Sunday, December 20, 2009

Wheeeee...... Just got back from the BKK trip...... It was tiring but still a wonderful trip with many good purchases and of course quality time with Nat......

Accommodation was a little disappointing....... It was by no means bad but just that it doesn't meet our expectation....... Some good points on Baiyoke Sky; We got upgraded into the VIP rooms staying on the 65th floor...... It was huge ass and clean...... Service was not bad, we received good night cards every evening...... Things got fixed almost immediately when its down like the bed lamp and the bidet...... The breakfast buffet has a wide selection....... Yum yum......

My expectations; I was expecting the decor of the room to be as nice as Pan Pac (SG), Crown (KL), Grand Millenium (KL) as some examples but the room just didn't cut it....... The location of the hotel is alittle far off the BTS...... The nearest station was Chit Lom and its a 15 - 25 mins walk depending on human traffic...... Will

We paid about 120 SGD per night including breakfast but we don't mind paying more to get a much nicer room and better location....... Will stay in Holiday Inn the next trip to BKK........ It will be about 50 bucks more per night but in terms of utility, more value for the buck.......

We shopped like mad through all three days....... In terms of percentages of time distribution on the entire trip; Shopping 45%, Meals 30%, Transport 15%, Leisure 10%....... We got many good buys at various malls; Platinum Mall, Siam Paragon, Siam Square....... For myself, many great shirts made at "Pinky Tailor" introduced by Alvin Chia....... In this trip, I concluded that whoever states that ladies are the inferior sexes physically is bullshitting...... If route marches are conducted along the shopping strip, I dare say that the ladies will thrashed the NS Men hands-down in those route marches.......

We tried the Fish Spa at Khao San....... It was ticklish as hell....... But it was great fun....... We always wanted to do the Fish Spa thingy in Singapore but never got down to it...... So when opportunity presented itself in Khao San, we jumped on it...... It was cheap as well...... Something like 7, 8 bucks for 30 mins per pax.......

Too much to write but to sum it all up....... Great Fun, Great Food, Lovely Nat!!!! *Wink*
Getting late, 3,0120,120,130 mails awaits me tomorrow...... Good night folks......

Labels: BKK Update

posted at 20.12.09 _________________________________________________________________ Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Its been a while......

Just an update on life in general..... I have not been using my computer other than work nowadays..... Hence the dismay blogging frequency......

Life is good..... Charmed and blessed I must say...... No complains so far....... Pray that God will continue to shower His blessing on me and my family......

On the work front..... Its been going well for me in my current role...... 2009 is the year where I have "climatize" to the culture of Shell..... And I think I have impress my line managers as far as I can tell...... At the end of the day, lets just say I am back to my SMU self where I know what I am doing...... I know my job well, and I understand the business much better a year earlier....... In some areas of my work, I am probably the only one who knows it inside out......

You can only add value when you know the business, and I think I am doing alot of that now....... Back in the school days, I always thought a rotation program should be 3 - 6 months...... Shell's 18 months and I use to think that its too long...... After being through it, 18 months is about right...... Whoever says that 3 - 6 months is enough to add value, my rebuttal is that, either you are doing a role which is so miniscule or you are freaking brilliant......

Prolly 99% of the population are not genius hence its prolly the former......

So yeah, Im hoping for a good IPF..... I got something like a B+ equivalent IPL the last time round in 2008, Im gunning for at least an A-/A this time round...... Ambitious I guess, but definitely achievable........

I am going to move to my next role coming 2010....... Wheeee...... My official title is "Port Commercial Manager"....... Doesn't say much but in a nutshell, Im like a little of everything covering Greater China (China, Taiwan, HK), Japan, Korea, Phillipines and Thailand...... From what I understand now, I am going to do pricing for bunker fuels and covering the market in its totality....... Which is cool in my opinion, I have grasp a basic foundation in Marine Lubricants, now Im venturing on to Bunker Fuels....... Afterwhich, I think Im ripe to move out of Marine into some other businesses like Chemicals, Bitumen, Aviation etc......

The new role is cool in the sense that I may be accountable for margin...... In other words, PnL..... Anil once mentioned to me which I think may absolute sense, the best roles are those that you are accountable for PnL, roles that involves cost cutting..... In gist, generating value for the organization....... So its cool and Im looking forward.......

It will also allows me to travel...... I have been told that we will need to make a visit to the above countries to understand the market and to build relationship in those countries...... I have been itching to fly ever since I joined Shell as thats one of the CVP of Shell...... I am one of the few Gs who hasnt fly much since I joined...... Been to KL once and going again in December..... Thats it....... Looking at my peers, I am one of the pathetic ones.......

So in my next role, I am looking forward to these exposures...... Joining the ranks of Gs who complained that; "Ray, you know travelling is very tiring", "Ray, living life out from a suitcase makes you old"........ May be true, but still its something I want to experience while Im young......

Personal front, everything fine and dandy.......

Nat and myself are going to Bangkok this coming December...... Living it up a little I guess by my standards...... Flying SQ instead of budget carriers, staying in Baiyoke Sky (4 star) rather than "Samran Place", a place we stayed in Year 2 of Uni with 4 other friends squeezing in the same room paying 9 bucks a day...... She "slogged" it out with me in my schooling days and I think its time that I can start affording her a little better...... Think same goes for my parents, they have sogged all their life...... Raising us to what we are today....... Its time they lived it up as well......

On reading, well, I am devouring books by the cartload....... reading titles from some of my favourite authors..... Michael Crichton, James Patterson, John Grisham, Malcolm Gladwell (new title: What the dog saw)...... Venturing into some classics like Frankenstein and Sexing the Cherry....... Books older than a centurion...... And new authors like Jiang Rong (Wolf Totem).... New in the sense that I have not read their work yet......

I think I need a proper bookshelf soon enough..... I am stacking them now, and they are already growing to my height...... Prolly 120, 130 over books now...... Which also means that I have spent about 2000 over bucks in my past 4, 5 years...... Money well spent, I must say...... A chinese saying goes " Shu Chong Zi You Huang Jin Wu"...... I subscribe to that...... Though the books I read sometimes doesn't give much value...... Haahaha.......

On golf, not bad so far, I am starting to play more on the courses..... Either executive 9 holes with my pals or 18 holes with colleagues...... The best and only score so far I have kept is 122 strokes in Pulai Springs....... My best game so far....... Trying to get better..... But like what we (LN, Ed, JH and myself) always said, we have a good 30 years to better our game.......

On guitar, its still fun...... Better with some chords now...... Comes quite natural to me...... Since I have been practising a few times a week...... Still sound like shit for some songs, but it gives me great satisfaction when I hear some resemblance of a song that Im trying to play....... My recent favourite is Hotel California, I can strum the whole song, but Im still far from the original song which uses picking rather than strumming....... Trying to play "You Found Me" by the Fray, its really quite shiok when I go into the chorus, the feeling is really awesome.......

Lost and Insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
...........

Starting to learn some worship songs as well...... My aim is actually to play worship songs for the church once I retired....... So like golf, I have a good 30 years to master my guitar.......

Ok, think that it so far....... Till the next update...... Have a good one, folks......
Cheerios.....

Labels: Quarterly Update

posted at 28.10.09 _________________________________________________________________ Sunday, June 28, 2009

Same old same old..... Some updates on the latest happenings in my life......

Visited Harris Batam on June 18th...... The result of a "cheesy" conversation...... Though I will very much like to argue otherwise....... Hee hee...... The resort was reviewed by some of my friends and the verdict was positive......

Well, my verdict was just positive on the spa, the room and infrastructure of that place is a little too shabby....... Then again, beggers cant be choosers....... For the sum of money I am paying, I cant really complain too much....... The spa was awesome though.......

It was still good being able to rest and relax my mind and to spend quality time with my love......

Visited Uncle Lim's den (Genting) with my family...... Was a good trip...... Being able to spend time with my family....... The last time we had such a trip together was at least 15 to 20 years ago........ So it was really nice to be able to do it this time round with the kids paying the bills....... Giving feels better than receiving...... How wise are those words......

As with every great victory at the arena (casino), it is always a hard fought battle...... I battled for about 12 straight hours stealing victory right at the very end with a loot of 2,000 ringit...... I was down initially and then fortune turned.......

Work is still great...... No complains....... Learning as much as I can...... Still awaiting news on my next role....... That will be my first milestone in my career.......

Currently reading a compilation of Roald Dahl stories...... Very interesting and addictive......

Played golf recently with Sean, Shaw Siang and Min Gui...... Trying to gain more experience playing on the green...... Range only help you that much and the rest is by playing the actual game on the green.......

On guitar, I am still playing Yellow, Wonderwall and recently Viva La Vida....... Still unable to sing and play at the same time...... However, its quite relaxing after a hard day of work strumming and humming songs that I like........

All in all, Im happy and blessed in all aspects of my life....... There are always some small lows here and there but its all good..... Allowing me to enjoy my highs even more......

Wheeee, till the next update...... Ciaoz

Labels: General Update

posted at 28.6.09 _________________________________________________________________ Monday, April 20, 2009

Been neglecting my blog ever since my own personal lappie died...... Laptop is usually the last thing that I want to get my hands on after work......

Thanks for all the well wishes from my friends for my birthday....... A flood of messages on the Facebook usually just means an addition of 1 to your age.......

Same old same old for the past few months....... On work, I have been officially confirmed by Royal Dutch Shell...... The probation phase of a year is over which also means that I have been working for about close to 12 months now...... Zooooommmmm!!!! Uber fast......

My second rotation is drawing near as well...... A manager has started to "drop hints" to me already, stating that there are roles of Sales or Ops opening up in her team next year...... Cool...... I won't mind doing that as it has been in my plans as well to get some experience in Sales or Ops as it will help in general management in future....... I will be looking at other businesses (Gas and Power, Trading, Chemicals) as well, lets see how it goes in the next few months......

On personal, Jiahuan is trying to plan a trip to a beach resort, which I feel will be a really good break for myself as well as good awesome fun on such a trip....... Lets see how it goes......

Nat planned a birthday party for the GSR8sters last Sat...... Great fun eating Casuarina Tze Char, watching Discovery and chilling out at some Ice Cream bar....... Hahahaha....... Awesome, thanks B......

I have started on two new activities a couple of months back....... Golf and Guitar....... Great fun...... I can see the progress I am making in golf and its pretty cool...... From missing the ball completely to hitting quite decent shots at times now....... Big satisfaction in hearing that perfect note when I make a great swing with the 7' Iron..... Cool.......

Guitar is the same as well...... Though I feel that I put in more time and effort into it...... The fingering is really darn hard...... LN has been coaching me and its helping quite a lot....... A great deal of fun as well.......

On reading, currently on a work by Ha Jin; A Free Life...... Great read as usual.......

Ok, thats it for the updates....... Till the next entries, folks...... Cheers........

Labels: General Update

posted at 20.4.09 _________________________________________________________________ Saturday, March 07, 2009

Its been a while since I last posted an entry.......
Things has been going smoothly....... Its almost the end of 1st Q and I have started realizing some of the goals Ive set at the start of the year.......

My IPF is as expected....... Above average but not spectacular....... Its equivalent to an B+/A- kinda grade I feel...... My boss has given me the go ahead for my second role....... Im definitely bound for a new experience at the end of this year..... Woottt....... Went for Shell Life, was a good experience....... Going again to KL for DIAS in Dec...... That trip is fixed....... Lets see whether there will be more trips coming up.......

My golf lessons are starting tomorrow....... Hopefully, it will be fun as Im learning with a bunch of crazy mates........ Mates that will probably make anything dull fun for everyone else.......

Been reading quite a bit...... Some good books and some not so good one........ Finished a couple of Ha Jin, tried some new Japanese author, read some general knowledge books like "Micro Trends" and "Liar's Poker"......... Quite a good mix....... Next up will be "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell......

Ever since Ive started working, I feel the need to catch up more with old friends as we lack the opportunities to see each other....... Dear friends, please try to make a point to catch up with me if you see me disappearing for three months or more....... I will try to do the same as well, catching up with my friends that I haven seen for a while.......

Tick Tock, Tick Tock....... The clock is moving at a faster rate than I can imagine.......
Cheerios......

Labels: 2009 1st Q

posted at 7.3.09 _________________________________________________________________ Sunday, January 11, 2009

Belated Happy New Year....... Well, its another year come and go...... '08 was a good one...... And I am looking forward to maintain it.....

It is easy every year back in Uni because its all about being happy but not at the expense of my grades..... Its easy to quantify it as its all about ABC...... But I guess now that we have all move on from school..... Its alittle harder.......

There are a few exciting milestones in '09 for my career......

• My first year IPF release
• Shell Life
• First rotation

The IPF release will be like my report card, it will probably be above average, but not spetacular...... My travels will probably start in '09 as well...... I anticipate a couple of trips to Msia....... I am banging on a Europe one even though I think it will prolly be quite slim for '09.....

First rotation will be exciting...... I want to try different things and I feel that by the end of this year, I will prolly learn what I need from this current role......

In the personal domain, I aim to be a fillial son, a faithful friend, responsible citizen to the world..... Bringing smiles to my love ones and people who are important to me......

Hope to get my driving license, and start playing the critical game; golf...... Read more books and enlightened my life...... Be a good Christian......

There are many things I want and need to do...... All in all, I hope to achieve as many of those as possible....... Lets all strive to make '09 a good year and chase away the current gloomy economic forecast.......

Cheers......

Labels: 2009

posted at 11.1.09 _________________________________________________________________ Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Realized that its been a while since my last entry....... Hahaha.......
Things have been pretty cool...... Went on a holi trip to HK for two weeks...... Was good recharging.......

Getting very busy even though its in the festive seasons....... Crazy shit.......

Recently just bought a xbox 360 console...... Awesome stuff...... Playing RPGs and Guitar Hero World Tour fills up my free time during weekdays when you are totally burnt out and just wanna laze the night away........

2008 is coming to an end pretty soon and I guess I will do a review for 2008 in the coming entry.......

So for now; Merry Christmas to everyone, have a great one and a great year ahead...... Cheerios......

Labels: Merry Xmas

posted at 23.12.08 _________________________________________________________________