training has been feeling hard these days. i don't seem to find myself getting faster and my legs aren't holding up well enough either. they've been sore and achy more often than they should..and they take a darn long time to recover =( i wondered if pain is good, no pain no gain?

made some marked progress in my revision over the long hari raya weekend. i've covered much according to plan. counting down to the 2 weeks before the exam.

dearie and i were out shopping after the run. we were at city hall and there was a peugeot road show. we were awed by the 308 and i proclaimed it as my car-to-be (not knowing the price tag attached to it).. now that i know how much it costs, i'm wondering if i dreamt a little to far with the car-to-be. hmm..maybe in another 20-30 years' time? hahaha..

i am suppose to be revising but i decided that i am going to spend the night sending out job applications. i must scale higher.. and the only way is to seek for better prospects and move. it gets a little disappointing that none of my applications sent so far yielded an interview. yet, i shouldn't stop here, should i. keep finding. keep seeking. only those who seek will find. only those who keep climbing will reach the summit. and it's the top i am looking at.

i liked what dearie told me after the run at macritchie today. he was pointing out my upslope running technique..but i felt it is applicable to my career as well.

" keep looking up. look at the top of the slope and run with your head up. when u look up the ground will look flat. if you keep looking down, it'll be like a never ending upslope. look up, open up your strides and run up."

running is so much like life. =)

i dream to be somebody

I got it, finally. I’ve got the cpa in my bag now. One more in another 2 months time which I will make it happen.

Yielding the fruit of labour is such exhilaration. To me it’s an affirmation that hard work does pay off and nothing in this world comes easily.

I am grateful how dearie stayed by my side every night I had to mug through exams and endured my rant about how tired I was. My mummy’s jia you never fail to light up my day and lift my spirit. Ma and Pa’s support and care helped me take the first step out. Christin is a role model to me that learning never stops.

This is bonus added to my accreditation but it’s not the end. It is the beginning. Now is the time to head out and earn back what I have put in. it’s a lot of time, money and effort. I have learnt so much, surely I must put it to some use at least.

I have achieved most if not all the goals I set out for myself more than 2.5 years ago, when I stepped into this company. Now I am setting new goals and working to achieve them. My next goals in sight are:

1. Find a new job which will utilize acquired knowledge and skills

2. Earn and save more money so I can recoup my depleted savings

3. Find a good company and position to move into, so I can gather valuable experience of the next level

No more academic learning for now; practicality and experience are the foci.

Those who have looked down upon me, I am proving you wrong. In the next couple of years, I want to be someone who can lift my head high before you and tell you, “you’ve been wrong about me. I am not a wreck and learning is not useless. I am someone now.”

training & assignment-ing

A relaxed day at work. supervisor on business trip. Boss not around. 2 colleagues on half day leave. It seems like the weekend came around early this week.

With my work done, I can type a blog entry and work on my corp finance assignment. It’s a pretty tedious assignment and hopefully we can get things worked out during discussion tomorrow.

Started on the ‘full package’ training this week. Swim was tough for I haven’t done proper swimming (don’t include the wadding at pa’s pool) in a long while. The 1.5km took me forever to finish. My strokes felt heavy and ‘splashy’.. it just made me miss swimming with iggy. Under his coaching, at least I felt more streamlined and efficient..now I am back to my zabalang strokes..and my kicking is back to the break-surface-of-the-water sort. Maybe I should do some kicking drills next week.

The runs with the new team were awesome. I really enjoyed their company and I love chit chatting with different individuals during warm up and cool downs. =) I hope to integrate into the team better in the days to come.

My body is taking some time to get used to the new form of training. I’ve stopped feeling jittery about resting.

Will be obedient and listen to what coach says..and keeping my fingers crossed, it will enable me to achieve a pb at Tokyo!

the quest starts now

The quest began yesterday. It took some mustering of courage to click upon the send button; like tossing a coin into the fountain and believing that the wish made will come true.

Too much has signaled a need for change. Being in this position has caused many things to fall beyond my grasp.

While I went through pages of vacancies out there, something sparked in me. I realized I need not constrain myself in this small pail. There is an ocean out there. I have the necessary qualification, know-how and experience; there are organizations which are looking for these skill sets. They are willing to offer a position up for similar kind of work..and the pay is a considerable leap. Everything tells me to get out and smell the fresh air out there.

Perhaps something new may pose uncertainty. Perhaps it might be worse. But i’ll never know till I try.

Setting everything aside, I must tread into unknown waters.

Don’t have to wait till graduation or for that reply from icpas. I am starting my quest now! Charge!!

staying sharp & focused

It’s time to focus again. My thoughts have been wandering wild and affecting my ability to concentrate.

My priority list goes:

1. assignment in 2 weeks. Got to get that out.

2. exam in 1 month. Clear this and I’m ready for graduation.

3. training with km for the next 3 months. I feel uncomfortable cutting out all the mileage I used to do. I’ve been told to pick up swimming, something I’m not good at. But I know I must follow what he says so that I can benefit from the training.

4. job hunting. I feel uncertain with the applications because I have yet to bag my masters nor have icpas reverted. My colleague put in her application 10 months ago and is still waiting for them to respond too.

5. interviews.. new job. Really want to push my career up by a notch. I’ve been moving in gear 1 for a long while. Time to go to gear 2.

Focus..look ahead..and stay sharp. =)

term 3 cleared

Really thankful to clear both papers for last term. These are the best term for the year so far. I am truly down to my last paper for the course – Corporate Finance. This term is the final lap of this race and I must do it well and complete it in good style.

I shall leave my words of thanks till the very end; give everyone a hug and tell my loved ones how much I appreciate the support and encouragement they have showered on me during this journey.

Meantime, it is dearie’s turn to the battle. Wishing him all the best for his micro-processor assessment this evening. His exams are drawing very near too. We will work hard together.

I’m still waiting for my icpas response which is taking too long. 2^nd intensive for corp finance in 2.5 weeks. Assignment and presentation are due on the Sunday of the 2^nd intensive. This will have a 50% weightage. After 2^nd intensive, another 3 weeks before my final exam of the year. I am getting so close I can literally smell the graduation scroll in my hands!

Yes, I am looking around for career advancement. Time to move on.

Oh ya, out of random, still can’t decide when I should go for my haircut. Hmm..

flashes her fangs

For a moment I felt frustrated with the disparity of work load. Here I am slogging away since the moment I stepped into office, while she is sitting there dozing off. And how can she possibly be paid more than me?

I’m a little overwhelmed as I have barely touched my work and have been working on solely the work of the colleague I am covering. I have to shoulder the entire load while I have another colleague in the department surfing the net for the morning and dozing off in the after noon.

I cannot fathom why and this is a strong push factor to get myself out of this rut.