did the praying at midnight. on the chinese new year day, we visited my grandma's house, my sister and i got few angpao :D:D, we also visited my grandaunt, she looks much much much older than the last time i saw her. we didn't do many things for chinese new year actually, just the the atmosphere, the hope and the joy on the chinese new year always touch my heart. in addition to my 2009 new year resolution, i add a few more things on this chinese new year. 1. to take a better care of my eyes, rest properly after staring at my computer screen for quite some time. 2. to speak more chinese (somebody requested for this, u know who you are, hahaha) , it's difficult because i'm not used to it, but let me try and see how it is going. i'm a chinese after all, and being able to speak one more language is a big advantage.

Take For Granted

2009-01-21T16:34:00.003+08:00

there is a common tendency in people when we spend time a lot with a person, we will start taking this person for granted. we feel that by default this person is around us, without any request or sacrifice, he or she is still there for us. sometimes we don't realize it when we start to have this kind of thinking. furthermore, we start to forget how it is to be alone, how it is to walk in citylink mall or orchard road alone, spend weekend in our small rooms with nobody, even down to the simplest thing, to have dinner alone and have nobody to say good night to us before we sleep. we stop to think that this person is an important part in our life that we have to appreciate and cherish all the time. we don't care about that person too much anymore, he or she will always be there after all. the worst thing is some people never realize this until they lose that person. so if we have a bit of time, just reflect whether we take the people around us for granted, whether we care enough about them. do we still do all the small things to show our care and to let them know that they are precious in our life? every single second we spend with our loved one is precious, cherish it and be grateful always for he or she is there for us.

选择

2009-01-19T23:29:00.003+08:00

风起的日子笑看落花

雪舞的时节举杯向月

这样的心情

这样的路

我们一起走过

希望你能爱我到地老到天荒

希望你能陪我到海角到天涯

就算一切从来我也不会改变决定

我选择了你你选择了我喔

我一定会爱你到地老到天长

我一定会陪你到海枯到石烂

就算回到从前这仍是我唯一决定

我选择了你你选择了我

这就是我们的选择

走过了春天走过秋天

送走了今天又是明天

一天又一天

月月年年

我们的心不变

希望你能爱我到地老到天荒

希望你能陪我到海角到天涯

就算一切从来我也不会改变决定

我选择了你你选择了我喔

我一定会爱你到地久到天长

我一定会陪你到海枯到石烂

就算回到从前这仍是我唯一决定

我选择了你你选择了我

这是我们的选择

我一定会爱你到地久到天长

我一定会陪你到海枯到石烂

就算回到从前这仍是我唯一决定

我选择了你你选择了我

这是我们的选择

我选择了你你选择了我

这是我们的选择

yes, love is a choice ...

A Nice Friday

2009-01-17T00:39:00.003+08:00

this week i have a nice friday, after office, hong hong and i simply took shuttle bus from our office to one raffles quay, had a simple dinner at lau pa sat, we ate xiao long bao since hong hong is a big fan of xiao long bao. after xiao long bao, we went to marina bay, bought two cups of starbucks and sat by the bay for 3 or 4 hours talking rubbish. time goes soooo fast, it was not like 3 or 4 hours there. amazingly, we could talk so much and it has been long time since we visited marina bay the last time. for us, marina bay is the most beautiful part of singapore and our story began there :D:D this weekend will be another study time for us, i hope i can finish financial reporting analysis before i go home for chinese new year on 24 jan later. ok, going to sleep now, recharge my energy for tomorrow studying session.

Love, Is It Chance or Choice?

2009-01-16T15:11:00.003+08:00

When we meet the right person to love, when we're at the right place, at the right time, that's chance. When you meet someone you're attracted to, that's not a choice. That's chance. Being caught up in a moment (and there's a lot of couples who get together because of this) is not a choice. That's also a chance. The difference is what happens afterward. When will you take that infatuation, that crush, that mind-blowing attraction to the next level? That's when all sanity goes back, you sit down and contemplate whether you want to make this into a concrete relationship or just a fling. If you decide to love a person, even with his faults, that's not a chance. That's choice. When you choose to be with a person, no matter what, that's choice. Even if you know there are many people out there who are more attractive, smarter, and richer than your mate, and yet, you decide to love your mate just the same, that's choice. Infatuation, crushes, attraction comes to us by chance. But true love that lasts is truly a choice. A choice that we make. Regarding soul mates, there's a beautiful movie quote that I believe is so true about this : "Fate brings you together, but it's still up to you to make it happen."I do believe that soul mates do exist. That there is truly someone made for you. But it's still up to you to make the choice if you're going to do something about it or not. We meet our soul mates by chance, but love is a choice we make.It does not matter how to find someone perfect to love, but how to love someone imperfect perfectly. found this nice note about love, fate will bring us our soulmate, however, how we are going to proceed is really our choice. in a relationship, there will always be ups and downs, it is purely our choice to keep fighting for it or give up ...

Study Study Study

2009-01-12T16:38:00.002+08:00

ya, that was how i spent my weekend, hahaha, i went to national library with hong hong at 8.30 and studied CFA whole day for saturday and sunday. i have 4 months to go for my CFA, and it's time for me to really start studying. it was like i'm back to my university life during exam period, reading textbook and writing notes. i feel like i never study for long time already. chinese new year is coming too, and for this year, i will go home for chinese new year. finally after 4 years i couldn't celebrate chinese new year at home, now my sister and i, both of us will be home for chinese new year. i am sure my parents will be super happy this time. for the next 4 months before CFA, i still have 2 holiday plans in between my study plan. first during valentine day, i am going to desaru, according to the pictures i saw in internet, it is a beautiful beach in johor, malaysia. then 7 march i am going to kuching, east malaysia, because of promotional air ticket from malaysian airlines, we can fly from singapore to kuching for only SGD92. it's malaysian airlines some more, a 5-star airline. after these 2 holidays, no more holiday until CFA. hahaha, only study study and study all the way.

New Year New Hope

2009-01-09T10:36:00.002+08:00

seeing most of my friends' blogs, they all have new year resolutions for 2009, i guess i want to have some also. hahaha. 1. to perform better in my work as more and more responsiblities come to me and be more proactive in doing my tasks. 2. to study hard to pass my CFA level 1 next june, manage time more efficiently. 3. to continue with Step The WORLD project, travel travel and travel (hence, have to work hard and save money, hahaha) 4. to be happier and happier each day, the first step to make other people happy is by being happy yourself. hope 2009 will be a better year, market will be better and job will be safer, hahaha. wish you all a blessed year ahead.

Last Working Day for 2008

2008-12-23T17:32:00.002+08:00

today is my last working day for 2008 since from tomorrow onwards, i will be taking leave for holiday. i will be back on 5 january next year to office. these two days, i practically have nothing much to do in office, since my whole team has been on leave. recalling my journey in CS for this year, i started with 3 weeks induction training. from the training, i got 2 of my best friends in CS, fan fan and shi shi. 3 weeks of sweet memory, where we learnt together and played together. during this training also i met hong hong for the first time. then i started my real work, without NT login to workstation for the first week. after waiting for 1 week plus, i finally have my NT login, email and iconnect (instant messenger) up. from then on, fan fan, shi shi and i always have our own chat room to share our experience and support each other in our new roles. in this chat room also, we came up with idea to go HK end of this year and we brought in hong hong to the plan as well, added him as member of the chatroom. now that i'm together with hong hong, 4 of us remain as best mates in CS. during the worst week of the year where CS retrenched people, we managed to go through it and encouraged each other. market is still not good as of now, but i do feel lucky to have this small group where i belong to, where i find friendship and love. wish all of us the best in the coming year... :D:D

Quiet Office

2008-12-19T09:57:00.003+08:00

the office has become more and more quiet recently, so many people are taking leave at this moment, my manager is on leave as well now. it's at the end of the year, a nice moment to take a bit of rest from our work and maybe spend some time with family. i will be going home on 24 dec, which is next wednesday, for about one week, quite a short holiday at home, just to meet my family, miss my parents soooo much. i don't plan much on what to do at home, prefer to spend time at home. the good thing is my sister is going back bandung also. quite a rare occassion ever since both of us came to singapore. 3 more working days including today before my long year - end holiday... there is a nice article, reminded me of home, i miss home

Fear of Job Cut

2008-12-15T14:20:00.003+08:00

last week my company just announced that they are going to cut 5300 employees globally, over the week, the affected people left the office already. it was a stressful week, even for me. something that i never thought before, came into my mind. what would i do if i am one of those affected people. with the bad market situation, it's really difficult to get a job. the atmosphere in office was so tense, everybody was scared. it was really a bad week. but the good thing is the week is over, and here i still have my job. during the weekend, i met some of my ex-collegue in accenture for xmas gathering, there were jeff, jo, karwai, andy, thien an, lina and diana. it has been quite some time after i met them the last time. my IA seems so long time ago already. amazingly, among all in migration team, only thien an left now. everybody either has quitted accenture/singtel or switched to other project. i feel lucky to be part of the team, at least i bring out a friendship out of my IA as well. thanks mates ...

Fire Drill

2008-11-21T11:13:00.002+08:00

just now we had fire drill in this office. it is supposed to be an exercise so that people know what to do and what to expect when fire really happens. but i guess not many people took it seriously. the fire drill started with an alarm, followed by an announcement saying that the alarm had been activated, please remain calm and follow the instructions from the speaker. after that there was another announcement saying that that was an emergency situation, please go down by stairs. i really pity those people at level 9, and feel lucky that i work at level 4, hahaha. the person who is the fire marshall of our level started to ask people to go down via emergency stairs then. however, there was no emergency atmosphere at all, hahaha. we went down slowly and gather at level 1 where the fire marshalls then took our attendance. hahaha it was so funny because it was supposed to be emergency situation but some people even brought a piece of plastic to sit on the grass, other people had meeting at the canteen, etc. after that, we had to queue at the lift to bring us up back to our dear desks.

IT Expo

2008-11-14T18:03:00.006+08:00

yesterday we had our IT expo at CBP office, IT expo is the event where all parts of credit suisse's IT department showcase their work. as i mentioned in my previous entry, TA has our own booth. we had flyers to distribute and game for the visitors to our booth. the purpose of our booth is to build awareness of TA's existence in credit suisse. there were lots of people joining our games. the games is called Around The World with APAC TA. there were 30 pictures representing 10 countries, and we were asked to match which pictures represent which countries. hong hong won a pair of movie ticket by answering 28 correct match to the games hahaha. i was in the booth early morning and had some work to do in the afternoon. so i didn't attend the whole event. we also had opportunity to present our TA video in the IT expo. below are some photos taken during the IT expo

Me At TA's Booth

Malvika is explaining the game to our APAC CIO

What Is Your Colour?

2008-11-11T10:04:00.001+08:00

you are turquoise
#40E0D0

Your dominant hues are green and blue. You're smart and you know it, and want to use your power to help people and relate to others. Even though you tend to battle with yourself, you solve other people's conflicts well.

Your saturation level is higher than average - You know what you want, but sometimes know not to tell everyone. You value accomplishments and know you can get the job done, so don't be afraid to run out and make things happen.

Your outlook on life is bright. You see good things in situations where others may not be able to, and it frustrates you to see them get down on everything.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

今日诗词

2008-11-07T15:02:00.002+08:00

山外青山楼外楼

西湖歌舞几时休

暖风熏得游人醉

直把杭州作汴州

What Kind of Boyfriend or Girlfriend Are You?

2008-11-07T11:02:00.001+08:00

What kind of boyfriend or girlfriend are you?

Independent Yet Devoted

You are confident enough in yourself that you do not always need that someone by your side, or need to know what they are doing. You trust that they are loyal and don't need constant reassurance. You can spend a night out with your friends and have fun, with or without your partner. Despite these characteristics, you always assure that your partner knows you are devoted to them, even through the most subtle gestures.

Fun quizzes, surveys & blog quizzes by

got the quiz link from my friend, hahaha, i can't say whether it's true or not, i believe that when two people are in a relationship, they will drive each other's behaviour a lot. your partner's characteristics will determine your behaviour towards him/her and vice versa. for example, if you trust your partner, but he/she breached your trust, can you trust him/her again?i guess everybody will answer no. now what kind of partner that i want? not a handsome one, not a rich one, not a smart one, and not a high-profile one, i just want somebody that can make my life happier and happier each day...

Update

2008-11-06T15:00:00.002+08:00

this few days have been a peaceful days for me. i went for business object web intelligence training on monday and tuesday, it was a wrong class though, i should have gone for crystal report training, but i was registered into wrong class. but it's ok because they are still closely related to each other. on tuesday, i can go home early as well, seldom can be at home at 5 o'clock. then, i get my omnia also, a nice black omnia with a promotional price of SGD3xx, haha. but i'm kind of wrong to choose omnia, it's to high-tech, even up till now, i only can use the basic functions of it only. but it's really a nice phone, the camera is nice too. took 3 pictures so far already. tomorrow, we are going to have a year end party in sentosa. it's going to be whole night party, but i plan to leave a bit early. i am not the type of person that likes partying so much. i prefer to spend my time with the people that i love than to go party. hahaha. have a walk and chat will do.

Another Memorable Birthday, Thanks

2008-11-03T21:56:00.006+08:00

this year, i am blessed to have another memorable birthday. my friends gathered yesterday to celebrate my birthday in NYDC heeren. really thanks to anna for arranging the birthday celebration despite her busy schedule and the coming exam, really appreciate that. thanks to my SCE friends and hall 15 friends who has spare their time to come, especially those who are having exam soon. i received lots of sms as well, thanks a lot friends. then i received a birthday card from shi shi in HK, thanks shi shi, looking forward to seeing you in KL. it means a lot to me. in my department in office, every last day of the month, we have birthday celebration for the those whose birthday is on that month. since my birthday is exactly on the last day of the month, they have an on-spot celebration for me with a big cake. hahaha.

I Trust No One

2008-11-01T23:02:00.002+08:00

i was quite an introvert person. i don't like to talk about my private problems with other people. recently, i have tried to be more open. i started to talk about my life. but apparently, the people i trust, the people i chose to share, betrayed me. no i cannot trust anyone anymore. i only can trust myself, only myself.

媽媽好

2008-10-19T00:17:00.004+08:00

世上只有媽媽好

有媽的孩子像個寶

投進了媽媽的懷包

幸福享不了

世上只有媽媽好

沒媽的孩子像根草

離開了媽媽的懷包

幸福那里找

世上只有媽媽好

有媽的孩子不知道

要是他知道

夢里也會笑

this morning i heard some people playing this song. suddenly my eyes were filled with tear, i really miss my mum....

My Typing Speed

2008-10-13T15:30:00.001+08:00

80 words

Speed test

We Are The Reason

2008-10-11T21:58:00.003+08:00

As little children we would dream of Christmas morn

Of all the gifts and toys we knew we’d find

But we never realized a baby born one blessed night

Gave us the greatest gift of our lives

We were the reason that He gave His life

We were the reason that He suffered and died

To a world that was lost He gave all He could give

To show us the reason to live

As the years went by we learned more about gifts

The giving of ourselves and what that means

On a dark and cloudy day a man hung crying in the rain

All because of love

I finally found the reason for living

It’s in giving every part of my heart to Him

And all that I do every word that I say

I’ll be giving my all just for Him, for Him

We are the reason that He gave His life

We are the reason that He suffered and died

To a world that was lost He gave all He could give

To show us the reason to live

He is the reason to live ...

suddenly i remember this song, i like this song very very very much, it's very touching and encouraging especially in time of difficulties.

I Am Tired

2008-10-11T10:16:00.002+08:00

the last two weeks i really feel very very tired. actually nothing is special in these two weeks. office hour is still the same from 9 to 6 and most of the time i am free in office. i didn't go out after office too. after office, i go home, have dinner then read my CFA book until 11 then go to sleep. i guess my thought and my worry make me tired....

I Am A Singapore PR

2008-10-09T14:16:00.002+08:00

yup, i just got my singapore PR last week and today i finally obtained my singapore PR IC, a blue IC with my photo on it. after 4 years of staying in singapore, finally now i can stay in singapore for unlimited time. hahaha. hopefully this PR can help me in getting visa when i want to go to other country. hahaha. anyway singapore has become my second home now, :D:D

Today's Lesson

2008-10-02T21:14:00.002+08:00

you don't need to be the smartest person in the room, you only have to be the fastest learner among all

Awesome Race

2008-09-28T23:35:00.003+08:00

it was really an awesome race, i watched F1 race since i was in my high school but i never watched it live. this time i had the opportunity to watch it live (we won the bidding as i mentioned in my previous post), really awesome experience. from our meeting room, we could see two turns of the circuit and there are a big screen facing our window. so we could follow the race via the screen when the cars were not in front of our window. and we are at level 5 so the trees were not blocking our view. we have air conditioner inside the meeting room, it's better than the people who bought the ticket, they didn't have air conditioner outside. the sound of the engine was much less noisy inside the room. hahaha, but in the middle of the race we went down to level 1 just to experience the noise. the atmosphere was really different compared to if we watch on tv. but too bad, kimi raikonnen couldn't finish the race. anyway, thanks friends for making this F1@ORL event such a memorable event.

F1 and KL

2008-09-27T00:26:00.002+08:00

i'm going to watch the first night race ever in the world this sunday, :D:D. credit suisse has office in one raffles link facing the F1 track. they auctioned 10 meeting rooms facing the track for the staff to watch F1. the fund will go for children's cancer foundation. so together with other 11 TAs, we put a bid on the meeting room at level 5 and yes, we won it after a hard work near the deadline of the bid. thanks to hong hong for arrowing me to coordinate the event. hahaha. on sunday we will meet at 2.30 to shop for some food then go to ORL. hopefully we can have a good view from the meeting room. next update is on hong shan fan shi travel. we successfully arranged another trip to kuala lumpur, malaysia on 5-8 dec. this time hong hong, fan fan and i will travel to KL using air asia for 55 dollars return. shi shi will travel from hongkong and meet us in the airport. hong hong provides us accomodation at his house. thanks hong hong. so this is actually my second trip in my travel-around-the-world project and the hongkong trip will be my third trip. the first trip is china trip last year. slowly but sure, i will work on my travel-around-the-world project. hahaha. however, as a result, i have to renew my passport before i leave for KL. one special fact about our travel group is four of us have different passport, hahaha, malaysia, hongkong, china and indonesia and each passport have different visa requirement. looking forward for the trip by hong shan fan shi travel .....

New Group - 2nd Trip in Travelling Around The World Dream

2008-09-19T21:39:00.003+08:00

i haven't updated this blog for so long time. i was quite busy these days. on weekdays i have to go to work for whole day, then at night i still have to study to prepare for CFA level 1 exam next year. i have decided to pursue CFA, it might be usefull for my career in banking and finance. so far i enjoy working in credit suisse. i have a nice and friendly manager, my workload is still ok as well. and the most important thing, i have a new group of friends in credit suisse already. it's funny how easy we can become friends. among all new friends in credit suisse, there are 3 of them who are closest to me. first is stella, or we usually call shi shi (詩詩), she is from hong kong, i know her since the first day of training. ever since, we were always together throughout the whole training. second is yang fan, or we usually call fan fan (帆帆) she is from the same course in NTU as me. i know him when i attended interview with singtel. he was interviewed right before me. a smart guy from china with blue specs, hahaha. the third is tan euhon, or we usually call hong hong (宏宏), a funny and cheerful guy from malaysia who always shakes leg in office. he is one year senior of us. i don't remember when i know him, i guess during the session with 2007 TA during the training. everyday we always have a chat room for 4 of us just to share our experience, our problem and our plan. hahaha, all of us have same dream of travelling around the world. this december, 3 of us, fan fan, hong hong and me will travel together to hong kong to meet shi shi, then together we plan to travel in hong kong and macau. we call ourselves as hong shan fan shi (宏姗帆詩) travel agent, hahaha, shan shan (姗姗) is me, btw. we also share another same fate that we are taking CFA, fan fan is taking CFA level 1 this december and if he passes, he will take level 2 next june, together with hong hong, while shi shi and i will take level 1 next june. anyway, going back to my CFA book, hahaha, however, i can say CFA is better than GRE vocabs. i am trying to enjoy the learning process. that's the best way to pass CFA....

7th Week in Credit Suisse

2008-08-28T20:05:00.002+08:00

this is my 7th week in credit suisse already. and this week i have started working on real job for the team. i did my work while still learning how to use the tool effectively. i stayed until quite late for the last two days. of course this late is not in the same context as when i did my internship. if i use the standard for my internship, it still can be counted as early leave. hahaha. but well, in the end i managed to deliver the thing that was required. today i had a talk with my manager. he kind of asked me what i would like to do and what is my career goal in the future. he explained to me what kind of industries there are outside and the choices available for my career. he gave me much freedom to explore the projects available and choose what i want to do. so nice. the good thing is tomorrow is friday, yayyyy, now i look forward to weekend so much. as if i live only from weekend to weekend.

Beginning of The Project

2008-08-21T22:53:00.003+08:00

today finally my project officially started. i had a super long talk with my manager today. he explained to me what is our project about, where we sit in the big IT department of credit suisse and what is expected from my role in the team. my manager is nice, he is a smart guy. he knows a lot about finance as well as the IT technical knowledge. in addition to that, he is very good in explaining concept. he is able to explain complicated stuff in simple language to make it easier to understand or sometimes he just simply makes joke of it. he even explained to me the concept of credit crunch in US which i'm never able to understand before. tomorrow he assigned another guy to teach me how to use the tool in the project and asked me to familiarize myself with that tool. so i expect tomorrow won't be another boring day. another good news, tomorrow might be my first pay day, hopefully if there is nothing wrong with my payroll setup. i have worked for one and half month already and haven't got my pay. it's because the first three weeks are training and during the training we didn't have time to deal with admin stuffs including payroll. however, i need to save up, hahaha, in case i still want to pursue master degree. i haven't given up on my dream to take master in financial engineering. tomorrow is friday, yayyyy, weekend is coming, i love weekend so much .....

My Future

2008-08-19T23:06:00.003+08:00

when i was a kid, i always dreamt of being an adult, being an independent person, graduating from school and working. now i have graduated and i am working now. however, now i realize that being an adult is not easy. problems keep coming and sometimes i don't know what i am doing. when i think of the future, i start to feel scared. what will my future be like? will i be happy in my future? how i wish i could go back to my childhood time ....

Personality Test

2008-08-17T21:15:00.001+08:00

ESTJ - "Administrator". Much in touch with the external environment. Very responsible. Pillar of strength. 8.7% of total population.

Free Jung Personality Test (similar to Myers-Briggs/MBTI)

Real Work

2008-08-05T20:01:00.002+08:00

last friday was the last day for our training after a full week of tough training on finance. we really had good times along the training. a strong bonding and friendship are built there. we bought singapore t-shirts for TAs from hongkong and tokyo and signed on it. stella gave me a box of chocolate in the end of the training. thanks so much. on the last day of training, fan fan and i sent stella and chen shuai to airport. i felt so sad because we spent so much time together during the training. hope to see you all soon. really appreciate the 3 weeks training, like our chair, lester said, it's a lifetime memory, we really should treasure it. keep in touch, friends. i feel so lucky to be part of APAC TA 2008 family. officially, yesterday was my first day of real work. however, since my login ID wasn't activated, i had pretty much nothing to do. i read a bit on the software that is used in credit suisse and most of the time i only kept looking at planes flying from changi airport through the window beside my seat. by the way, i got a small but nice seat just beside a big window with a super nice view. my teammates are nice, even the manager and director came personally to me to say welcome onboard. i hope i can enjoy my time with credit suisse. talking about planes, everytime i see planes flying, i always dream of travelling. one of my dreams in my life is to travel around the world with the people i love. i want to see the historical sites and beautiful scenery around the world. i want to see taj mahal and pyramid. i want to travel around europe and visit credit suisse's headquarter in zurich. i want to see golden gate and niagara falls. i want to visit japan and korea. i want to travel around south east asia. i also want to go to china again to visit the places i didn't visit last time. sounds too big to be a dream, right? but this dream has given me spirit to go through all the challenges in my life. it's never wrong to have a big dream...

Training and Training

2008-07-29T23:43:00.003+08:00

this is the third week of my training already as well as the toughest among all trainings. for this whole week, we have training on finance. yes i took minor in business before, but it is like a century ago, haha, i successfully forget everything. however, credit suisse invited a good trainer for us. he has a lot of experiences in banking and finance. i hope i can get some light through this training about how an investment bank works.
i was assigned a buddy in credit suisse. the buddy is supposed to help me to settle down in my new job. my buddy is my teammate, a nice indian guy. i met him once during credit suisse social event last april. i met him yesterday regarding my login to credit suisse network, he kept asking me when i will be joining the team. haha, looking forward for additional manpower in the team right?
below is the photo CS TAs took at Esplanade. i look so short here, haha.

With CS TAs on Esplanade Rooftop

Morning Post

2008-07-18T07:29:00.003+08:00

maybe this is my first post in such an early morning. today is friday, the last working day of my first week in Credit Suisse. i woke up quite early, around 6.30 since i share toilet with nata, so we need to adjust the time. anyway, that's good to wake up early, i can take my time to dress up and have my breakfast. i kind of get used to this lifestyle already, wake up early in the morning, go to work, come home in the evening after having dinner outside, then browse internet before going to sleep. this might be my lifestyle for a very long period from now.

Week 1 In Credit Suisse

2008-07-16T22:42:00.003+08:00

this is my first week of working in Credit Suisse. these 3 days we had the onboarding training. it is about Credit Suisse and some basic knowledge about the organization. i had the opportunity to meet other fresh graduates who join Credit Suisse as well. for IT graduates, we are called technical associates. there are 33 people of us, 2 of which are from hongkong and 1 from tokyo. i like the people there, they are very friendly. i guess we can form a solid team as 2008 technical associates. the next 3 weeks will be training for us. week 2 will be training on IT stuff and week 3 will be training on financial market. the training is sometimes fun but sometimes boring as well. especially when it is like a lecture. but i like my fellow technical associates (TA). today we brought the HK TA to merlion. overall i feel happy to join Credit Suisse.

A Friend For Life

2008-05-09T17:31:00.002+08:00

in life we always meet a lot of people. however, there are only few people are worthed to be friends for life. i feel so blessed that in my 4 year journey in NTU, i have a real friend. let me write about this special person of my life. we met 5 years back when we were still in high school because we joined maths competition together. we went to bogor together and my impression about her that time is that she is a very talkative and nice girl. then i went to ntu and one year after she joined ntu as well. during my third year of study, we became roommate up till now. in the last two years, we have been roommate, i don't say that i'm always happy with what she does and i'm sure she is not always happy with what i do. however, through all of these, we know each other even better. we can understand each other and we don't need too many explanations between us. we can talk about anything freely. she is the one sharing everything with me, all the good and the bad things. she is always honest to me and tell me the truth. she is the one i can always trust. soon i will be moving out of ntu. we will live far away. but i believe some friendships will last for life. thank you, Anna, you will always be my special friend, no matter what happens, i will always stand by you and support you.

I'm Done With NTU

2008-05-05T17:36:00.002+08:00

yes, finally, i am DONE with NTU, hahahaha. today afternoon was my final presentation for my final year project. since last night i couldn't sleep well, then this morning i couldn't eat much as well. i really felt scared of this presentation. even felt more scared than when i was going to have exam. hahaha. i had time to rehearse once in the tutorial room before the actual presentation. however, the presentation was not as scary as i imagined. the examiner asked several questions throughout the presentation and 2 questions in the Q&A session. really thanks to my supervisor, he helped me a lot especially when i could not give a convincing answer, he summarized my answer. when i looked at him, he gave me encouraging smile, really thanks to him. i want to say thank you to all my friends who has sms/msn me before the presentation, thanks a lot for your support.....