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’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
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
It was a fantastic and busy week back in Singapore. Really thank God that the timing was such that I could be back in Singapore for Easter. And thank God for the time off to recharge.
Easter was great. Two separate dramas for Jurong West and Expo. I was involved in the Expo drama with the freshest set of drama crew I’ve seen in a very long while. By fresh I meant that a lot of the crew was doing a drama production for the first time since joining TV ministry. One crew was even placed on a camera that he had never been on before. I’m just proud to say that everybody performed admirably. Even though we didn’t have a lot of rehearsal runs, the crew remembered most of their shots after a run or two. Simply fantastic. Concept of the drama was fresh and good and enjoyed every single moment of it.
So right now, I’m back in Taipei. Flew Eva and I was surprised at the load of the flight. The flight was practically empty and you could get a whole row to yourself if you wanted. Boarding was completed in 15 minutes, and in-flight service was quick and efficient. Simply enjoyed the extra space that was afforded by the low-load flight.
Back to the battle zone tomorrow. As of now, I feel a lot of changes coming up that I would need to implement, judging from the emails that I’m reading. But we’ll see what the PM has to say. Going to take a little time catching up over the next few days. Been totally out of the picture the past week and I’ll have to get up to speed before the PM heads back to Singapore.
As for now, I’m going to relax a bit. Watch some TV, surf a bit and sleep. Until the next time, cheers… :Þ
It’s nice feeling to sit in a Starbucks at the airport on the way home to Singapore. Finally, this trip to Taipei is over. Time to go end this “tour of duty”, go home and recharge.
Yesterday evening, I felt most of the pressure lift off me. I say most because I still have deadlines to meet when I’m back in Singapore. But at the very least, I’ll be away from the frontline where the battle is happening. Feels good to be able to get away and recharge my batteries after a tiring two weeks. Two weeks of ranting, early mornings, late nights and generally long days. Two weeks of facing the customer head on during test sessions. Two weeks of finding surprises after surprises. But I’m glad that I can leave that behind for now. For at least one week.
I thank God that this trip is over. It has been the toughest trip to Taipei but I am thankful to have the favour and the strength of God during this time. Challenging? Definitely. Stretched? Of course. I feel that because of this experience, my capacity has been enlarged somewhat. Learnt a lot of new things. Picked up some people skills. Grown a bit. Like the Bible says, God never puts us in situations that we can’t come out of. So looking at this trip from the positive side, I have indeed learnt a lot.
During the last two weeks, I found myself applying the stuff that I learnt while leading the a team in the TV Ministry. Often times I catch myself chasing people for answers to questions that I have asked but received no assurance of getting a response. I found myself asking this question a lot: “Why like that???”. Sounds familiar? Think what I’m trying to say is this; that whatever we picked up in the course of serving the Lord, those valuable lessons do come in handy in the real world. I have come to realize that applying those lessons and principles really do help me get my job done. And putting God at the head of the project and the job at hand is definitely something that you shouldn’t forget to do. Because ultimately, it’s His strength through us that works the wonders. And at the end of the day, all glory goes to Him.
Easter is coming up. I’m slated to AD for the drama at Expo. At the same time, feel a bit in a dilemma because my dearest won’t be involved. So that means I won’t get to see her as much during my one week back. But I hope that I’ll be able to find time to spend together even through the busyness of Easter.
A side note. For those of you who found my blog inaccessible in the previous few days, fret not for I’m still here. My hosting provider got some unannounced “scheduled” power cut to their data centre and as a result they had a lot of damaged equipment. But all should be well now.
So I have finished a tall latte while blogging. Time for me to head through immigration and security and onto the gate. So until the next time, cheers… :Þ