On The Move…

Am trying my best to look forwards, onwards and upwards,  but it hasn’t been quite as easy as it has been before.

2011 was rather a mixed bag. with more than a few disappointments and apparent mistakes, both small and quite large.

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I just looked over the blog posts I wrote in 2010, to give a sense of comparison with 2011.  It helped me remember that it’s worth listing out the highlights of 2011:

January: Submitted R2 applications for b-sch; Still staffed on project “N”
March: Barcelona with Sam, which was overall a fantastic trip (also made a side trip to Bilbao); Bali trip for DT’s birthday
April: Staffed on project “H” in Jakarta, my first proper travel case; results from R2 apps come back (1-for-3)
May: Provence for the F+J wedding; side visits to London (Ming!) and Paris (Tzelin!)
June: Started on independent luxury fashion consulting project
July: Promoted; 2 weeks of National Service; and then NCT in Montreal; with side trips to NYC (stayed with Ryan!), SF and Hong Kong
August: Staffed on payments case for ~3 weeks; incorporated own company; Puff Puff passes away
September: Office retreat in Phuket; staffed on PE diligence for ~5 weeks, of which I spent 3 weeks in Sydney
October: Staffed on dairy case; submitted 1R application
November: 1 week in Shanghai/Hong Kong
December: Results (1-for-4); 4 days in Tokyo

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I have faith that 2012 will be the best year yet.

Four months since my last post, although it truly feels like years.

Last weekend was my fourth company retreat. We went back to the same tropical resort island as my first offsite in 2007. I even had the same roommate. We were strangers back then, and now have become pretty good friends. We’ve shared many a project experience and merry evening together with family and colleagues. Back in 2007 I spent hours on my costume and left an indelible first impression on the firm.  This year I picked something fun, and pretty easy to pull off – but managed to get the party started, anyway.  Happy clappy memories, as EP might say.

This month is pretty packed. I have to push ahead on four different work and personal projects, with one more already pretty much defunct from neglect. That last part makes me sad. But I understand it’s because I prioritised all my other commitments and interest, and so be it.

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Puff Puff passed away last month, and is still dearly missed.

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September is a month for nostalgia, chapters concluding and new beginnings.

In just over a month I will have been a management consultant for four years.  It’s kind of a shock, and yet anticlimatic.  I will have spent as many years out of college as I spent in college.  I will have made it through four years in an industry I never expected to be in.  Time will tell how I will look back upon these years, I hope I remember a period of growth and happiness.

Unlike last year, I am no longer embarressed to say I’m a management consultant – it’s taken me quite a while to get used to the idea, and be ok with the opportunity cost.

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A few weeks ago, for the first time, I packed a week’s worth of clothes in a wheeled cabin bag.  It was kind of hilarious.  Unlike George Clooney’s smooth-wheeling consultant  in “Up In The Air”, I was a bundle of left feet and uncoordinated wheels.  I tripped over the bag a couple of times, I bumped into other people, I managed to have it fall off a handcart.  Best of all, I managed to forget my bag at the security checkpoint and only remembered just before I boarded the plane.  When I hurried back to get it, the guards were looking suspiciously at the unlabelled bag sitting abandoned on the X-ray machine.

Four years on the job, guess I’m a late-bloomer in this respect.

It’s a week into January 2011.  And I’m shocked to realise I haven’t posted anything in over two months.

It’s been a busy time, these past two months.  Six weeks of November and December were dedicated to UNIFEM and the office Christmas party, that was exhausting.   And also totally worth it.  I wish I had taken photos at both those events, but somehow I didn’t.

The Christmas/New Year’s season was spent focused on applying to business school.  If you’re surprised, I understand completely, given that a year ago I was fairly certain I wouldn’t be applying.  Partly as a result, fashion has been on my mind even more so than usual.

I wish I could have  seen the New Year’s fireworks over the bay.

I really want to go on vacation.  A visit to Bangkok, a trip to Milan/Barcelona, and then also to Mt Kinabalu.  And today I claim full funding for everything, I can’t wait to see it.

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Happy 2011, may it be the best year yet!

Can’t believe it’s been two months since my last post. A lot has happened since then.

There have been good times, but now I’m waiting on the world to change.

Maybe tomorrow?

It’s been a while since I last posted in June, but I felt compelled to record the last two weeks, which have been the BEST TWO WEEKS EVER.  On multiple fronts, too.

- The Dins wrapped up on their highly successful, super fun and wonderfully lucrative tour stop in Singapore

- I got a wonderful room at MBS on National Day despite the hotel having been booked out for months in advance; view of the fireworks was spectacular

- Wrapped on my project and went on two weeks NS reservist training, which is like a long (although tiring) vacation, kind of like going trekking on vacation

- Achieved a good IPPT result despite spraining my ankle just 4 days before and not having a pacer to run the 2.4km run with; had the batallion’s fastest run timing (mainly a negative reflection on the batallion’s fitness, but I’ll happily take the award)

- Helped out with a 5-hour board of directors’ retreat for one of Singapore’s premier performing arts organisations, very cool, and super interesting people/discussions/issues

- Had four consecutive rock star fantasy nights of fabulous parties, great meals, incredible views, fireworks and loads of fun

- Got the best suite yet at MBS, highest floor of rooms (54), views in both directions, obscene oodles of space

- Attended a great PP sermon at NCC

- Had a long, super lucrative streak at MBS

- Survived almost a month of sleeping just 3-4 hours each night, successfully staved off several near-flu episodes

Did I mention?  BEST TWO WEEKS EVER!!!

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And next month I go on vacation to London/Munich/Milan.

Life = more abundantly
Me = thankful and rested

It’s upon us, finally!  The two month long Great Singapore Sale (GSS) season, along with end-of-season sales worldwide.  Hope everyone has been diligently saving up and scouting out their dream purchases!

I probably need to pace myself a bit better…  in just two days my tally is currently:

Etro: 2 dress shirts and a silk sacrf
Prada:  1 structured doctor’s bag and 1 pair of perforated Oxfords

And I’m still patiently waiting for a Marc Jacob’s tote to go on sale, as well as a certain Bottega Veneta clutch.  As I was telling someone yesterday, the trick for designers/labels is to create really special things that move the customer to action – how can you not buy something you find unbelievably gorgeous, iconic and unique?

Same goes for non-clothes too.  I bought this gorgeous LED table lamp from SPACE with a significant mid-year sale discount (which makes it just about the same price as buying it direct from Europe or the US).  If you’ve ever seen the Kelvin LED from Flos, with it’s space-age looks and functionality (magic touch sensor on/off switch!!),  I’m sure you’d be seduced too!

Maybe some pictures will be forthcoming…  we’ll see.

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Work is awesome, I *heart* my current project, it’s so cool!

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Siem Reap was such a beautiful, delicious, inexpensive and satisfying long weekend vacation.  Everyone should go!!

Got back to Singapore on the red-eye from Seoul early on Tuesday morning this week.  That was a pretty fun trip, totally exceeded my not very high expectations.  Actually, all the elements for which I had higher expectations were disappointing, in particular the much-hyped W hotel, where the standard rooms are small and have horrendous decor (Jen’s reaction was “this looks like a cheap motel room!”). Fortunately I managed to switch to a massive suite which was more than satisfactory (the room-size, view and amenities made up for the still-mediocre interior design), and which turned out to be pretty cool, in line with my expectations of this hipster hotel chain.  And a huge plus is the impeccable service.

The other rather disappointing part of the trip was the DMZ tour, which was a little on the dull side, overall.  Don’t get me wrong – I think it is an absolute must-see, must-go for visitors, and it is very thought-provoking, sobering and surreal experience.  Nevertheless, you have to go with the expectation that visitors actually will not get to really see very much, but rather will get to learn about the history of the Korean war/conflict and be forced to ponder the lot of the 20 million North Korean lives on the other side of the border… not to mention their nuclear weapons aimed at the ultra-modern and prosperous South Korean capital city.  Very disturbing and depressing to think about.

The food was fantastic, for those who like Korean cuisine.  Yum yum!

The shopping was pretty great, both high-end and low-end had lower pricing, greater range (Goyard!  H&M! Cool local streetwear!) and better stocking (Fendi furrrr! Prada runway accessories!) than Singapore.  I ended up with loads of cool stuff, my top two highlights being a Etro/Cavalli-inspired, made-in-Italy pair of swim-shorts I found at H&M as well as a Prada perforated leather hat straight off the runway/arty short film that I have searched unsuccessfully for in the US, Europe and elsewhere in Asia.  And I got to claim back the sales tax too!

If you are looking for other worthy tourist activities, see the Nanta show (fantastic!) and also visit the Korean Folk Village at Suwon (totally fun and also pseudo-cultural-educational!).

And of course, it was lovely to see my sister.  (Veeble veeble!)

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The front page of the Straits Times today showed a horrifying photo of the Central World shopping mall in central Bangkok on fire after more violent political clashes.  What a disaster for the country.

Also, I hope the North Korea-allegedy-torpedoed-South-Korean warship incident does not escalate.

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My current project is so cool! 

This has been a good month.

Foremost on the life-is-good list has to be the training trip I took for work to Phuket last week.  Never mind that I had to work all day on Saturday and Sunday on left-over work for my current project, the trip actually managed to exceed my expectations on many fronts.  What a fun time!

This is the global training trip for third years’ and is generally considered to be a fun, five-day reward trip (as opposed to serious training).  It was great to meet loads of new people from across the global system who are all at the same career and life stage, generally.  I had a great team of 6+trainer.  The fun times were /almost/ comparable to college.  I’m excited to see everyone’s photos.

My favorite group were the Russians.  So cool!

I really want to get to do a transfer somewhere outside the region.

After last year’s desultory reading log, I’m continuing to do much better this year, which makes me happy.

I’m about to finish reading The Predator State, by James K Galbraith, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in economics, trade, social policy, political economy, economic development or markets at all.  It’s the kind of paradigm-shifting social science work that I’ve always loved, with both a sweeping perspective across many decades and many countries and yet also a profoundly intimate concern with individuals and communities.

I will admit that I liked the book partly for the fact that Galbraith confirmed my existing intuitions about the world: that the arguments for “free markets” are riddled with theoretical work-arounds, real-world counter-evidence and also fundamentally philosophical and ethical implications that mean society should be far more thoughtful and downright wary of “market solutions”, “free trade” and Libertarianism (particularly for essential and social goods like healthcare, education, utilities, transportation, housing).  Moreover, “The Predator State” also explicitly calls out the problematic nature of big business (i.e., it’s too big and powerful, and being only concerned with short-term profits are almost inevitably predatory and criminal) contrasted against not-big-enough government.

What I especially liked was Galbraith’s insight into the forces that shape the economic world through time and space, like explaining what led to Japan and Germany’s economic strength in export-manufacturing through the 1970s and 1980s and what macroeconomic conditions precipitated the Internet/IT boom in the US through the 1990s.  In an oblique fashion, the sense that larger forces are behind the success of individual companies and countries matches the point of view of The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig (which I finished reading last month), where the “principles of success” of individual companies as studied by the popular business press are downplayed or debunked in light of larger forces including macroeconomic policies (i.e., the effect of ”luck” or “right place at the right time” as opposed to effective management strategy).

Can’t wait to read more, and maybe re-read parts so I properly understand Galbriath’s argument against the obsession with US trade, current account and budget deficits.