Yup, I’ve been up to Taipei and back. A few people have asked me how come I’m back so fast. It has become such that my trips to Taiwan have been associated with long periods away. But I thank God that this trip was short and fruitful. At least, I met all the goals that I went up there for.
Will update more soon. Seems like there’s nothing much to update lately aside from work. Haha. Anyway, cheers… :Þ
So we’re 10 days into the second half of the year. It started off busy and with a quick break to KL, Malaysia to visit my parents. Been a while since I last went to KL and it’s good to be away from Singapore and work for a while.
Work has been busy. Gone are the days when I complained that I’m bored at work. First day back at work after holidays and the emails that I have to catch up on is unbelievable. On top of that, there was a conference call that I was totally unaware and unprepared for. And I missed cell because of last minute surge in work. All in all, a “fantastic” first day back at work.
Headed up to Taipei next Tuesday for a quick business trip. Gotta go show face at the client’s office in hopes of calming some frayed nerves. And then another round of training, but this time to a friendlier audience. Hopefully, I get some time off at night to hang out and go shopping for stuff, especially the stuff that Dear wants.
Oh, almost forgot a testimony. I got promoted in my company’s last round of performance reviews. So praise the Lord for that. At least the hard work is rewarded.
That’s about all for now. Gotta go get some rest. Been having a headache ever since early in the evening. Until the next time, cheers… :Þ
A lot has happened over the past two weeks or so that I have never gotten the chance to write about. And so here goes…
This year’s birthday was once of the best that I’ve had. Started on the midnight of 14 June 2008 where the Father’s Day drama team celebrated my birthday after the rehearsals. I think I spoilt their plans a bit when I came up too early to the control room. But nevertheless, I’m touched and appreciative of their thoughts and actions. Then after ES2, my ES2 team celebrated my birthday. Again, I spoiled the surprise because during debrief, I wanted to go find Karen in the audio room and they walked right out of the same room carrying the birthday cake. The look on the faces of those carrying the cake out was priceless. But again, thank you all for remembering and celebrating.
Of course, the best surprise came from Dear. She gave me an envelope in the cab ride from JW back home. Opened the envelope and I was very delighted and surprised at what I saw. Background story first. When Dear and me went to the Singapore Flyer, I noticed this shop called “Flight Experience”. They sell time for flights in a Boeing 737-800 simulator and they weren’t exactly cheap. I was planning to go back there and try it out one day. And so, my wishes have been fulfilled by Dear. I was so elated and still am. Now just to plan a time to go take that flight.
Last Sunday (22 June 2008), Dear and me went to Forest Adventure to be “monkeys”. Well, it’s a tree-top course that included zip lines (flying fox) and stuff. My body is still aching 3 days after but it was good fun. Sorry, but no pictures. Brought the camera along but just didn’t have the chance to stop and take pictures. Planning on going back there again sometime. Anybody want to join me?
Work has picked up a bit in the last two weeks. Chasing deadlines here and there. No more slacking. Managing a project is not easy, even though it’s just enhancements and change requests. But I’m trying to take it all in my stride. It’s definitely challenging and hard work, but I’m having a bit of fun at it.
This is one long update. Something that I’ve not done in a while. Anyway, got to sign off here and get back to work. Until the next time, cheers… :Þ
I’m sure most of you have seen my post saying that I’ve been feeling slack since I came back from Taiwan. Not anymore. Suddenly, a torrent of work unleashed itself towards the end of last week. I even had to do some work over the weekend. But all is well and managed. Just good and bad to have the rush feeling again.
Let’s step away from work for the rest of this post. Had an exciting weekend with the Father’s Day drama that my church put up. This is a drama that goes into the CHCTV record books as one with the least number of rehearsals and full-dress runs. For the JW team, it wasn’t so bad. They had 4-5 runs before the actual service. For us in Expo, all we had was Saturday morning to finalize our shots, and 2 full-dress runs and we were supposed to be all ready to run. Thank God the drama was relatively simple. Still missed shots during the actual service, but I think it wasn’t too bad.
My boss just told me today I need to make a short trip up to Taiwan to conduct training. He asked me to schedule it and go. So when’s a good time? But at least it’s just a short trip of a few days.
That’s all for this post. Will update again soon. Got to get some work done before knocking off. So until the next time, cheers… :Þ
I’ve been back in Singapore for about two weeks now. The feeling that I get from being able to stay in Singapore for more than one week is fantastic. For now, there are no plans to go back to Taiwan, although I’m sure that the opportunity will come up.
Now that I’m based back here in Singapore, I’ve suddenly developed the “I’m-too-free” feeling. Problem is that I’m not free. There are things to do and deadlines to meet. I’m doing them and I’ll be able to meet deadlines, but the mad rush feeling is gone. Kinda makes me feel very laid back and void of any motivation. Guess I just have to tune my body back to the Singapore work habit. No more rushing about like when I was in Taipei. Don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Does it mean that I’ve been stretched or does it just mean that I’m lazy? Haha. Well, what ever it is, I pray that this feeling doesn’t hang around for too long.
The office is very empty nowadays (hmmm, I wonder if this contributes to the “too free” feeling). A lot of staff are on-site at the customer’s place, including the team that was in Taiwan together with me. Feels like I’m “left behind”. Miss those days when there were people in the office and out of a sudden, a conversation that is not work-related will burst forth and everybody will jump in to contribute. Guess that’s one thing I like about this company I’m in now. Everybody is cool with everybody else. And best of all, minimal politicking.
On another topic, I recently purchased a water filter thingamajig from Brita. And after drinking water from that filter, all other water now tastes weird to me. Even the water from my office’s water cooler, which is filtered, tastes weird. Okay, this part is way off-topic and random.
Gotta get back to work now. Until the next time, cheers… :Þ
First week back in Singapore is almost over. Not too bad of a week. Although I was still busy with work, it felt less stressful as compared to when I was in Taipei. Work was at a more peaceful pace, peppered with situations where I got whipped into near panic attacks. But all is good and the week has ended for me. Yup, I’m going to have a fantastically long weekend. My parents are coming in too, so that’s a bonus.
Going to see my cell group members after such a long time tomorrow. Yes, two weeks seems like a very long time. Frankly speaking, I’ve missed cell group and now that I’m back for good, I’m looking forward to those cell group meetings. A after-cell-group fellowship has been planned and I’m so looking forward to that. It’s going to be great, being able to fellowship together.
I finally did what I’ve been trying not to do. And that is to buy a PSP. Yes, I’ve finally succumbed to the temptation and bought one at the Taipei airport as I was waiting for my flight. Trying to find some puzzle games (things like Puzzle Bobble, or something similar) for Debbie now so that she can have some games to play as well. Seems like puzzle games are hard to come by on the PSP.
I’m going to stop here for now. Looking forward to the rest this weekend. Desperately need sleep after Taiwan. Haven’t exactly recovered from all those late nights and early mornings. Hope this weekend I can get some decent sleep hours in. So until the next time, cheers… :Þ
My apologies for the long silence at this blog. Yes, I’m back in Singapore after one final trip to Taipei. Well, at least final for a while. I don’t know when I’ll need to make a new trip up. But I just thank God that this phase is over and future trips will be short ones.
The past two weeks while I was in Taipei were quite hectic as well. There were days that were not so busy, and I was thankful for that. But most days, it was pretty much high gear action from the time I step into the office. Sometimes when that happens, I tend to get too stressed out and have panic attacks. But I think that situation is improving. Thanks to having God by my side, of course.
There are still leftover work to be done in relation to this project. New enhancements are to be made as well. Right now, the picture is blur to me. Will need to speak to boss first before that picture becomes in focus. At the moment, what matters is that I’m back in Singapore for longer than one week at a go. As a friend of mine put it, I was paying rental in Singapore just to store my things and not to live in the place.
Promise to update more now that I’m back and I expect to be less stressed out. Do keep coming back for more. Haha. Until the next time, cheers… :Þ
My apologies for the lack of updates on my blog. It has been a very long trip to Taipei for me, although the duration is the same as any other trip. My first experience at being so bogged down with work that I can’t even begin to prioritize. Everything seems to be important and needed to be done yesterday. Hence, the lack of attention to my personal corner on the web.
Thank God that He has brought through the past 4 weeks, and especially the last two. Being here alone to handle everything wasn’t easy. It feels that I’ve been thrown into the deep end of the pool. So sink or swim? I chose to swim and I think I made it through pretty well, of course, with God’s help at every single step of the way.
You can’t begin to imagine how I dreaded the start of a new day. Contemplations of skipping work and reporting sick enter my mind every other day. But then I’m reminded of the need to finish the race properly. So I grit my teeth, ask God for his strength, and plough through the day. Was the entire experience tiring? You bet. Seen my nickname on MSN lately? A friend of mine has commented that a panda bear from Taiwan is making it’s way to Singapore.
But was the entire experience worth the lack of sleep and the stress? I think so. I’ve learnt how to handle people better. I’ve learnt how to cope with stress. I’ve learnt to manage my time and prioritize (this needs more work). I’ve learnt to lean on the strength of God. I hope that this experience has somehow stretched me and changed me for the better. Am I still tempted to just pack up and give up? Sure. Every single day, every single hour. And the constant temptation to just lose it all and blow up at everybody around me is definitely there.
Through it all, there are good experiences and bad experiences. The feeling of being left here to fight the war without any support is definitely very daunting. And as I come to the end of another long trip to Taipei, I pray that God will provide me a way to end this project up and go back to Singapore. To cut the long story short, although it has been a good experience, there have been sacrifices made for the experience. And perhaps to ask the person to continue to sacrifice is not being fair to the person.
Anyway, I’m off to catch my flight. Yes, I’m blogging from the Taoyuan International Airport again. It has become a ritual, hasn’t it? So until the next time, cheers…. :Þ
Pardon for the lack of updates. Although a short working week in Taiwan (due to the fact that 4 April is a holiday for Tomb Sweeping Day, a.k.a. qing ming), the week for me was very very long. Average working hours per day: 18 hours. Average sleeping hours per day: 5. Fantastic isn’t it? Well, I hope it will all send soon.
Even though I have been sleeping so little this week, I feel quite alert during the day. No headaches, no falling sick. Just thankful for God’s strength through the entire week. Oh yes, no lost tempers too. That’s something that I tend to do when I feel extremely tired and had not enough sleep. It’s amazing how God works huh? Really and extremely thankful.
Been ultra crappy the entire week, probably due to the lack of sleep. And I started seeing the crappy side of my colleagues. Surprised to see the lighter side of my PM. He can be quite the funny guy. I guess the slightly lighter mood in the midst of all the pressure helps to keep everybody going.
Slacked off today to rest and recharge. Went off to meet up with friends who are in Taipei for dinner. Aside from that, a little reading and talking with the dear is in order. In the past four days, only had one proper conversation with her. Feeling guilty, and just want to say to her “Thank You for understanding!!”.
Random post huh? Yeah, my brain was never fully powered up today. I’m off to get some sleep. Gotta get some work done tomorrow. Hope to find some motivation there. So until the next time, cheers… :Þ
Week one back at the battle zone has passed. This week, I’ve managed to set a new record. Latest stayed in the office. On Tuesday, I left the office at 3.15am. That’s definitely a first for me. Suffice it to say that the week has been extremely tiring. Worked whole day on Saturday too. Today, I decided that I would not do a single piece of work and just relax the day away. Hey, everybody needs some downtime too.
I watched service this morning. Woke up just in time to catch the start of the sermon. One heck of a message. Spoke to the core of my being. And even though I’m 2000 kilometres away, I could feel the presence of God in my apartment. Pastor Tan spoke prophetically at the end of the sermon and I was blown away. He mentioned that some of us were called to serve full-time and have procrastinated at accepting that calling. At that, I just cried my heart out. Why? Because God opened that door for me more than once. Truth be told, He opened that door 3 times. I could just recall the time back in university when I said that I wanted to serve God full-time in the media department one day. There were a lot of reasons (read excuses) that I gave for not accepting the calling, the challenge. Will that opportunity ever present itself again? Would I, once again, waver at the opportunity? Question one, I leave to God, But more importantly, I must be ready for when the opportunity presents itself again.
My friends are in Taipei this week. I was supposed to follow them down to Taroko Gorge for the weekend to take in the magnificent views. Alas, that was not to be. Work came a-calling. A missed opportunity. But I really hope to be able to visit that place before I go back for good. I’ve always loved visiting places with a view, to take in the breathtaking views that God has created. That’s why one of my must-go destinations is New Zealand. Drive from the tip of the North Island to the tip of the South Island. Sounds like a good backpacking trip indeed. Now to plan and save up for it.
Anyhow, back to more relaxing and getting myself mentally and physically ready for the “war” tomorrow. Do keep me in your prayers. I forsee the next week and maybe the following week to be tough ones. I’ve come very close to throwing in the towel a few times, but yet each time God reminds me that it’s not about the race. It’s how we finish it. That’s just about the only thing that is keeping me going right now. Not to mention God’s never failing strength.
So until the next time, cheers… :Þ