it's been a while...

My last post was almost 9 months ago. In these nine months I've been through 2.5 rotations, the bank has received 2 offers and I'm heading to Sydney as soon as my training visa comes through.

The first two rotations were pretty alright; I was young (still am!), eager and enthusiastic. Now I feel jaded and am looking forward to a permanent role. It's kind of sad and pathetic that all I can look forward to, is working with Powerpoint for the next few years of my life. All that money and time spent on an Uni education... a waste I tell you.

More worrying is the life I'll give up if I stay in this industry. It sucks the life out of you faster than a cheap whore. One of the directors in the department missed his toddler's birthday because he had a heap of emails, projects and pitches to clear. Work which had accumulated because he had to take time off for the birth of his 2nd kid. I wonder if he'll make it for the new kid's first birthday.

It's pretty common actually - horror stories of how people had to work through birthdays, anniversaries, marriages and the occasional death (not theirs).

But the people I've worked with are pretty great. The team I'm working with right now are a really talented bunch with a nice vibe. It's very different from my last 2 teams; I still do the same things (powerpoint, powerpoint and... POWERPOINT) but there's no hierarchy. Now that's cool. It's a pity they've already made this other graduate an offer, otherwise I would have put my hand up for the spot.

This brings me to another sore spot. I don't know how my performance has been so far. Being the thick skinned lump I am, I tend to assume I'm doing fine or even well (at least). Then again, the M&A director wouldn't be so friendly/nice to me unless he thought I was fairly decent... RIGHT???

Awww... crap.

Fired or Hired

The bank I work in released Q2 results yesterday. Results could have been better; the spectre of not having a job for very long was not laid to rest. People have been joking about spending weekends rewriting their resumes. Jokes aside, I'm sure a lot of us are a little worried that we might become a takeover target. Being the newbies in the organisation, we're the least qualified and technically the easiest to shove aside.

On the other hand, we're also the cheapest. Mid-level managers should get kicked off and more reasonably priced (lol) staff promoted. Imagine, I could be a manager (although Im graded as an assistant manager) in a couple of years. Yay!

One of my trainers made a remark the other day. As i-bankers, we're nothing more than whores in corporate suits. A nice big paycheck and they've got us by the balls. They definitely have me on a chain. I owe my dad the equivalent of USD5k and am buying a pair of shoes for USD 430. There's no way I could ever quit my job. I like the rewards too much.

On to the training. The new batch has arrived. They all look so young and innocent next to us. Heard they had a great team building weekend. Not as great as us though. Apparently they slept early after their proverbial milk and cookies and didn't think about raiding the bar. Are they i-bankers?? Spoke to one the other day, she complained about the first week being 'rough'. I'm well into week 5 and its been a total blast so far. A lot more work than play. Some people.

Headed down to Baden Baden this weekend to meet up with a couple of friends. Wonder if I could run to Munich at the same time... Probably too rushed.

Living in Amsterdam

So I've been in Amsterdam for almost 4 days now. Its summer here and feels so dry and hot! Would be great if I could spend the whole day at the beach or in a cafe beside the canals... But am stuck in classes all day long. Its been pretty good so far; mostly focusing on soft and technical skills this week. Leaving on Thursday night for the Ardennes, Belgium for a teambuilding weekend. Can't wait! Sounds like great fun. Hope they take us hiking in the forest. Lol. One of my colleagues suggested that it would be Survivor style, except we would compete for a bonus instead of immunity.

The group of people I'm doing this training with, are absolutely fantastic! A large proportion of them are from the same country and overall, women are a minority. However, everyone seems to be getting along fine and I'm really enjoying working with such a dynamic group of people. I admit sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed at the way they think and the speed at which they can analyse and process information. But then, I'm also the youngest in this intake (also the least qualified!)and I figure as long as I can keep up with them and focus on improving myself, it should be all good.

So what areas do I think I can improve on?
- Improve analytical skills.
- Organise and put together data better
- Improve presentation skills: be more confident and get to the pt asap

Actually I had a whole long list but it would be just too embarrassing to put it all up. That's enough for now.

Miss singapore though. Hi Mum! Hi Dad!

Long Weekend

Headed down south to Jervis Bay *wink* for the long Queen's Birthday weekend. Traffic was terrible getting out of Sydney and we were bored stiff by the time we got to the cottage we'd rented. It was appropriately picturesque, with a wood burning fireplace, kangeroos hopping around outside, horses hanging around and a small pond a stone's throw away.

Perfect for a nice weekend of bushwalking and beach fun, except for the rain. Rained 2 days in a row. If it wasn't raining, it was blowing gale force winds. Almost got knocked over by gusts of winds which was pretty remarkable as am pretty solid. Would also have been nice if he figured out how to light the log fire the first night. Unread newspaper and most of a toilet roll was sacrificed to the noble cause. Fended off an overly enthusiastic jason before my clothes got burnt up as well. Firestarters at the grocery store proved handy the next day.

Horses proved to be very friendly. Pooped all around the house. Unwanted welcoming gifts. One chased Jason screaming into the house, got the door shut just in time before horse poked his head in.

Btw, leaving Sydney this Sunday for Singapore. Will be there till Thursday then off to HK. Will be in Amsterdam from 3 July to 14 August, then HK thereafter. Sounds like fun except for what I leave behind.

Instant Gratification

I have a shopping addiction.

I don't buy horribly expensive designer stuff. In fact, the only real designer stuff I have is a pair of Gucci boots, a pair of MiuMiu peep toes, a MaxMara trench and a very daggy MaxMara sweater. Mind you, all those were an absolute STEAL. Zara prices in fact. :)

But in the past couple of weeks, I've been really bored in Sydney. Hence I've had loads of time to shop. 2 weeks ago I bought a gorgeous red dress with black fabric buttons, a pair of brown flats with buckles and a pair of white loafers. All very, *ahem*, classic. Classic if you're into vintage-style stuff.

I'm a vintage addict. While most girls live in their jeans, I very much prefer dresses. Vintage dresses and heels. My mum finds it funny I wear clothes that she wore when she was a girl. Or even clothes that her mother wore. She thinks its mildly ridiculous that I pay crazy prices for used clothes.

Anyway, I wanted to blog about my indiscretions this week. Confess about them rather. Shame myself into cutting up my ATM card (no more credit for me) and repent for my transgressions AFTER TOMORROW'S STOCKTAKE SALE AT MYERS.


This was the beginning of my addiction to Ebay. So hippy. Think bellbottoms and daisy chains.





Yummy blue polka-dotted dress. A bit big, but I suppose I could grow into it.







Floaty floral off-shoulder dress.









Diane von Furstenberg eyelet dress. Love DVF stuff. Love wrap dresses in general. Started wearing them way before it became trendy to.







Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress.






And today I went shopping for a new pair of boots. Stopped at Newtown and found a pair of gorgeous vintage brown boots. Nice as they were, I found it a little hard to cough up 129AUD for a pair of used boots which made my stockings feel... well, STICKY. Wandered down King's St (love Newtown. Lived there for 3 years and it has such a nice cafe/funky vibe) and picked up a very Audrey Hepburn coat. Black but fabric not too fab.


Found boots on sale at Broadway (basic range of shops - think sportgirl, witchery, kmart) for 40% off. Pretty decent.











My account's pretty depleted now. Really should stop. I'm almost starting to hope that I won't win any more auctions... For pretty lilac dresses and psychadelic MJ dresses...

Moving Again

CFA Exam's on the 4th of June, and here I am lolling around at home and doing laundry. Love doing laundry. Kills time and gives me an excuse not to study. Same for cooking. Takes up loads of time with yummy results.

Was just thinking. In the past few years I've been lucky enough to travel and live in a pretty nice chunk of the world thanks to the generousity of my parents. On the flipside though, I've also minimised the time I've spent at home in Sg. Which had made me a little regretful, not just because there's no one to do my laundry for me, but I missed out on so much. I wasn't there for my siblings (for which I'm sure they're grateful; I tend to be a big nag and when I'm home my brother gets displaced) while they were growing up.

Plus now I'm moving to HK. So that's a couple more years of separation, although its much closer. (I have a feeling my mum's going to be popping in pretty often - GO AWAY MUM!!! jk) My consolation is that, if I work hard enough and the stock market holds strong for the next, erm, 7 years, I'll be able to pay for wy's and rui's uni assuming that I get 7% return pa and inflation holds at 3% pa.

Ugh. That's all my degree's equipped me for. Calculating silly little rates.

Paris to Amsterdam to Singapore

My final day in Paris and the last day of my trip.

Woke up nice and early to cram in a couple more things before I had to leave. Essential things like buying a load of foie gras and confit as lasting souvenirs of my pigginess. Hit the rue de rivoli and snagged wonderfully expensive chocolates from Jean Paul Hevin's Spring/Summer Collection 2006. (Right. They even have seasonal collections for chocolates. Whatever. Im such a sucker.) Headed over to rue de Mouffetard to get some cheese to take home but managed to get lost as refused to use a map and look touristy. By and by, I found a produce market anyway and got a great selection of cheese from a very nice fromagerie.

I have no idea why people insist the French are snobby or unhelpful. The French people I met were more than happy to put up with my crappy French and/or spoke fluent English as well. So this cheese guy helped me pick out a very delicious Roquefort, a cool leaf wrapped chevre, a Brie, a camembert and a very nutty hard cheese. Vacuum-wrapped everything beautifully as well. Oh yes, and before that I fell prey to this guy offering foie samples and bought tins and tins of foie and confit. That really hurt mu bottomline in more ways than one.

Cheese, chocolate and foie in hand (in my luggage actually), I trundled my luggage to the Gare du Nord for the TGV to Amsterdam. Fast forward past the long ride to Amsterdam Schiphol, and I was at the airport ready to check in. Actually I had already checked in except they refused to let me board without my air ticket. Apparently I had mistaken my Eurolines bus pass for my airticket and my real air ticket was nowhere to be found. So there I was in front of the KLM ticket counter, tossing clothes and tins out of my luggage, frantically searching for my air ticket. Argh. Nothing there. To add insult to injury, a lonely tin of foie rolled desolatorily away and stopped in front of a little blonde kid who happily KICKED it back to me. Nasty little bugger.

Whined and pleaded with the ticket staff to reissue me another one, but nopie, no can do without the original PAPER TICKET. (Note to oneself, don't be such a cheap ass and get PAPER TICKETS. who in the world actually uses PAPER TICKETS NOW????) To make a long story short, I woke my bf up in Sydney and made him hunt through my luggage (ahem... i did some shopping and he kindly took back my excess), fax my ticket over, refax my ticket, refax again, didn't come through. Type out my whole ticket, print it out, fax that through...

Smack on the dot, I managed to get a new ticket at a hefty charge, raced through customs and plopped myself on the plane.

Not surprisingly, I arrived back in Singapore before my luggage did. But it was a great trip anyhow.