It has been 7 years since I last posted on this blog. A lot has happened since then. Key life events are in the following in order:

1. Got back together with my high school sweetheart.

2. Spent a year in London to pursue a masters in Operational Research at the London School of Economics (LSE). Living in London was my primary aim after spending almost 2 years living in New York City. Made a lot of friends here from all over the world.

3. Returned to Malaysia and started work as a management consultant PwC's KL office. A good learning experience in polishing business presentation skills and how to slice and dice problems. Worked with many great people here. Little politics in this organization as colleagues hardly gossiped and kept things professional (this is a reflection after working in the next company). For once I thought I might want to be like the big bosses (the partners) as an ultimate career goal. It was here also I realised that starting my own company might be interesting and possible. Several fellow junior consultants left after a year or so and decide to open their own companies and be their own bosses.

4. Got married in the middle of a crazy project at PwC! Friends from Uni came all the way to Bintulu. Wished I had more time to spend with them.

5. Joined a government investment fund to serve my bond for the scholarship that funded my masters. After 6 days at managing director's office, I was transferred to HR as the person who hired me had moved there by the time I joined. Spent 2.5 years here managing the HR information system including cleaning up the HR data, managed the company's leave application process, got involved in managing the performance management process.

6. Joined the investment holding company of a local agribusiness conglomerate. Followed the person who hired me at the previous company.

9/11

Last Friday, I found out that the company where I used to work in New York had just gone through a second round of layoffs. This time, a former immediate colleague of mine was given the boot. We used to keep in touch constantly right after I left especially during the December CFA days, which we both failed.

During lunch break, sometime last year, we talked about 9/11 and I was surprised to discover a previous work experience of his. He had stints at smaller hedge funds before joining our former company including one at had an office on the 80-something floor of one of the World Trade Center towers. He told me the story how he was slightly late for work on that fateful Tuesday morning. Had he came in earlier, he said he could have been stuck inside the elevator when the airplane struck. He became a witness to a tragedy that included desperate office workers who chose death by jumping off from the buildings instead of death by fire. He was reluctant to talk more about it although I was pressing for details.

Here are some photographs of the WTC site which I had taken from the PATH train station situated right inside Ground Zero. The photos within these photos are lined against the wall of the station. The site continues to evolve. When I was there in December 2003, you could still tell that it was a site of collapsed buildings once. In May 2007, it looked like any other construction site.





I wish JY well in these tough times. Hopefully he'll secure a job somewhere else soon.

Life on the Beach

Was I inspired by Alex Garland's The Beach to leave city-dwelling life? Not exactly.

Here are some of the things that have kept me occupied in life post-New York.


Getting into grad school - admission and now, finding the funding.



Reading.



And unexpectedly, lots of SMS! =)

Marriage

I was visiting my maternal grandparents at the beginning of the month. A friend of my dad's passed away several days before and he left behind a young wife and three children. The eldest being only 10. We were talking about how young his kids are and how they would miss their father. In the midst of the rather sad conversation, my grandmother suddenly quipped "That's why you have to find a wife and get married soon!!". She sounded pretty serious too. To some of you, this may not be amusing but it is to me and my immediate family. My parents never brought up the topic of marriage. My mom was there. She could not help herself but giggled especially on how the topic of conversation swayed. Lost for words, all I could say "Tell that to Apai Amin first".

Apai Amin is the affectionate nickname of my youngest uncle and my grandmother's only unmarried child. About a year ago, he quite confidently told us that he has plans to join the priesthood but now the plan is off. There are rumors going around that he is pretty steady with a girl.

I don't usually put much thought into the topic of marriage and had little urgency to do so. But after looking at the picture of the three little children standing over the father's coffin on that weekend's BorneoPost, I come to realize that there should be a cutoff age for marriage - age x or never! Men's health gets shaky from the mid 50s onwards and you would want to spend some time knowing your children before you leave this world.

Old Bible

I picked up the second hand bible from a used books store in Cleveland during a visit in Spring 2006. It was probably a gift from a mother to her child upon receiving one of the sacraments in 1959.

Personality Test

We approach personality tests with some kinds of expectations, don't we? A little bit cheesy but I like the questions which looks unrelated.

Thanks to Ms. Godsister for putting up her results.

Your view on yourself:
You are down-to-earth and people like you because you are so straightforward. You are an efficient problem solver because you will listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision that usually appeals to both parties.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:
You like serious, smart and determined people. You don't judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren't necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people's eyes.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:
You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:
You are very serious about relationships and aren't interested in wasting time with people you don't really like. If you meet the right person, you will fall deeply and beautifully in love.

Your views on education
Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:
You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don't focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.

How do you view success:
You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

What are you most afraid of:
You are concerned about your image and the way others see you. This means that you try very hard to be accepted by other people. It's time for you to believe in who you are, not what you wear.

Who is your true self:
You are full of energy and confidence. You are unpredictable, with moods changing as quickly as an ocean. You might occasionally be calm and still, but never for long.

State of the Body

I had a blood test at Gribbles last week after 5 years of not having one. Cholesterol and sugar levels are on the high side. Received a terrible scolding from my mom. "Do you understand what it means to have high cholesterol?!" I blame it on reckless lifestyle I had in terms on what I ate. Huge portions and corn syrup in almost every sweet food. KFC and McDonald's were just across the street from the apartment where I lived. There was also this hispanic take out that serves the best roasted pork leg on yellow rice.

Hopefully the current Lenten diet will bring the numbers down.

I took some sort of a urea test together with the blood test for which I had to pee into a little cup with my name on it. The lab technician simply instructed me to do so in the dingy toilet at the back on the lab.

Perhaps it wasn't a drug test but still I was expecting a little more strictness. Before I joined my former exployer for full time, I had to take a drug test just like any new hire. The technician who administered me was a stern-looking African American lady. The toilet was right in the middle of the lab. It was specifically built for collection of urine samples and not for the staff or visitors to take a dump in. She warned me not to wash my hands or flush the toilet before giving her my warm little cup of beer-colored pee. She even turned off the water supply to the toilet.

Actually, I was quite anxious to get the results. Hehe.