Challenges

Things happened at work that put all my revision plans off track. Was a terribly horrendous week the last one, and the strain going on put me sick in the body and mind. It extended through this week and Monday started off by landing right flat in the face. But things are picking up from here and after all that horrible stuffs, I see my rewards for hanging on near the corner.

Had a drink with this client I knew from the previous year's work. Was good to see him ard again this year and have someone to talk to while slogging in the field. His comments abt how I've grown in the year was encouraging, but what he said abt me being more suitable for something lively and on the go got me thinking (again)....

And oh yeah the big boo boo the entire team put up in front of them wasn't exactly something to be proud of...

Baby bro came on Sat, with lotsa goodies. And he treats this place like his own, sleeps in till 2pm, go out walk ard and comes back to bake things. Haha funny kid, was asking him y he came to Japan to do all these things he always did back home instead of traveling ard! No good answers, but yeah, smart people are always weird so we do not really have to kill a few more brain cells wondering. Anyway it's good news for me since I will get to enjoy good dinners on weekdays, if I go back early enough :P

Dear Auntie Agony

I believe I'm facin some bullying at work.

Situation 1
There's a job whereby 3 of us are supposed to work on. I finished mine first and handed it up to the leader, and he said he and the other guy weren't able to finish up theirs coz they were busy with something else. I offered to help IF they can't afford the time. He called me up to take up the offer and I agreed, though it means stretching my hours even longer.

Next moment I know it, he's going back pretty much on the dot.


Situation 2
Have been working v closely with this manager who is pretty good at data Analytics. By that, I mean technically. Business process wise, she isn't good at understanding at all nor can remember a thing.

So during the process of our work, I become the boss dishing out technical work to her.

Oh and I must have mentioned about this manager who inserts phantom meetings into her schedule, just so that she can come to work late. She leaves for home on the dot as well! So hey, working with her is good if u don't need her around so I just work my way around and only tries to contact her if I really need sth. Even then, she's uncontactable half the time anyway.

So there was this meeting today with the audit team guys, who requested her to work on some stuffs. While they were explaining, she said to me (as she always do), "please listen and explain to me what they want later ok? I can't hear properly what they are saying.". Yeah stop smoking me, you either don't get their Japanese, or u simple don't understand the business background in the first place.

I put up with that, ended up drawing a diagram to let her know what she has to do, even downloaded the files and sent the links so that the baby sitter's job is done. Even negotiated with the audit team ppl for her deliverables, which I wrote down on paper and when I tried passing it to her, she asked me to mail it via email coz she can't read. Fine, will do so. Explained all that she needs to do and she said she understood them fully.

And after doing so much, you would think there's nothing else to be done right? Here goes the conversation before she left the office (before me!)

M: hey, I will call you tmr (sat) ok?
Me: *looks at her weirdly* please don't
M: why not?
Me: coz I want to at least spend my weekend without thinking about work
M: I will call you on your (personal) Line if I can't get u on the company phone ok?
Me: no, I wanna stay away from work this weekend!
M: だって、私が頑張ってるよ！

Oh great! So what happened to those times when I had to slog nights and weekends and my GW hol away just coz u want ur deliverables and when I send them to you, there's no reply till the next working day (few days later)? What happened to those times when u decided not to turn up for work or go back early by giving some lame reasons while I had to fend off those requests myself. I've been called the heroine these days (by others in a lovingly mocking manner) not by choice.

Now I have spoon fed u up to your lips, and u can't even let me have my weekend in peace?

Wake up your ideas!

Keeping sane

Oh my eyes! Save them! =|

Been through quite a few episodes this week, that made me wanna get more masking tapes to keep myself from thinking about negative things. Oh and I forgot my coat. And the pair of shoes I quietly purchased online ytd.....

Oh retail therapy, how glad I am to have you around!

Jelly Feet

It's always good to take things with a pinch of salt. Be it what someone has said or done to you. It might have been a passing remark to him/her and there's no point getting your brain all tangled up.

Been pretty frustrated with work these days. Not so much of the technicalities, but more of not being convinced of the way we do things (=waste energy=time=budget) just because the client says so. I'm still not service oriented enough and flared up abit, very unprofessional. Doesn't seem like I'll ever change to be nice to bad customers though. When the day comes, I think I am prepared to be a Mom, putting up with tantrums, other than my own.

Hmm kinda looking forward to tomorrow! =)

Blah

arrgghh stupid manager just popped by and asked me to check if there's any empty meeting room. who does he think he is?!?! some old fashioned MCP huh? even my colleague who overheard wondered why so.

Try it again and you'll get it.

work &.

A thought from today.
Given a spreadsheet with hundreds and even thousands of cells to work on, you can't expect someone to do the job well unless he understands the meaning to each of these fields and the overall picture of what is to be done.

Note to self.


It can be quite fulfilling (and therapeutic to some extent) to bury yourself in work and only want to get things done. Your mind wanders off less often and you feel happy with yourself at the end of the day. Keep it up!

ouch

just got backstabbed, by one of the OLs. The kind that looks sweet and pretty, and probably thinks she's the best among the herd (looking by the way she does her makeup and poses in front of the toilet mirror).

Bleargh.

Replaceable not?

I learnt from my previous job that leaders should always work on growing people under them so that they can be replaceable. Some make the mistake of holding on to power singlehandedly, and ruining the entire system.

Having said that, it's yet another problem when you find yourself replaced even before you learned the rope! *ROFL*

Too many

Was back at the other team to tie up some loose ends. The manager started  (ahem again) to ask if i had any time to spare, if i had been going back pretty early lately. Knowing he must be eyeing to pull me in again, i told him that not that free, we ve been going back at 9ish... he then did an, oh ok response and said that hes been working past midn lately... back of my mind, was thinking to myslf, of cos, since ur so slow and ur tabacco brks are way too frequent too long. Helps if u could chitchat less too! He said then he called K up to ask if he could lend some of my time to the other team, and didnt get any answer... pimping at work huh!

K then called me up and said what the manager told him.. and asked if what im going back for gotta do w it... told him no, they arr asking me to work on sth new... the manager caught our conv, and asked me to put the phone on speaker mode. He then asked K again, and to my very pleasant surprise, he told him no, it's going to be very diff... not giving up, the manager gave a whole lot of reasons to try convince him, which ended up futile.

What i wanna say is, well done! You have not only done what you promised, but also speaking up for what u think shd be done. Anyways, i ended up feeling bad for the other team lead and told him i can try to help out tmr evening, after the team dinner, before i leave for hol... call me crazy, yes... i seriously think im a workaholic...

Lunch

I wish people can understand at times that we DO want to have a break from work at times, and stop setting up the so-called "lunch meeting" so often... pretty tiring when there's no break in the entire day of work, u know? =(

ネギ

So who is the one who remembers I don't take onion, and remind me to get the waiter to not put it in (if they planned to)?

New phrase for today.
「噂をすれば影」

Confusion

The last time someone said "nevermind me" that made me think abt it for days, it happened in a real life nightmare. Of late, the same phrase popped up in one of my dream, which is a series of dreams that seem to continue from where it left off the previous time. Oh no, am i turning nuts or what?

Work was supposed to have chilled down quite abit by last week, which it did but not for long enough. I was supposed to be free of schedule this week and made some plans to really do up the house and start some of my craft projs which have been lying ard since forever. But thgs in life never turn out the way you plan, so here i am, having hardly less than 2 days of off peak proj before being thrown into the ultimate nightmare, which will last till next yr at the very least... i know i shdnt be complaining since there's people who have worked on the same proj all yr round for a few yrs already... *kowtow*

There's somethg abt leadership, i need to voice it out today. I think we are all good at saying it, but not many actually do what they preach. You dont earn respect just because you are a leader, but from the way you lead. If you are the kind that turn your back against your own people in the face of ur own boss, then ur not gonna earn any brownie pts, at least not fr me! The best part is how you bitch abt this same superior behind his back, to ur team members, but behave like a puppy in front of him. The others would be wondering what you are capable of doing behind their backs. *ends rattling and takes deep breath*

Alrite so i got myself a sexy bike the last weekend, and the first ride had been pretty smooth and effortless. Just have to make sure i keep it up! Oh and also inform the mansion guy abt the parking space the bike is tking up :)

Weak

Thought we said that i will stay determined and not let my mind wander. But all that you call will and determination fell apart the moment our lines of sight met by accident (was trying to look away all night). Ended up having another walk back to the station together. Yes, kill me please.
On another note, it finally seem like thgs at work are looking much better and taking off (well, kinda, abit..) for me. It's not hit and miss and miss and miss all the time but more hits recently.

Got to be on board of that high publicity proj as one of the main members, while enjoying the minor jobs that bring me to different places and to meet many interesting people and things. It gets very tiring whenever i pause to think about it, but this is not something i will give up easily, and im glad that i had taken that step out of my comfort zone a year ago. If i hadnt moved on, i will have no idea whats in line for me.

There's also a few surprises along the way where people whisper to my ears things that lift me off the ground a little... ermm ok, abit more than a little =P ok but feet must always stay on the ground, i remind myself. I shouldnt really be bothered at this stage in my life, seriously.
Tonight, i count my blessings, and i shall go to bed with an exhausted body and a smile on my face.

Prayers

Dear whichever great one up there,
I swear i've been a really good girl lately, at work and outside out. So please just let it work so that i dont have to work day and night, during wkends and in my dreams.

Blogging

Should be able to see me blogging more coz i finally reinstalled the blogger app haha... u know, procrastination is a big word in my dictionary.. in fact, i think it's the biggest word.... oh wait, it shows up more than once!

Work again today! Oh wells, the only consolation is that we get paid for it :/

What doesnt kill you

こどもの日

It's Children's Day here in Japan, today, technically speaking.

Been working every single day this week till late night, and it's going to be another working day today (Sat). Not sure about Sun yet.

Went through quite a fair bit these few days, and learnt alot. The people whom you are supposed to trust, and prob not the most trustable. The ones who are supposed to be guiding you might not be the ones you'll learn most from. Bottomline, trust yourself and ask more questions. After all of these, I was quite surprised with myself for being able to put it out of my mind (for the time being) and jump back all ready to piah. All smiles and no bad feelings.

But the minute I boarded the train, I started rethinking about what happened.

Nonetheless, I'm still very glad there's a few good mentors and those who helped alot.... though I think too much help at times can be hindering to my learning=P

Alritez, KO!

Rush

i dont like it when people contact me JUST to ask if i can get sth back for them... and i dont like it even more when they do it just 2 days before im abt to fly off for the wedding....

hmm havent been getting enough sleep these days coz of the prep thats not completed... that's not what a bride should be doing huh... *imagines a wrinkled face bride* the irony is, im pretty eng in office... so free that I had to walk around asking ppl for work!

New Proj

And so I started working in the first project today. They give out really cute stuffs to go with your visitors pass over here, I might just ask if I can bring one home. =)

Used to work in an area which was really good for shopping. I now work in another area which is even better, in terms of "shoppability" ;D dropped by the mall beside the station today and ended up with a new pen, nice post-its, masking tapes, and boxes of bentos for dinner. If you think Ginza was bad for your purse, I would say the residential areas are worse coz you just spend little sums here and there that do add up!

Got a really bad cold towards the end of my trip back to SG. Have I mentioned it before? i can't remember! It made the last long weekend un-fun coz I was practically in bed/on the sofa dozing off and waking up to eat, then dozing off again. Got slightly better on Sat and I braced myself up to walk AKB for the Geek's new toy and myself a notebook bag. Learned alot more abt audio systems and stuffs, accumulated from the visit to Adelphi but feel a big hole burning in my pocket haha.... Felt sicker after the outing.

Ytd was out to get additional formal work clothes, or rather stuffs to make my clothes look more formal. Didn't wanna get another suit (never expected to get sick of them this fast!) so got another nice kinda formal jacket instead. Happy that I managed to do some shopping in SG, which I could use here.

I said I'll blog about the SG trip. That was a big fat lie. Decided not to coz execution seems more useful! And there's less than 2 months left!! Meanwhile, expecting to be busy with work, at least this week or else the next as well. I'm beginning to feel the heat coz everyone works so hard here, and I mean REALLY! It's not so much of competition but more like people working their ass off and you don't want to be a lazy cow mooing around and then hold up the team's progress. And then there's also this schedule coming up next week, which I'm actually looking forward to hohoho!

歩いていこう

And I finally made it a point to sit down and write something (at like 2.40am). Talking about procrastination. Been wanting to talk about the new job, for the longest time. The last one wasn't counted, since I wanted to do it in case I never do. So here's the real stuff.

The location, at Marunouchi, is simply great. I'll just say having lunch everyday is quite a headache coz there's just too much choices around, either just within the building or a short walk away. We have a convenience store, Starbucks and another few less well known cafes around. The company has its own pantry at every floor, with drip coffee, tea etc available, or vending machines if you prefer. The washroom is clean and nice too (cant find other words to describe), is one of my fave places now. MUFG Bank is just a road across, so I can run over to settle any business I might have, like robbing the bank during lunch. Yurakucho and Ginza is just a very short walk away, so I find myself spending more time there than at home these day. :S

The company, is as expected, pretty professional in the ways they do things. There's the right people to take care of your matters, be it HR, IT, etc... you may say hey, these are pretty standard teams that exist in almost every company! But then again, I've experienced the best kinds of internal support staff who run away without giving you the solution you need, so this is reeeally like a luxury for me. After talking to a few people, I realised that this is one place where you can look at moving across functions/countries and do what you want, as long as you prove to be good.

There's some things I don't really like about like the fact that we work based on the office hotelling system, I dont get a permenant desk and so no decors, which they don't allow anyway (due to info privacy issues). The security here is damn tight, especially IT. I cant use the notebook with any USB device (unless approved) or connect to WiFi save for the office or mobile svc they provide us. And by saying 'cant', i mean it is prohibited theoretically and technically. Data are not to be saved on the local drives too (we have our own drive in the network) and the rule is if you are not heading home straight after work, don't bring the PC back. Another 101 things abt info security but it doesnt come as a surprise when working in this field. Oh and a few scandals in this industry recently made the company restrict all company related parties, which means no 忘年会、新年会、送迎会、etc..... darn!

With that number of staff in just that office, I already have difficulties remembering who's who. For the first 2 weeks, I made it a point to remember at least the last names of the team membes. Wasn't easy when half of them are shuttling out to client sites most of the time. Office hour officially starts at 9.30 am, but not many come in in time. In fact, I'll surprise you with the fact that I'm one of the earliest and had been on time save for 1 day.

The partner who interviewed me, turned out to be the way I expected. Funny, friendly, and is kinda a joker haha... there were mornings when I reach the office when the lights were still partially on (coz everyone's not in yet!) and he was seated there doing up some presentation. When I walked over to say Good Morning, he'll get all freaked out and give a loud startled shout and freak me out as well. I've checked myself in the mirror and made sure there wasnt any eyeliner smear or messy hair. Guess that's the way he is, super jumpy. The good thing is that he is super friendly and approacheable (as with all the others) so the staff are always joking ard with him casually.

Our team leader, who was the SM who interviewed me as well, is not what I'd made him out to be. Felt during the interview he's kinda stern (but good with what he does). Well, I was right about the part of him being good, but he's definitely not the quiet or strict guy, even though he might look like one when he's working. This guy is another joker, who hangs around talking to the team about everything the sky, which I think is good and one of the things you need to do as a manager, to let ur members feel you are with them. On the other hand, he seemed so capable that even the partner respects him, though there are times when I found him saying the wrong facts (about non-work stuffs that is haha...). One thing he surprised me was that despite his pretty slim frame, he actually eats Yakisoba/Okonomiyaki with rice, like a real Kansai guy! I havent met someone who does that, for the record.

We had lunch one of those days and had a great time talking about life, Singapore, Japan, the team, and some stuffs I wanted to know about the industry. When he asked for my opinion of the team, I told him that I used to be very wary of a group with majority ladies and was surprised with this team being non political even with that number of females. He said to me "Well, that's because they are not ambitious, and that gets me worried at times.". I was kinda taken back by his words and just looked down at my pasta for 30s wondering if I agreed with him or not. Perhaps it was true afterall but I just wished he wasnt that blunt abt it.

I have a mentor, who feels like the ex mentor. When I was introduced to him on the first day, I looked into his eyes and felt like, hey, this was the same guy 6 years back! But no la, this guy is an angmoh who looks very much like Tom Cruise. Ehhh but somehow he just doesnt feel the same, i think he lacks the charisma and the team lead said that's coz he's a geek. Bleargh anyway, this is another smart guy, who really inspires me with how he do things. We had a talk about how he ended up here, and it wasn through pure luck but with lotsa of hard work. He clearly knows his targets and work smart towards them. Having him as my mentor is a good thing coz he'll challenge you with questions to think about and explore ideas. On the other hand, it might be kinda stressed when I'm not in the mood for it or just feeling tired. This guy thinks and talks damn fast, and I mean it. Maybe all these really fits the specs of a Geek.

The team (the rest of them) is an amazing mixture of people. We have another few joker SMs and Ms around, and they are the people who liven up the place while the rest of the staff work hard staring at their PCs. There's this funny SM guy who has big laughter and actions, that I cant help but look at him when he sits opp me doing the silliest things. We have a preggy SM who is very cute in her own ways, and I really adore her for being a career woman despite having her 2nd kid. One guy puts me off abit when he tries to talk to me as if he's damn cool and all. But deep down, I think he reminds me of Charlie the Geek, just a nicer and not-so-geeky-LOOKING version i guess? Anyways, he's proven to me to be quite irritating, though there's times when I think he's sincerely nice and I shouldnt be such a mean bitch.

Gotta talk about the girls (my lunch mates) in another post else I won't have any sleep for today! There's still this half of the team who have been situated off site for over 3 weeks and I've only met once during the welcome party. More to come, it means!

Woohooo 忘年会 with the family tonight!

Feeling kinda... rich!

First pay cheque in yen is in!! Feels rich seeing all the zeros (and refusing to face the fact that this is yen).

Gonna hit the malls tmr!! No prize for guessing where ;P Santa Claus is coming to town!!


Finally started moving my big fat ass and got some things done for the wedding... hope the momentum can continue to go on hee...