the old has gone

I broke my coffee mug this morning. Perhaps it is a sign that the old has gone and the new will come.

I Graduate!!

My last paper. =) I cleared.

Very thankful and grateful for those who have been with me through the journey. (Oops, another speech from me again)

But this is the last time I’ll be doing this (no more academic studies for me for the next 5 years at least!) so I want to express it nevertheless.

Thank you to dearie for the countless nights and days you have stayed with me to keep me company while I studied and rushed assignment. Thank you for the sacrifices you have made.

Thank you to mummy for her encouragement. I promise I will continue to do you proud and shine in the things I do.

Thank you, pa and ma for their support. Ma always made sure we had enough to eat and would get medication for me whenever she heard I was unwell. Pa was the one who first got me thinking about my life.

Thank you, Christin for being the listening ear and sister in my life. You constantly cheered me on and told me that the finish line was near.

Thank you to all my friends who jia-you-ed me on before my exams..hehe.

All of you made a difference in my life =) So glad to finish this lap with pretty decent results. Something I would dare to print out and show my prospective employers in the future! =D

Today I officially mark the completion of all the 3 goals set when I started my career back into the corporate world.

It is easy to set goals..but the crux is to be more than a goal setter, but be a goal achiever. I continue to work to be a goal achiever. That's my pursuit for life.

Next lap, here I come!!

cleaning and scrubbing for the new year

Spent a great weekend with dearie at home. We spent an accumulative 10 hours spanned over 3 days, to do so. Our home feels organized, clutter-free and a lot more pleasant now. In fact, I commented it feels tidier than when we first moved in. we dumped a whole lot of junk, cleared out old t-shirts to be given away and bought a new rack for the store room. With the rack, we created a lot more space and we organized our items in boxes to be stored away.

It was a joint effort and doing it together made the difference. =)

It is a lot more welcoming now for pa and ma who are visiting this Thursday. We cleared the main toilet so it could be used and I will give it a good scrub down to get it sparkling clean.

Apart from cleaning, we went shopping and had training on Sunday. The Christmas crowd was crazy but sales were enticing. Dearie bought me another Christmas gift from G2000 – a full working suit. He reminded it was my dream to wear a power suit and strut down Shenton Way. He said the gift can be used when I have meetings to attend. I am blessed! =)

We were both down with sore throat and runny nose for a couple of days and I believe that was why we felt a little lethargic during training. Don’t give up dearie. Let’s train up for a good run in Tokyo. We only have to train hard and smart thrice a week =)

3.5 working days for this week. Another 3.5 working days for next week, before it marks the end of 2009.

I am so looking forward to the Christmas holiday with our family and of course, the new year!

just another 15.5days

This isn’t good but I can’t help staring at my calendar daily and counting down mentally.

Anticipating a negative appraisal today; prepared for the worse. I have put up my defenses to protect myself. Not that I am going to deflect her presumptions of me, but more to stay calm and just bear through the 20-30mins I must sit through. It’s not worth losing my cool over because I don’t see reasons to justify myself. Everyone is free to have their own opinions.

I kept the advert to remind me what sort of a person she is. Though she holds the decision making authority in the department but her decisions does not earn the respect from the rest of us. we follow not because we agree with the things she do but because our opinions are irrelevant and we are told to follow as instructed. period.

The whole sense of helplessness looms over my department these days. It seems so familiar as we last had this feeling during mich’s dismissal too.

I took a while to try to fathom her ways. i wondered what she is looking for. But I’ve stopped doing so a while ago. It was an utter waste of time and needless as well.

Things will still go on. work is work. as much as we abhor her ways, we can come to work daily, fulfill our duties, draw our deserved pay and continue to let days go by as they come.

Glad these days will be coming to an end for me in another 15.5 working days. New beginning. New challenges. Growth!

me too!

Coach sent us the list of PBs achieved during scsm and angkor wat by my team mates. Aww..i felt envious! a little left out of the action in a way.. i hope i get to join in the fun with the rest next year. it will be fun going for races together in a team.

then i decided to look back to my seremban timing. find on the left the timing i posted in july this year. 1.56.47.

during scsm last sun, i did a 1.56.39! yayy..pb for me too! eh..8 sec!

considering the following:

1. the longest distance i've ran for the past 1month was 12km.
2. my weekly mileage for the past 1 month averaged 40km. I don't know how i survived the time i wasn't running. =P
3. I ran 8km hard MR on the Sat before Sun's scsm. Don't tell coach i didn't complete the prescribed distance because my legs went jelly.

Coach was ardently against me going for sun's half. he nagged..nagged and nagged alot. basically he felt i have not trained for it and it was disruptive to my marathon training.

but i still went. =X

yesterday i suffered =( mid way through intervals my legs wanted to give up. i was on the verge of confessing i did sun so that i can be let off from the rest of the sets. but coach pushed me on. i was so breathless i nearly teared. i bet i must have ran very barrel-like because i felt my striding went all hay-wire.

coach said, "if it's not painful, then it's not training."

he has a good goal for me and that is something i want to achieve. the determinant to whether i can achieve it will be how hard i train now. =)

up we go!

I am happy =) just glad that my skills are valued. I will be taking a step up from where I am and I am excited about the change.

I am looking forward to learning new things and challenging myself further. i may fall short now but I will catch up.

I believe the tide is turning for us. i took a plunge into goals I have set for myself. I bagged 2 of them and the last one is very close now.

As I verbalized my life development to my interviewers, i am embarking into the season of “doing”. It is putting the things I learned into use and gaining experience. Learning must continue but not in the form of academic for now. It is learning on the job now and I am praying for good mentors in the next phase of my career.

It will be very steep learning curve up ahead but I know I will get there. Regardless how steep, I believe I will move the higher level as long I keep on moving.

I remember there was one adventure race which dearie and I participated in. we were made to bike up fraser's hill on our mountain bikes. It was really agonizing as the road was winding and the going up seemed never ending. Our legs were tired after many hours of running (my hamstrings were tight and pulling) and with our tires pumped up to only 40psi, the journey was made tougher. The markers on the road were inaccurate and we could see no end to the road ahead of us. Several times, I broke down and was close to giving up. During then, dearie was there; he hugged me and told me to keep going. And he helped distract the pain i was experiencing by singing backstreet boys’ songs to me too. (I called him backside boy =P)

It warms my heart to know i have loved ones with me in this journey. I know I will get there. I'm going for the top and nothing less. I promised i will do all of you proud and my journey continues.