Chinese New Year

What a glorious week, with the Chinese New Year celebrations, public holidays are 4 our of the 5 working days!

I definitely plan to catch up with my GMAT preparations. Of course, that is easier said than done since I have to make time as well to attend to the family gatherings/lunches/dinners and all other important Chinese New Year activities - including hosting blackjack! :D

But I have been running up and down for the past two days - with the highlight being a discussion with a representative from Empresa. I definitely enjoyed it and have decided to include Empresa on my application list. Of course, the downside is unlike the top USA business schools, not many European schools seem to guarantee financing - be it loans or scholarships or bursary etc.

Empresa stands for

i) Entrepreneurship
ii) International
iii) Innovation

Woot! Sounds good? To me it does, or at least interesting. So now I am just looking at post-MBA careers.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to me!

It must be painfully obvious that I am not attending some wild debaucherous hedonistic party if I have time to log in and blog on the night of my birthday.

So much for having a life. The treat I gave myself was to get home from work early at 6.30pm.

*sigh* With the gallstones I cannot even give myself a treat in gluttony.

Anyway, I have decided on a birthday resolution. I have decided that this year, I will push the envelope in self developmental/improvement activities that will make me a better person professionally and personally.

So going through my list of things to do for the year, I have added several other activities.

1. Work (professional)
2. GMAT (professional)
3. Franchise opportunities (professional)
4. Restaurant management (professional)
5. Certified Credit Risk certificate (professional)
6. Volunteer for a women's social organisation (personal)
7. Buy/Read one book a month - any book (personal)

I think that should be enough to keep me occupied until the end of the year.

Of the lot, I have yet to actually start on the franchising and restaurant.

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On another note. Thanks for those who wished me well :)

I know my writing is a bit of a bore - I am not a very funny person, or witty and creative. And my life, it just is not too happening and hip. So all I can write is from a more personal aspect.

So thanks for reading :)

Birthday Stones

Wow. My birthday falls on the 24th January. Soon I will be 27 years of age - without having accomplished much at all. :P

I guess I must be a late bloomer.

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On another note, I just found out that I have gallstones in my gallbladder. What a way to turn 27. Could have been worse, but I suspect that it is quite bad already - to quote my doctor

"You have a lot of gallstones, there is no need to count them. Probably more than 20 stones."

Well, I am going to get the results of my bloodtest (cholesterol level) and my liver. If the results are good, I am supposed to start medication, of course, if the results are good, I will head off and see a specialist to get a second opinion and recommended treatment course.

Bah. Any ideas on gallstones?

More and more

Because I felt that I did not have enough to to, I agreed to

1. Apply for an international franchise for a food chain.
2. Help my happy restaurant friend come up with an Operations Manual for his restaurant (without any payment - on the premise that if he expands his restaurant, I will have a share, of course this is very dodgy, and I realise that I want something in black and white)

This two additional 'hobbies' on top of my

3. GMAT Preparations
4. Job

And the possibility of taking Mandaring classes to improve my Mandarin!

So all in all, I have got 5 time demanding activities.

I think I should reject everything and just focus on the GMAT and my job.

So, what did you do over the weekend?

Hmmm

I have yet to sit down and finish up my resolutions, as well as my list of top 10 things that I like.

Looks like I am eager to start, but slow to finish. Not very good I guess. Or maybe it is because I have been thinking and thinking and thinking about my resolutions, and realise that 'Hey, I don't really have any resolutions!'

I think, that maybe the following could be considered my New Year's resolutions.

i) To work hard and give my best towards the GMAT.
ii) If I am to stay on at my current job, to ensure that I perform well at it and finish up my training in December.

Not much I could really be realistic about.

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Ever wondered about your job? As in, how much thinking is actually required for your job?

Do you really have to think when doing your work, or are you just following procedures? A pre-set path?

I realise that I want a job that lets me think, a job that requires me to sit down and think of solutions, a job that allows me to be creative - not have to adhere to procedures and protocols.

I realise I do not think very much.

Hah.

The first week

The first week of the year 2006 has come and gone. Nothing much has happened, nothing extraordinary.

I have been having trouble sleeping - waking up at 5 am thinking about credit proposals and my clients! :(

Somehow for some strange reason, going to work just does not feel like going to work. I feel detached when I head to work, I have gotten the flow of things, but do not feel like I am part of the office. Either I am zoning out at work, or I am perceiving time passing slower than it actually is (giving me the illusion that it is passing fast for me).

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A friend of mine has just finished investing 90,000 Big Macs and opened a Hong Kong styled restaurant. He basically hired an entire restaurant, building it up from scratch and is going to run it. I told him he might want to consider doing a degree first (or at some point to consider and MBA in Entrepreneurship). But sometimes, it is like this over here, degrees do not really matter much for people like my friend - if you are from a rich family, you will take the money and throw it at a problem until you get a solution. His problem being, he does not have a degree, and needs a job :P Solution? Create a job for himself!

Wish I had that much money.....

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I have been approached and have started talks with a company. And if they offer me anything, they will probably offer to pay me less..... Was pretty good on the overall, just as we were ending, they brought up the big "pay question"

I have got butterflies in my stomach. I hope they call.

Flooded

Work work and work

I have hit on a new technique - coming home early from work so I can finish up my work.

I have so much on my plate this week, it looks as if I just went wild at the all-you-can-eat buffet table. I have yet to sit down and draft out a copy of my Resolutions.

Well, back to work.

.sg

Singapore gives you a +4kg to your weight rating, and -15% to wealth. It also gives you +2 to shopping ability, +3 to walking statistics and +3 to checking out Asian chicks!

1 week in Singapore gives me a 4 kg increase in my weight. Very depressing.

All in all, it was mainly a shopping trip, I realise that women

i) Do not need a reason to shop.
ii) Do not have a shopping plan.
iii) Shop for the sake of shopping.
iv) Purchases are made on whim and fancy - "because I feel like it"

Something so very wrong when you tag along and realise that all purchases made are impulse purchases! And at times, rather costly purchases too.

Spent New Year's Eve at.....

i) Clark Quay
ii) Marina Square
iii) CHIJMES (probably the coolest place)

I have also neglected my GMAT preparations. So I will have to brush up and gear up on it too.

Coming tomorrow - My Resolutions