FSA textbook DOWN

i am done with FSA text book. now onto the assignment. reading the entire textbook gives me a picture of what i'm suppose to get out of this module.

i can't imagine reading the EVA textbook because it's thicker than the bible. -gulps- my strategy for EVA will be the 'attack' the questions head-on. That's because Mr Graeme has delivered good lectures that helped us understand the context of EVA.

On contrary, the FSA lecturer dictated the slides; of which all the info was found in the textbook. I drifted off during lecture, thanks to his gibberish slang. Hence, I'm left with no other choice but to do the reading myself.. which I have just completed doing so! ahhhhhhhh..good =)

Have to get the assignment out by Sunday and email it to Marilyn for consolidation. This assignment is due next Friday..got to work hard.

Good thing EVA assignment deadline has been postponed till 19th. So I've got a fair bit of time to work things out and also revise for the exams on 20th and 27th.

the beacon

I gave thought to the role my significant half plays in my life. As we perused into our savings plan and target for the year, his role became evident – a beacon.

Definition from Wikipedia

A Beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location.

Beacons help guide navigators to their destinations.

We discussed how we should budget our spendings, how much we intend to have at the end of the year, how we can plan for a holiday... our plan for the coming year..our studies.. he has helped mould my thinking into one that looks afar. No more living for the day..now it’s living for the days ahead.

I remember telling him one day I don’t see anything at the end of the tunnel – in regards to work. He told me, “It’s ok if you don’t see the end. Just have to see the light.”

To me that is powerful as indeed that’s life. No one can fully predict and be totally sure what we will become in the next few decades to come.. but we have ideas and dreams conjured in our minds of where we want to be, what we want to have. These goals are collectively the light that should guide us through.

The burden of work and studies weighed upon me heavily since the start of the 2nd term. There was a lot of dissatisfaction in me since I got to know the pay disparity too. Yet all that gloom gradually dissipated after dearie guided me to understand there are greater things ahead to look forward to; rather than to dwell in the present.

And I concur with what Ma says, “what comes after bitterness will be sweetness”.

I have a beacon in my life – he shines the way to go when I get lost in the dark. And I realize one thing too: You can only see the light if you lifted your head up. When you kept your head hanging low and faced to the ground, you become oblivious to the light.

Hang on, dear friends. We are all in this journey together. We will reach the end of the tunnel. =)

3 persons i will meet in heaven

these are the 3 persons i am sure i will meet in heaven.. because they keep me sane and going on. in no particular order =) thank you for being in my life - dearie, mummy & christin.

and not forgetting dw who listens to my rants too.

i am facing a tough juncture in life and balancing the scale between work and studies is tearing me apart. nonetheless, having all of you around keeps me going.

it's hard but it's worth it

The attitude of a colleague at work really irks me big time. She is a nice person in nature, just that when it comes to work, there’s been quite a change in her performance..and her frequent disappearance from work is definitely not helping. As much as I would like to give her the benefit of doubt, there is a limit to that. Perhaps the bonus payout was not handsome enough for her appetite. Then again, I thought she performed pretty well last year, hence I believe her appraisal ought to be pretty decent?

I’m not in the position to probe more but it just irks me as work piles up for me. If given a say for headcount, I will suggest to give her the boot and hire someone who can be of more help in the department. She’s quite a waste of resources..and not improving the efficiency of the department. Let’s not mention about the pay disparity too.

Dearie and I clocked a marathon last weekend. We did a 30km (dearie did 31.5km) on Saturday at macritchie. On Sunday, we did the 10.4km passion run. If we include the 1km warm up..that’s a full marathon over 2 days!

I am thankful dearie was around on Sunday to pace me through the entire race. After the torturous 30k on Saturday, my itb and hamstring were screaming “ouch” and the tummy upset in the morning really killed me (squatting in the toilet 10min is no joke)..

nonetheless running beside him gave me strength to keep going. He talked to me through the entire run…running up to the water stations to get drinks for me..and kept encouraging me on. He told me my timing at every km.. told me my pace for the whole race.. helped me calculate how long I would be able to complete the run if I kept at XXX pace.. I was too tired to process all the computations he made.. I just knew I must keep up with dearie.. though in fact he was trying to accommodate to my snail pace run. Seeing Vivian pace a guy at the last 1km urged me to keep up. Dearie sped up and prompted me to pick up.. I struggled on to keep up but was finally able to overtake that guy and several others along the way too!

The time stopped. 10.4km in 57.24mins. wow. To me, it was a result beyond my expectation. I gave myself an estimate of 1hr 5mins to finish the 10.4km; given the ache and pain from the 30km. it was a good run.. and completing it at a time I have not expected was a bonus. I was only able to do so because dearie was there =) thank u dearie.

Turning the page, I now have to face with 2 assignments and 2 exams. It is a huge burden on my heart.. as I need to do a lot of reading and research for the assignments and also set aside sufficient time to revise for the exams. The next 1 month will be very trying.. and I am very stressed out now. I'll have to comb through the internet for data.. dissecting the information.. it's a heady brew!! Going to sleep is difficult, as thoughts on the assignment piles on my chest like an anvil.

I need to get through this. I can get through this. I WILL get through this.

Everyone gets the same 24hours a day. If others can do it, why can’t i? it’s just a month, things will get better after this month. Hang on tricia. You are a fighter =)

steinway & sons

dearie said he'll buy me a steinway and sons grand piano if i can play like that..hohoh.. in my dreams! =P

and this is yukie nishimura playing on a steinway & sons concert grand. the sound quality of the piano is sweet.

i have never touched a steinway & sons grand piano in my life. this has become one of my lifelong dream - to play a single chord on one! woohooo..

music

classical music never gets outdated.

bravo!

look at li yundi play..bravo!!

i'm addicted to youtube..because i can listen to all these music.. which i dream of playing but don't think i'll ever be able to. haha. i'll enjoy the maestro play them.. because they do so beautifully. if i play, i'll be creating too much noise pollution. =P

tricia has never played rachmaninov

this may be the solution! i may ONE DAY play rachmaninov if i had those extensions! =D

1 down..a few more to go

it is now 7am in the morning. i have just submitted my EVA assignment. Slept at 12mn last night, woke up 4.30am this morning. finally got this off my shoulders. i've got class at 10am. i feel like running. I am praying for a short day at FSA class.

I am mentally tired. No MR for me..i just want to enjoy my run around my place this morning. have a good shower, go to class. finish class, come home and fall face flat on the bed. zzzz. maybe i'll be able to sleep better tonight. i've been having sleepless nights thinking about the eva assignment.

FSA assignment is due in 2.5weeks. my brain isn't working well to think about it right now. let's only think about it on monday..

run strong

The weekend was fruitful because i managed to accomplish quite a few things I had set out to do.

1. made good progress on my assignment. I’m almost half way through it. I’m only left with the forecasting bit which is more challenging but I’ll work out the figures soon to plug into my spreadsheet. Shouldn’t be too tough I hope.

2. spent time with dearie. we spent sat together at home doing work and resting. I like being at home..because I don’t get to do it much since I started school. I had lots of time to work on my assignment and rest when I wanted to.

3. spent time shopping with mummy. Dearie took us to tampines 1 and I bought some new clothes and bag for mummy. Seeing the sparkle in her eyes just made me feel happy. I bought new shirts for dearie too!

4. did some good quality training. Friday we were at ecp doing beach training. it was tiring but good, because everyone was left sore the next day. we rested on Saturday. Sunday a group of us did mr25’s progressive run. It’s the best 20km I’ve done so far at macrit. The timing may not be fantastic but i just felt great during and after the run. During my 2nd loop, I consciously practiced the 2 in 2 out breathing method dearie taught me and it worked. My pace was in sync with the breathing and I wasn’t out of breath even as I trotted uphill. The last 2 long upslopes took much out of me but I had enough strength to sprint the last 100m to the end. What is most heartening was hearing the mr25 timekeeper uncle said this to me.

Uncle: “ young lady, you’ve improved.”
Me: “waa. You remember me?”
Uncle: “of course, you did the ultra marathon last year.”

He saw improvement in me and it affirmed my hard work. I am tempted to try for the time trial..but I know I’m not a sprint person….yet I yearn to be part of the mr25 fleet for some reason or another..because I love mr..and mr25 is a distinguished group.

Can’t wait for the next weekend to come as we’ll be traveling back to Segamat. Got to continue to stay on running form in the midst of all the feasting! =D

billy prata

we had prata for dinner tonight. canned curry and sambal as side dishes. dearie scored me 9! =) it's surprising how delicious the ntuc prata turned out to be. i'm just happy seeing dearie enjoy the food. he had 3.75 slices and i had 2.25. =)

new cars coming up!

the new cars coming up.. pa's peugeot 206.. rally car! (work in progress)..and tricia's new red ferrari. (with 177 parts..faints) this will be a masterpiece..because it has movable parts.. can open the doors..can open the boot and see the engine from behind. (dearie..i want ALL my decals in place ya..don't disintegrate them ya..especially my carbon engine..hohohh)

tricia test drives her new car

after a week of hard work, my dearie completed the building of my new car! it is called xiao ang ku kuey.. because dearie's car is called ang ku kuey..and this is the exact replica of it. =)

i brought the car for test drive.. and one wheel fell off.. it started to rain and my window leaked (=P because dearie filed my window la!) apart from these.. no complaint about it! love it..because it's red.. it's small..and cute!

next in line..dearie will be building a peugeot for pa...and a FERRARI for me!

term 2

no way am i going to be a last minute fire fighter again. i begin on my EVA(equity valuation & analysis) assignment today as prof posted up the data this morning. I received the the FSA (financial statement analysis) assignment too..but as that is only due in june..i shall finish up eva prior to that. i want to have ample time to ensure these are good pieces of work.

the good thing about having terms back to back is the continuation of momentum. a long break often breaks the momentum and overcoming the inertia takes much effort.

i'm going to keep moving. finish eva assignment due in 4 wks..prepare fsa test in 4 wks..finish fsa asignment in 6 weeks. in that order.=)

to mummy..

this is my beloved mummy. irreplaceable mummy..who still listens to my complaints at work.. i love you mummy.=)

new try out dish

i tried out a new dish today..something my mummy cooks really well but i haven't tried cooking it myself.. my porkie turned out rubberish.. don't quite know why. =X nevertheless, dearie still ate everything and thanked me for the meal. thank you for not finding it a nuisance to eat all my experimented dishes. hehe.. good thing my dearie is not so particular..he always say "can eat can liao" =)

self contentment=self acceptance

The last exam for term 1 wrapped up on Saturday. It was yet another headshot..this one was somehow more fatal than ofrm. Flipping through the paper stunned me and I just stared at it blankly for almost 5 minuntes.

Regaining my sanity I attempted to do whatever I could. My answers came in drips and drabs. That was an ominous sign of a possible failure. I hate to admit I will probably face that outcome; retaking this module again is hellish.

After 3 hours of torment, I left the exam room feeling jaded. I dialed out to dearie and in his words, found comfort. At least I have tried my best. I did put in my best to go through the tutorials 3 times. the exam took us by surprise that nothing related to the tutorials appeared. My heart ached even more when I realized if I failed by a huge rift, I will have to pay the $2.5k again to go through the intensives all over! have I not tried hard enough? Or am I just too slow to grasp the concepts?

On a positive note, I am more pleased with my progress for this new term. We did a mini test yesterday for equity and I managed to get 12 out of 15 correct. I love the calculation and logic bit of this module. Fsa isn’t that bad either because I look at financial statements almost everyday..so it’s just a more in-depth study of what these statements entail. Should things go well, I hope to pass these papers with lesser problems.

Dearie is in the process of building a car for ME! haha..that’s what I am assuming since it’s an exact replica of the car he owns. Will post up the photos when I get to test drive it. haha..

After the class (and exam) on Saturday, dearie took me out shopping. i felt like a mouldy slice of bread which has been hibernating indoors for the past 1 month or so. It was good to be out in the crowd, trotting in the shopping mall. Dearie bought additional paint for MY car.. carrying 2 bottles of grey paint, he was much like a kid skipping out in joy from kiddy palace. Big kid.

The new extended jurong point is huge and there are many fanciful shops..selling pretty little things. funny thing was.. I felt nothing actually drew me to walk into the shops.. I just walked past them.. appreciating the nice window displays.. colorful apparels.. shiny shoes.. bling bling jewellery.. In me I was contented with all I had. There was nothing I wanted to get.. because whatever I needed, I have them.

It’s a bliss being a contented person. Sometimes I struggle to stay that way because human nature drives us to achieve and possess more. Life can be a lot simpler..if we learnt to live with what we have..within our means.. and taking joy that we do not need to be like the others around us to gain acceptance. Self contentment..is a form of self acceptance =)

i got an A for my curry

i remembered the milk today..but i forgot i was suppose to cook the prata to go along with the curry..arghh!! my curry got kindof burnt (again)..this time because i turned the fire too much close at the end..sigh. =( nevertheless, dearie scored me 80 for the attempt. the next time i go home, i'm going to ask ma to give me ojt. on the job training. =)

OFRM-Cleared!

i cleared the options, futures and risk mgmt module with a score of 65, credit. i am just thankful to pass because i was taken aback by the tough paper..i was pretty worried to fail it in fact. phew! that's one down.

FIS this saturday, i hope to pass too. no more distinctions roll for me because the modules are so tough that i've been banging against the wall pretty more often these days.. and i know it because the migraine has been setting in more often than it should.

it's ok..2 terms..and i'll be through the tough patch. =) fight on tricia!

sissel - over the rainbow

something more mainstream..if pie jesu is not your cup of tea. her voice is still beautiful..