*cough*

Just got back from 3 day road trip to North of England. Unfortunately though, the bug which I've been slowly coming down with became full blown over these 3 days. Was fun travelling with family, tho naturally not the same with cough, fever, headache, running nose, all hitting me one by one.

Will post pictures to describe the trip when I get better. Hope that happens soon, cos taking Eurostar to Belgium in 2 days.

I've been blogged!

Dennis mentioned a couple of weeks back that some teachers found that their students had blogged about them. I decided that I would try and see if my students have been blogging about me.

Sure enough, some did! I dunno why I am so shocked, but I am. Here are some of the comments:

"so funny.. and Mr. Mark E was so random to talk about Ben and Jerry's operations and internal control.. dotz"

"And funny Mr Mark E. He came in just to talk about Contract for Different (CFD), then he left. dot.z"

"Learning the Bloomberg system, today mark e come teach us. I totally dunno how to use... crazy system, why people wan to invest such weird systems whereby not really everybody will rmb"

Ah well... could have been a whoooole lot worse. Hahaha...

(oh ya, call me paranoid, but I refrained from spelling my surname here so the blog cannot be located via google search of my name. dunno lah, just feel like keeping it that way. :P)

Brrr...

I'm in London! 5 years removed from winter weather, am not used to the cold. No choice, started wearing a scarf. It's so good for keeping warm! Can't believe I didn't try this when I studied in Manchester.

Anyway, seeing as how I just touched down this afternoon and it's 8pm now, nothing much's happened besides catching up with my brothers and having dinner. So happy to see them though, we were laughing and laughing for a while there. :)

Oh yes, and my brother, being the smartest guy I know, gave me the answer to my New Year on the plane in 2 secs - If you take off at 10pm, within an hour you would have crossed into the next time zone (i.e. over Germany, France, etc), which would make it midnight. So, the likely answer would be the countdown happens within an hour of taking off. Way to go, Zhi!

More updates to follow...pictures too hopefully. =)

New Year puzzle

If a guy takes from off London on 31st December 10pm and arrives in Singapore at 7pm on 1st January, at which point does he countdown to the New Year's?

Does he get to count down across multiple timezones every hour? Or maybe the pilot will track and let the passengers know when we're in a timezone that is approaching midnight.

Someone email me and tell me!! hahaha...

Bye dear

I'll miss you. I know you do too.

Another step

Finally got the call for a 4th interview today, this time with the Head of Execution. This is the first time I've ever interviewed that many times for a job and it looks like I'm only halfway...

I'm cautiously optimistic...though somewhat disappointed since it doesn't look like this process will be finalised by the time I fly Saturday morning, like I had hoped.

Am trying to put into words and sense why I am doing this...another post to follow when I have that.

And while I'm on the plane, perhaps my thoughts on this year, 2007, which has easily been the toughest year of my 28 years.

Reminiscing...

I must be in a one of those nostalgic or reflective moods again. Thinking back, 4 years of my 4.5 year career was in a company which, though I have lots of unflattering opinions about, also gave me so many memories. The good, the bad, the ugly.

Let me share with you some of those moments...

Reflections of 4 years in EY

Finally, an update

Yes, today is the first real update in 2 months. I started posting entries for events since 15 Oct, but realised if I didn't adjust the dates, it'd be quite confusing. So yes, posts dated 15 Oct to today were all actually posted today.

My blog is becoming like my room or my personal admin. Seasonally updated/tidy.

Anyway, quick update:
- almost had another phone interview yesterday and today but the guy was on leave.
- had an optional revision session for my students and almost 60 of 171 showed up! (the room i booked baaaarely fit them)
- bummer...called up for NS for four weeks?! over CNY?!

Ah heck...looking forward to holiday in 3 days!

Oh yah...

O/S List
1. Specialist Diploma study guides
2. Module 3rd common test questions
3. Module Exam questions
4. Marking of student group projects

Sigh... must get it done soon.

A call-back!

A week after my last interview, the recruiter called me back! I tell you, I was so expecting her to tell me ah well, better luck next time. Instead, she said she had arranged a 2nd interview for yesterday evening, via conference call cos the Director was in HK.

That went well, and today they followed up with another interview, this time with the MD for Asia Pacific, though only for 10 mins.

3 down, 8-10 rounds overall... trying so hard not to get my hopes up. It's hard.

Bombed

Words cannot describe how down I feel about how the interview went today.

I guess it's because the guy had a seriously good poker face. No indication from him whether he was happy with my answers, only a mild frown occasionally.

I got an impt technical question wrong, but I'm convinced I sounded like I was smoking him at some stages. Worst of all though, I feel like my nervousness showed, which irritates me cos I'm normally very calm and confident at interviews.

At the end, he just looked at me with a stone face and said ok, we're done. That's it. No we'll be in touch, no how we'll proceed from here, just ok we're done.

But why am I so down? Why do I feel like my confidence in myself has taken a hit? Is it because I want it so badly and it looks like I can't have it? (I hope not). Or is it because of my pride, that I want to do well in everything that I do? Either way, I don't feel so great...

Am I so lousy that the lack of affirmation from a stranger can have such an effect on me? I can't believe it. Get a grip of yourself!

Ah well... perhaps it's not meant to be. Worse, perhaps I'm not good enough for this industry?

Finally...a call!

Just last Sunday, I was seriously fretting about the lack of response from all my application sending. But yesterday, I finally got a call from a recruiter regarding an investment banking position in Singapore!

Met the recruiter today and she's setting me up for an interview this Thursday. Will be the biggest interview I have ever had... I am excited, relieved and nervous, all at the same time.

Got 2 days to prepare...I have my bloomberg downloads, database downloads, newspaper extractions... all systems go now!

Please God, calm my excited heart, give me Your peace, show me what it is You want for me...

(oh ya, I postponed my GMAT till mid-Jan)

Teaching adults

This week was surely the most stressed I have ever been in the workplace, the week of the Certificate in Fund Administration.

Co-ordinating the programme wasn't a problem, just a matter of admin and socialising. But asking me to teach the Fund Administration module, 4 hours of material, to a group of people who are actually in the industry... it's too much!

Tuesday night, I was so stressed, going through 3 VCDs of the previous guest lecture on this module in the previous intake (by a VP with Citibank with 17yrs of experience somemore).

I really thank God that I somehow got through it on Wednesday morning and managed to get past their Q&A without falling flat on my face.

Never ever wanna put myself through this again... was so drained after Wednesday I don't think I got anything done till today. (cos Module Coordinator chasing already)

O/S List
1. Specialist Diploma study guides
2. Module 3rd common test questions
3. Module Exam questions

Double blessing!

Joel's brothers were born yesterday... I wasn't around when Joel was born, didn't get to carry him.

Jonathan and Joash, their names both mean "gift from God". Indeed, they are. :)

They're so small...!

Jonathan...

Joash...

Can they come home

Extracted from AFP:

Tourists who have descended on the French capital despite a crippling transport strike are trying to make the best of the inconvenience -- they just walk or give up on sites they had planned to see....

Near the Louvre pyramid, David and Patrick Ee, 24- and 25-year-old students from Singapore, said they had "walked 20 kilometres in two days" because there was no public transportation. From their hotel in the northwestern suburb of Clichy it takes them two hours every morning to get to central Paris.

"But look at it this way, we get a different glimpse of Paris. When you take the metro you don't see anything," David said.

Not really in the know of what the strike is about they still respect the right to industrial action.

"In Singapore, this is absolutely impossible, and the unions support the government", said Patrick.

Dop! SIGH... my poor brother claims misquote. (somewhere in a hidden room in Singapore, 2 ISA files with surname Ee being set up...)

So cute, cannot take it!

Had lunch with Ke-Yue, Shirley and Joel today, after church.

He's soooo cute...!

GMAT

I decided on Tuesday that since I have some free time now and have been thinking about the possibility of doing a Masters some time in the future, I might as well take the chance to take the GMAT.

Signed myself up for Dec 11th paper, ordered some preparation material. 4 days later... it arrives!
Ouch. 14 study guides and 3 GMAT official guides. Looks like lotsa studying for the next 3 weeks...

Oh, but have you ever seen Fedex tracking system? It was so cool, following the progress of my shipment! Check it out:
It's crazy... I almost feel like ordering another package just to track the progress of the shipment! hahaha...

Deepavali fellowship

Cell cycling session today, at East Coast. We hadn't done this in a while! Was supposed to be blading but it rained in the morning, so we cycled instead.

Real fun, got rather burnt, tho only under 2 hours in the sun (apparently not even a very hot sun that day too). oops.

Really thank God for everyone in the cell, past and present. Through this cell, God has helped me find my way closer to Him, I gotten past some really tough times. Most of all though, they helped to remind me that in my heart of hearts, I love God and I want to put others before myself. I do.

Thank you God for bringing our lives together in one cell. Thank you for Simon, Elaine, Lizzie, Belinda, Eric, Charis, Eugene, Dawn, Viola, Mal, Dennis, Jeanette, Dennis, Doris, Sharmaine, Boon Seng and everyone that used to be in our cell.

You think, you do it

I did it today. Drafted my letter last night and this morning, went to meet my Deputy Director to tender. It's hard, cos he was the one who put so much effort into bringing me in, fought to put me under Banking and Financial Services when I refused to be put under Accounting and Finance section.

To be fair to him, he was very nice about it. Calmly explored any other possibilities where my needs could be met. He finally gave up and accepted that it was going to happen, but encouraged me to keep in contact, either cos I might want to guest lecture next time or that he might be able to put me in touch with his banking contacts for future job opportunities. Classy guy.

What am I going to do now... I know what I want. But can I do it and still get healthy hours to commit to God? Will they even take me now? It's ok, I have 3 months to find a job....

Gatecrash!

EY's D&D was held on 2nd Nov, Friday. For the fun of it, decided to gatecrash and say hi to everyone again. Times sure have changed since my first 2 D&Ds. *shudder*

Anyway, was really great to see everyone again. I do miss everyone... for all the crap, there were some memorable times.

EY D&D 2007

Facing it

Week 3 of teaching

Day 1:
Week starts normally to be honest. Pushing ahead with the classes, getting to know my students better. My roommate tells me the sore voice is likely permanent, they all have it too. But some of the students do participate quite a bit and it is pretty encouraging.

Day 2:
Something's missing though... I miss financial modelling. Why? My mind's not being pushed, not being challenged. Where's the rush I used to feel? It's weird... I'm not sure how to put it. In some way, I'm not feeling the sense of achievement, the sense of satisfaction. The adrenalin rush. How long can I hold out?

Day 3:
Had a meeting with the Director of the School today. It's one of those meetings where the Director says he wants to meet all newcomers and have a dialogue session. Turns out it's a "Director talks for 40 mins nonstop then stops to ask politely if we have any questions before rushing off to meeting" kind of session. Ah well. Funny thing though, during that session I'm daydreaming about how crazy would it be if I were to go back to industry now. If I serve 3 months notice, what would my exit strategy be?

Day 4:
Moment of truth. I don't remember how it happened, but I know it was like a little seed in my mind that grew and grew and grew. By the end of the day I realise that I did want to go back to the industry. I missed financial modelling, I missed the analysis and report writing, I missed the presentations to clients...

but how could I let this happen? How could I have done so much research into becoming a lecturer, thought about it for 5 years, talked to so many people, yet let it come to this?

My parents know me well. They can see the difference. They told me they can see the difference at the end of each day, there's a fire in my eyes that has disappeared. Even at the wee hours last time, there was that fire. It's gone... why?

I know many will look at this and say I don't know what I want. Some will say they're not surprised. Others may be disappointed. You know what though? No one is sadder or more disappointed than I am. I realise now there are 2 people in this. Who I wish I was, who I am. I wish I was that guy, who could just be there and help my students. But the reality is that doing that leaves a gaping hole inside me, a yearning to do something, to challenge myself in that way.

I counted. 3 months to the end of the semester is next week. Let's see what happens...

Day 5:
CV's done, emailed out...

O/S List
1. Specialist Diploma study guides
2. Module 3rd common test questions
3. Module Exam questions