Quick catch up.

I live my life in point form. Do you? Doesn't everybody?

• Back at work.

BUT this time it's different because I'm no longer working for someone, I'm working for myself. It's not about being better than your competition, it's about fulfilling your own potential. OK ignore this motivational speaker spiel for a minute... suffice to say it's very liberating.

The world isn't always your oyster, so get out there and make your own oyster!
An old friend and I got together a few months ago and created our own start-up consulting business. I'm getting my mojo back.

• Food.

Like everyone, I've been watching Masterchef. (I'll save those comments for my tweets.)
Made Salt and Pepper squid today-

2 large tubes of squid (butterflied and lightly scored on inside)
5 heaped tablespoons of good tempura flour premix
1 teaspoon of five spice
1 chilli (seeds removed and finely chopped)
4 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
Pepper and salt to taste
Celery leaves for garnish (optional)

In a bowl, mix tempura flour and five spice together and season with pepper only.
Cut squid into 6 x 6cm squares and put them into the bowl and coat well. Set aside.
Heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in wok and fry garlic and chilli until golden brown, adding salt to taste. Set aside.
Add enough vegetable oil for deep frying. Dust off excess flour on squid before adding to wok.
Fry until golden brown.
Add Garlic and chilli salt to fried squid.
Garnish with celery leaves.

• Don't Ask Don't Tell and Jason Akermanis

Whatever happened to giving everyone a fair go? Whatever happened to that egalitarianism that sums up Australia? Where's that laid-back attitude that we're famous for?

Jason Akermanis you could not sink any lower.
Since when has it ever been good for anyone to burden themselves and their loved ones by staying in the closet? His AFL career is ending and it will end on this sour note.

Me, I've always put gay men on a pedestal.

Have you ever lied on your CV?

What's the biggest lie you've ever seen on someone's CV?
Big-ass, hairy, great lies. Lies so big you can't see the forest for the trees.

Scenario: Malaysia, mid 90's


I was lucky (read family connections) as an intern to land myself in the midst of mega project teams (this was during the Mahathir era) in big name firms.

I knew an expatriate (who flocked to Malaysia, just like they're flocking to Dubai these days) A, in one of these firms. His CV is online (email me for his URL), proudly displayed in macromedia flash- some highlights below:

• He says he has worked in those megaproject teams that I was in. WTF? He was in the same building, yes but not on the same team! (Email me for his URL)
  
• In his flashy portfolio of works, A claims to have worked with an American firm known for resorts, a famous international Australian firm- he even got the name wrong. (I later ended up working there and NOBODY has heard of him. Email me for his URL)
• Here's the BEST one: he went to grad school at an IVY LEAGUE college in the States!!!! OMG, totally priceless! RFOL!! I heard he was working for someone I know (NOT IN THE STATES) during the time he supposedly went to grad school in the states. (Email me for his URL)
  
• His one man band "International business network"..... !!! I'm SURE I'm not the only one who finds this absolutely hilarious....(Email me for his URL)

Listen, A: You're in your mid 40's but you can still do with learning a few life lessons. The industry here in Australia is pretty small. People basically already know you and your bosses. You'll know that they know you're lying if your phone isn't ringing. Sit there and digest that in your rented condo with your family in tow.

Now, as a Management Consultant (VERY part time these days). I proudly leave my INSEAD transcript in my CV, but no one's interested in looking at it, really. They're more interested in 3 rounds of interviews and a psychometric test.
All I have I experience with one M&A situation.
I LOVED every second of it it gives me goosebumps, but I can't put that on my CV.

Interpret my dream? Please?

Hello. Its been a while since an angsty post.

I woke up this morning from a disturbing ex-boyfriend dream thanks to Facebook.
Facebook is a funny little old social networking phenomenon that we could do without. But we won't for some deep, dark, ugly reason. (Not something I find as practical as Twitter.)

The facebook facts: I know that this ex, a baby faced older man (no, not the divorced one) is now quite a success. His businesses are now set up in a few countries- two in Southeast Asia and one here in Australia. Thanks to curiousity and the internet, I read a few articles written about him. Looks like he moved here in the last few years and set up an office here and has a good project pipeline.

Why does he have to come here? AND WHY did I have to dream that I met up with him again? And where was my husband and baby in that dream?

The juidicial system in Malaysia through a theoretical framework. And some free consulting.

Quickie blog:


And now folks, let's look at justice (and its decay) in Malaysia through Kohlberg's (1958) Stages of Moral Reasoning. Laurence Kohlberg was a psychologist who charted stages of the development of moral reasoning from childhood to adulthood. There are six stages in all, each two stages belong in 3 levels.
Aw, why not? It's hella *FUN*FUN*FUN*. Not that I'm hoping to make a difference at all by writing this- I have neither the grandiose ego nor the audacity of hope nor the illusion that real life=cyberspace.

Level 1 (Pre-Conventional behaviours exhibited by children and some adults)
1. Crime and punishment (cause and effect)- Malaysian police sure puts the fear of God in you. When you were a kid, didn't your nanny always threaten you with "Nanti polis tangkap, baru tau!" Every day smart young Malaysian boys and gals in the workforce keep their heads down and try not to do anything that would upset Big Brother. Be naughty and you get spanked.
2. Selfishness (what's in it for me?)- "Eat this spinach and mommy will give you a big ice cream!" Money(bribery) can do anything in Malaysia. Even make independent politicians jump ship to Barisan National. Think of a spectrum: Indonesia on one end and Singapore on the other. Is Malaysia nearer to Indonesia?

Level 2 (Conventional behaviours exhibited by teens and some adults)
3. Interpersonal accord and conformity (Peer pressure)- Keeping up with the Joneses. OH BOY Malaysia Boleh is all about this, no? The INTERNATIONALLY(not. Oh wait I forgot- the international anything is inconsequential, right?) successful Proton Saga, getting the 1st Malaysian in space and blah blah blah ad nauseam.
4. Authority and social-order maintaining (Morality, religion)- When you were a teenager in KL, were you not afraid of those Imams on motorbikes catching you in the act? Who the fuck made them the police? The juidicial system in Malaysia really is split between the good guys and the bad guys (See Lingam tapes), huh? Oh and another thing: I will go to hell, but I say keep the Syariah law out of Malaysia.

Level 3 (Post-Conventional- Adults)
5. Social contract-(Laws are there to serve society and in turn, society is shapes those laws through a democratic process.) When the laws no longer serve the people, they should be changed. IT'S VERY SIMPLE, REALLY. Look. People speak. Government listen (they should, anyway). BUT Malaysia is still fucking married to the ISA and the NEP. Jean Jacques Rosseau himself preferred direct democracy and not representative democracy.
6. Universal ethical principles (Principled conscience)- Lots of Malaysians have this innate sense of right and wrong. Just take a look at blogs, which are basically written thoughts, not actions. BUT it is surpressed by fear of crime and punishment and by rewards, both Level 1 pre-conventional stages of morality that children have.
Conclusion: The government treats the Malaysian people like children. It is a supreme insult to your intelligence. Wanna live a lie? Go on and pretend to be kids, then complain secretly.

Malaysia fixed its own problems during the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 90's when they took control of UEM ( then the parent company of PLUS, now known as the UEM Group) who, in their infinite wisdom, had become buried in debt. So there were no toll hikes to cover their arses. Big Brother played the hero and absorbed the cost, saving the rakyat. Waaaah. My heeerrrooo. Pre-Conventional Morality wins the voters. That was smart voting, eh? Sell your soul for the cost of a few hundred dollars a year.

When an MP is on the campaign trail in their constituencies, we all know that their promises and their values alter themselves to appeal to those whose votes they are after (eg. they may change when addressing religious leaders in a mosque and the chinese chamber of commerce). It's either "dumbed down" OR one that is incites the fires of righteousness (think "Ketuanan Melayu").

This is all very well IF you know who your friends and enemies are. Know the people who vote for you. Malaysia allows voter profiling- eg. how many malay/chinese/ indian/ iban etc. voted for whom and where they come from. Oh bravo good show old chap, how very liberal of you. Well done and all that. pat yourself on the back etc. etc.

Recommendation: Now how about including more socio-economic data such as income level, profession, age group. It is outdated to assume people vote by the categories of race.

Recommendation: In certain constituencies where only 60% of registered voters bother to vote for you, think of the 40% who do not turn up. Who are they? How do you reach them? Think Blue Ocean Strategy and new markets. (merci pour le lavage de cerveau, INSEAD... heh) Visit venues and support causes which you have never supported before, find other marketing channels - "pull" systems such as a web page with a diary or portal for your services as an MP. This is NOT new, but old MPs must restrategize and re-think their rules of engagement.

Recommendation: Anyone who has voted in Malaysia before knows that registering to vote is a pain in the arse. All the red tape is a hassle, too. So how about looking at streamlining the voting process? While we're at it, how about making voting compulsory and slapping those people who don't vote with a big fat fine?

Any consultant worth their salt *AHEM* will hit you (usually a company whose P&L/ balance sheet sucks or employee turnover is high) with a six figure bill after making those recommendations. But here you go it's FREE- the kind Malaysians like.

Facebook's "25 things about me" Meme

I've been inspired by the utterly amazing GirlJapan to do a raw, cathartic meme based on Facebook's 25 random things. I've already done this meme on facebook under my REAL name, and I only gave answers that were expected of me. (the facade that I hide behind.)

So here's my REAL meme- in all its gut wrenching honesty. (Er, some have already been covered by past posts in this blog)

1. My husband has no idea that I have a blog. Nobody in my life knows.
   
2. I honestly believe that I've engineered every aspect of my life so far. I don't know what I would do if one day, something went wrong, as things do in life....I'd probably fall apart. Run away.
3. I would have a pretty perfect life if I had chosen to live in Malaysia, I'd be able to rely on family connections (family's NGO) and government contracts and get rich double quick. BUT we prefer to live in a country where we are all, by law, equal. We chose to make our own careers here in Australia and we have done pretty well, too. BUT we also have money from our families in Malaysia, so we're able to afford nice cars and homes in Sydney. Oh the hypocrisy.....
4. I chose to live in Australia sometime when I was doing my university degree here. because I didn't want to live in a country (Malaysia) that was falling apart.
5. I moved away for two years to pursue my MBA when I had to face that my marriage was in trouble.
6. I had no life and studied furiously for 2 years in Singapore and Fontainebleau. They say an MBA is life-changing and it is. I hardly called my husband, family or friends while I was away. I kept up a facade for him when he visited. He threw himself into his work and I, my studies- I just did not want to be married at that time. Implicitly, between us, I've never mentioned the question of cheating and neither has he. I wonder why we don't talk about it.
7. After my MBA, I had to come back and face that I had all but abandoned. I had a baby to save my marriage and put off the fact that I had to decide where to go in my career. I know this is so wrong, but when I see my baby daughter's smile, I'm happy I did it. Do mistakes turn out this well? Ever?
8. In my 20's, in Malaysia, I had relationships with married men whom I met when I was doing an internship as a junior architect and through friends of friends. All of them were powerful, attractive older men. Three in total. I had those relationships because I was hell bent on getting revenge on all cheating men because I was angry that I was cheated on. And guess how I ended two of those relationships? I made sure their wives found out about us. I didn't want them, I just wanted them to suffer because they cheated. That's pretty twisted, huh? I WAS pretty twisted.
9. I have recently taken to hiding my husband's Blackberry. He sleeps with it under his pillow most nights. That thing bugs me for reasons I cannot fathom. When he's in la-la land, I bring it outside and put it in a drawer or in a toilet or kitchen. Shhh.
10. I am staying home to raise my daughter indefinitely- I may return to work when she's old enough to go to school. To me, it's an education in itself. I'm learning so many things- learning to let go of my need to control everything. She's changing me.
11. I really have no idea how to be a mother. I was raised by nannies who were supervised by my mother. I had no idea what real hands-on mothers do. I didn't know how to breastfeed because my mother did not breastfeed me. Nobody taught me these things and I never experienced any of it.
12. Doing this meme has taken a lot out of me. It IS gut wrenching. I feel exhausted and need to sleep.
13. I have no male friends who aren't gay or in the closet. I don't know why. My best friend found his soul mate and lately I only see him (together with his boyfriend) once in a few months. I'll blog about his "wedding" (commitment ceremony is what it was) soon.
    
14. I had lots of female friends many of whom I lost when I cut off contact with friends during the 2 years I was away on MBA hiatus (or my holiday away from my own life). I'm reconnecting with a few of them. I miss them so much, I know it was my fault.
15. I do an insane amount of pilates and yoga. Anywhere, anytime I can fit it in. In fact, I'm doing them now while I type on my laptop. Sometimes I think that it's normal. Sometimes I think it's not.
    
16. I'm fearful of the world that my daughter will grow up in. Being a woman hasn't been the easiest thing on the face of the earth. My heart aches when I think about all she has to face. I hope to raise her to be a person who is well-equipped to face those obstacles. The most important thing you'll need in life as a woman, in my opinion, is to know who you are and to love yourself.
    
17. I've been doing my research about food and trying to practice what I've learned. I've found that I have a bias towards Japanese home cooking. Not the haute cuisine you get from places like Tetsuya's, but more like what a Japanese family will eat everyday at home. Everything is so precise and calculated. I love that!
18. I don't like designer bags at all, but I love designer shoes/boots/sandals/heels.
19. My IQ is 135. Fat lot of good it did me when I was doing my bachelors degree in architecture. Never stopped me from failing a subject or two. ;) Never stopped me from getting involved with the wrong guy. Never helped me work in a team. Whatever.
    
20. I really enjoy reading anything by a good writer.
21. When we were on the JR Yamanote line at around 5pm from Marunouchi station, my husband's ass was groped somewhere around Shibuya station. Pervs left the okaasan (me) who was holding her baby alone. Was there some mistake? I'm secretly jealous of my husband... XD
23. I cry so easily now that I've become a mother. And it's OK to cry, too- it's an emotion, not a sign of weakness. I KNOW that and I'm OK with that, but I don't live in a bubble- there are people around me.
    
24. Sometimes I avoid reading Malaysian news. Why? It's frustrating. Nothing changes. Bloggers (including me) will blog it to death, and life goes on. So what?
    
25. Having an evening walk around the neighbourhood on a quiet weekday is something I love to do. I'll be sad to leave this place by the water.
    

1 week in Singapore and one sad bitch.

Our wee little family took a break from life in Sydney to head for Singapore for a week. My husband was more than happy to take time off, because things are kinda quiet in the world of investment banking at the moment. We returned to crazy weather in the last few weeks. There was a hailstorm waiting for us when we got back, with snow falling just outside Sydney. This is late October, y'all! I've never seen this after nearly 2 decades in Australia.
We stayed at Orchard Road, we were able to spend some alone time shopping because we had a nanny come along with us for the trip.

This is my first time back since my time at INSEAD. It was a little bittersweet, seeing the place I spent as a virtual hermit, pursuing knowledge and higher learning- whilst forgetting all and everyone else in my life. (YES! I kid you not, I went weeks and weeks without waxing!!!)


Pics: Most of Orchard Road under renovation and runway rehearsal at Paragon, Orchard Road




Pics: View from the Qantas lounge at Sydney Airport and its interior.

Look at me now. A full time wife and mother with an unused MBA. I don't feel this burning need to go into the workforce just so that I can have a career. I feel secure enough about my intellect, my ability, my experience and my value.

I spoke to a woman, "L", who is married to one of my husband's relatives (whom I also know because he is an Interior Designer) recently. "L" was a successful photographer before she turned to IVF to get pregnant. She is in her 40's, her son is now 5. She is now back in the workforce but as a marketing consultant for a tile company. In her words "Thank God I am working, I would go crazy babysitting all day." WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS WOMAN? It's not "babysitting" when it's your own kids, you sad bitch! So I told her exactly that- minus the sad bitch part. A "marketing executive"- I know what you are exactly, "L", because I used to be those architects that you salesgirls in mini skirts go to so that you can sell tiles/toilets/carpets/or/whatever/the/fuck/it/is/you/need/to/get/your/sales/quota to. But I think she knows what I think of her. Similarly, lots of other asian friends/older women think like this too.

I'd like to know what other SAHM have to say about women who want to be out in the workforce just so that they can be at work (it's not because of the money, and it doesn't matter what work they do, they just want to be at work) because being a SAHM is boring and brainless work.

How much is your so-called "career" worth, you sad bitches? Are any of you actually earning enough to justify the time away from your kids? Are any of you actually in managerial positions?

On MBA hiatus

I really want to finish this more than anything else in my life right now.
This ain't your run of the mill business school MBA. 

And it ain't no twinning distance program whore-university MBA, so I want to do it justice.
I fear mediocrity more than I fear death....................

post from work

I am a media tart.
Helloooo 7 o'clock news, hellooo politicians!
Can't reveal too much more. ;P
JUST HAD TO POST.

Fry day

Some bits and pieces throughout the week:

I was headhunted by an american firm. They are trying to rope me in as a project manager. Totally unrelated to architecture. I'll go for the interview next week and see how it goes.
OoooooooOOOoooo.

Remember "H"? I blogged about this particular friend here and here.
Well, she finally spoke to me. It was cordial. I guess the frienship will never be the same again.
I don't like being around people who give out negative vibes for too long. Does that sound too hippie-ish? Well, kiss my flowerpower ass.

Revenge of The Sith rocked my world.
OK, yes I was there with my best friend, "Will", amidst the people who wore their Darth Vader masks throughout the movie.
I don't look anything like your average Science Fiction fan. Not even close.
But a sci-fi fan I am. (Yoda-speak)
I have ALL of Frank Herbert's Dune books and their offshoots.

My wanker banker husband is currently in the Hong Kong office of the first tier BigAssGlobalMerchantBank (definitely no names) he works in. We spoke on the phone earlier this week. He hates being there in that city, but since he was promoted, he feels the pressure to live up to those new expectations. We are SO alike when it comes to ambition.

Phantom self

Isn't it funny how work piles up while you're away working?
It's as if your workload suddenly doubles. As long as your desk is there, you're there.
Curse all this this correspondence.

Australia, the highest taxing country in the world

As I was having my morning coffee this friday morning with my husband- we watched Sunrise on TV. The usual light morning banter of the hosts and the regular politicians Kevin Rudd and Joe Hockey is standard breakfast TV fare, but this morning the subject was taxes.

OooooooOOOOoooooo. We choked on our coffee and put down the paper and listened and yelled profanity at the politician who looks like a used car salesman, Joe Hockey for saying that "We have to collect taxes if you want free healthcare, education....."

"FREE????? Free??????? Don't tell me he said FREEEE??" Hubby had to restrain me.

FREE healthcare? Noooo. I don't think so. The amount of money you can claim back from an average doctor's visit is set at AUD$20. That will cover half of the bill. You're not allowed to claim for medicine unless ONE item exceeds AUD$25. And on top of that, if your income exceeds a certain threshold, you are slugged with a levy when tax time comes.

FREE education? Nooooo. I don't think so. These days, the average Australian university student has to shell out more and more to pay for their education. I have said my piece on this piece in my last blog entry.

Everyone I know votes Labor. I vote Labor.
Why the hell is that little snivelling lying rat John Howard and his Liberal cronies still in power?

My theory is that there is no Labor leader charismatic enough for the job.
Bob Hawke was the most popular PM of all time.
He held a record in his old university for drinking the most beer in the shortest amount of time. When Australia won the America's Cup, he was absolutely pissed off his face when he announced on national TV, "Anyone who sacks a bloke because he doesn't turn up for work today is a bum".
Interest rates went up as high as 17% while he was PM. Believe it!

These days, we're not so easily convinced.
We need an articulate, intelligent, rational man to lead this very naive country.
I think Kevin Rudd is one of the best men for the job. He is compelling, he rarely makes excuses, he does never patronises voters or Australia's Asian neighbours . He spent many years working as a diplomat in Beijing, where he learned to speak mandarin.
Bob Carr, the Premier of New South Wales, is an amazing leader. He is very Asian in his approach to business. And how I'd best describe him is that he is a man after my own heart- pure capitalist scum. He is married to a Malaysian chindian woman.

WHY am I going on and on about the Australian economy and its relations with Asia these past few weeks?
It's to do with an International Trade assignment. My husband did the same unit when he was doing his undergraduate degree. Pfffah. Should be a breeze, but I'm really getting my teeth into the topic, so excuse my ranting ass.

The Tall Poppy Syndrome and Australian Malaysians.

*Implosion gets on soapbox*
Parochial. That word has been used many times to describe Australians.
Australian society is very egalitarian by nature- very working class, perhaps due to its convict roots.
There is the very common and popular notion of “having a fair go”. Italians, Greeks, Chinese, Japanese, Indian etc. immigrants come to this country in the hope that they would all get an opportunity to get a slice of the pie.
And here, The Tall Poppy Syndrome is everywhere..... there is a prevalent attitude that "the goverment will take care of us": your pension, your healthcare, your unemployment benefits. Enter the immigrants, who are used to working hard for their money, who are quite er, more business savvy and better at saving money. Of course they're gonna get ahead.
And lots of people are unhappy.
So we asians know to tread carefully amidst their insecurity.
But business goes on as usual, Asians are also literally buying over Australia.

• Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok owns a controlling share in Newscorp, Rupert Murdoch's listed company with one of the most expensive share prices in the Australian stock exchange.
• The Malaysian Sunway Group Wonderland theme park.
• Singapore's property giant, Capitaland owns Australand.
• Singapore government's extremely rich GIC owns those Sydney icons, The Queen Victoria Building and Galleries Victoria. They also own the hotel component of No. 1 Martin Place.
• Singtel owns Optus (2nd largest telecom company in Australia). Optus is the 2nd largest because the 1st largest, Telstra, is not fully privatised yet!

Your average Australian finance guy in a 2nd or 3rd tier bank like Westpac would not know this. Not unless he was Macquarie Bank or Deustche Bank material.
And I'm only mentioning a FEW companies and ONLY Sydney properties.

AND I'm only mentioning Malaysian and Singaporean companies, too.

How do you think Australians would react to a company that was asian run and obviously asian owned? If I were an asian investor looking to make $$$ here in Australia, I would set up my company structure in such a way that it has a local CEO and a local board of directors. That is the business model that would work over here.
Do things the Australian way, and make all the damned $$$ I can.
(damn I'm capitalist scum)

So you see, accepting Asian money is not hard for the Australian government.
They'll take in Asian money when this tiny cinderella economy needs it.
Did you know Australia's foreign debt is now AUD$422 billion?

However, accepting Asian immigrants is really really hard for them.
The Migration laws in Australia have toughened up a whole lot since the 80’s. You have to be in a profession that the Australian government considers useful to the economy. You have also had to have graduated from an Australian tertiary institution. In as much as there has been a brain drain in Malaysia, there is a brain drain in Australia, too. Young Aussies leave for the UK and the USA all the bloody time.

They do it all the time in their whore universities who accept asian students without an acceptable command of english, who therefore write essays in gibberish, as long as they pay the full fee, which is much higher than what the Australian students have to pay. Although, in all fairness I have to say that the Howard government has been closing that gap between Australian students’ and International students’ university fees. The evidence is in the annual riots mostly by Australian students, of course, that ensue after EVERY year’s announcement that the universities are raising the fees. So, they vent. They burn their papier-mache John Howards. They get on the 7 o’clock news. They get arrested.
Ho-hum. Life goes on. The fees get higher.
They pay their fees. They owe money.
BUT they still spend big to upkeep their precious lifestyle. Gotta have that beer, gotta have that V8, gotta have that Australian dream that they all have a right to......

Although, overall, this country has been good to me in terms of friends, my career, etc.
But that's because I have to walk the walk and talk the talk, you know what I mean?
(I can drink beer like a fish. I have a lewd sense of humour.)
You have to if you want to get ahead over here.
Am I a sell out? Am I a loser? I don't think so.
I am zooming far, far ahead in the career stakes compared to those who don't want to drink with the directors, those who don't share the slang or get the same types of jokes.

So what has this got to do with Malaysia?
Malaysians are always complaining about the system.
All I'm saying is that the system is there. Make it work for you.
*Implosion steps down from soapbox*

Ahem. Thank you.

Back again, y'all!

My company sent me over to Singapore for a few weekdays and a weekend. I managed to spend two days and one night in the family home in "the hilly affluent suburb of KL", but I want to cover that in another post.

While in Singapore, I caught up with our counterpart architects on a project that isn't exactly mine, it's designed by the master of steel structures in our office, "R". And no, he's NOT our big celebrity architect boss.

In fact, "R" isn't even an RAIA registered architect. He's been with the company for more than 10 years. From the looks of him, he's in his early to mid forties and he has a razor sharp mind, wit and tongue. According to my spies (yes, architecture offices are also stages for espionage), his annual salary is only 10K more than mine. I've only been in this company for 5 years.


"R" believes in the lofty ideals of architecture. He designs like he means it. I believe in it as a business- I know exactly how many townhouses to put on a site in Sydney to yield a profit that will bring a smug smile to a client's face. I make the $$$. I'm nowhere near his talents and his eloquence in architectural expression.

Here's the twist: "R" has resigned.
I returned from my trip on Tuesday morning and heard about this.
I haven't yet formed my angle on it. That's how shocked I (still) am.

It's Saturday night and I have a group meeting tomorrow. I am reading up like crazy or Organisational Behaviour, but none of it is going in.
MBA commitments are a drag.

I'm going to take a break and watch the Iron Chef on SBS.

Just a lighthearted post for once.

Thank God it's Friday, eh? Eh?

Hubby and his wanker banker colleagues are having drinks with the regional head of corporate banking division who has flown in to Sydney from Hong Kong this week. So here I am, alone at home at 7.30pm on a friday night, typing away on my laptop. Everyone else I know is out having drinks. SIGH.

OK, OK- I've already stated that this was going to be a lighthearted post.
And it WILL be, dammit!

Today, I was given a Masterplan that another architecture firm had designed- The client approached us and basically asked us to "tweak" it. The client is confident we can do a better job. Our reputation is in our Renzo Pianoism. So, I'm travelling to our Melbourne office in three weeks' time to participate in a presentation together with the director from our Melbourne office.

That's fabulous news. I love that snobby city. All things cultured and arty farty just LIVES in that city. I notice that more than a few prominent Malaysians spent their tertiary education years there, thanks to the Colombo plan. And I've met them too, in many a conference and many an international airport. (Yeah YOU people- you know who you are- who kiss my arse in front of my face because you know who my father is and who I work for and then stare daggers in my back for being the only *ahem* attractive *ahem* young asian woman amongst older white men.)

What are my plans this weekend? Oh, I dunno......
I'm going to chill and catch up with my assignments. I am way behind in my MBA units. Someone like me, who never studied a business unit in her whole life, is now, at 31, finally doing first year Bachelor of Commerce units like Accounting, Legal Framework of Business, Macroeconomics and Organisational Behaviour- which are the core units for any MBA degree.
Thank God for my husband, who is a finance whiz. (He's asian. He's got the natural talent with numbers. He deserves some nookie this weekend for helping his wife!)

You've come a long way, baby

I had a staff review on Thursday last week. Just when I returned from a business trip with one of our directors to my least favourite city in China.
OH GREAT- after dealing with demanding clients, now this.
The last review I had was in 2002....
There I was, face to face with one of the directors in our Sydney office.
I was positive about the whole thing and my growth in the company- heh.
When you're positive, it makes other people positive too.

The BIG BOSS doesn't actually do reviews. He's famous, he's an international architect, his name is revered and university students study his works as one of the greatest post modern architects of all time. NEVERMIND that he likes me, thinks I have balls and never gives me the same type of savage thrashing he reserves for designers whom he wants to put in their place, I have to earn the respect of the Managing Director of our Sydney office. And that equals making money, money money.......

It's sobering when you put a dollar sign to how much you make for the company. And I gotta say, last year, I made more money for the company than the raise they're giving me. I guess I should count myself lucky still- I get to travel, I get to work on a variety of projects from high rise high density residential to low density golf course resorts. I get to work on international projects which make it into architecture magazines. I will forever carry the name of this master architect on my resume. My future is pretty much set in architecture.

BUT the director did an about-turn when I mentioned my MBA.
Boy, did I regret mentioning a friend of mine who has since left our office for six figure per annum salary after her MBA.

MBA = seeya later, losers

Nah, I said. What I'm gonna do with that is I'm going to run one of your asian offices for you. Two more years at the most. I already pull in loads of contacts because I come from a country that says "It ain't what you know, it's WHO you know."

The country that tries to lure people like me and my CFA investment analyst husband back in their fold.

*LAUGHS FOR AN INORDINATE AMOUNT OF TIME THEN GIVES THE MIDDLE FINGER TO THE MERE THOUGHT OF FALLING FOR THAT BULLSHIT*

Attack of the Little Men from Planet Petty

Welcome to my neurosis
(e.g: The thing that's bugging me today)

Anyone who gripes about work to me just bores me.

Nobody is going to read my blog in its stages of infancy, so here we go:
There are a handful of people at work who have been there for, oh let's say: an average of 10 years between them. They're not directors or associates, none of them hold any particular amazing position at work.

They're the people who treat office politics like the be all and end all of their life. They scheme for pettiest things like the best seat in the open plan office. They're the ones who make sarcastic comments out loud. They're the ones who take other people out to lunch and asks them what they've heard A say about B behind their back. They plot and scheme to get the tall poppies fired. They all talk behind each others' backs. They all hate each other but they hang around together and squabble.



They won't leave their mediocre positions because they've been there too long, they're too scared of what's outside.
They're insecure because they've been sidelined and bypassed for promotion by people who have been there for much less time than they.
They pick people whom they think are weaker to build their little empire.

They'll be bitter to the very end.
Watch your back, because they live in EVERY work place all round the world.