HK in 3 days 2 nights

I was back in HK for a 3-day business trip which turned out to be more of a shopping and feasting trip for me. Having been away for more than 6 months due to pregnancy and maternity leave, most of my "supplies" have run out and I need to replenish them. With the extremely low HKD and summer sale, it was extremely difficult to resist shopping and feasting!

On the first day, we had sushi at Sen Ryo, one of the finest conveyor-belt sushi in HK. 4 of us stuffed ourselves crazy on uni, botan ebi, negi-toro, amaebi & kani miso, salmon, scallops, etc. and the total bill came out to be just HK$900+ which was like less than S$150! Then I went shopping for my skincare supplies at Laneige, bought a new fragrance from Benefit and then went to meet Wing and his wife for desserts.

On day 2, my IT team and I had a lunch meeting with one of my supplier and he booked a Michelin ranked restaurant at Harbour City! It was a semi-buffet featuring "east meet west" cuisine and it was sumptuous! More shopping after work where I bought 2 pairs of shoes, coffee capsules for my coffee machine, supplements and tonic soup packs for mum. Then at night, I had another dinner date with several ex-colleagues who filled me in on some gossips.

Met up with "old man" on day 3 for lunch and showed him photos of baby J. He was all smiles when he looked at baby J's photos on the iPad and I wanted to give him a hug. He's more like a father to me than my real father who doesn't seem to be keen on meeting up with me at all...I have been worrying for the past couple of years that I may not be informed when something happens to "old man". He is afterall 70+ now...I guess he was thinking the same as he said that he regretted for not introducing his 2 children to us when we were still living in HK. I told him to arrange a meeting another time and I hope that by the end of this year, we will get to be properly introduced...

4 weeks on...

4th week back at work and I am more or less getting used to the routine, although waking up in the morning is still a struggle...I am still breast-feeding and baby J wakes up several times at night...Hubby has resorted to sleeping on the floor so that baby J and I can have the whole bed to ourselves. I feel kind of bad...since baby J's arrival, I am so overwhelmed by the motherly love that I am experiencing, I think I am neglecting my hubby. Initially, I had planned to just breast-feed for 3 months then go for a romantic holiday with hubby and get back in shape as soon as possible and quickly go back to my "normal" life. However, baby J is 4 months 3 weeks old now and I am still terribly stuck on him! Other than signing up with Contour Express for workouts in attempt to loose weight, I have not done any of those things that I have planned!

Post-pregnancy and post-confinement, I am still weighing at a massive 62.5kg and the worst thing is I am loosing a lot of hair! It's worrying to see so much hair fall out every time I shampoo and the top of my head getting quite scanty...Why must women suffer such consequences for bringing a precious life into this world? I think it is unfair! If only women can become healthier, slimmer and prettier in terms of better skin and more luscious hair for having babies!

Evaluation and Promotion

Had a meeting in the morning with the Admin Director regarding the evaluation of my staff for the annual increment and promotion exercise. She mentioned that I have not evaluated my staff according to the company's guideline and told me to re-evaluate them.

According to the guideline, I can only evaluate 5% A, 25% B+, 55% B, 10% B-and 5% C out of the 27 staff that I have. So that is to say, I can only have 1 grade A staff, 7 grade B+ staff, 15 grade B staff, 3 grade B- staff and 1 grade C staff! I asked what is this guideline based on and she said it's the company's policy and I will need to pick and choose among my staff the ones that really deserve A and B+ gradings...But what if I really 40% of my staff are above average and should be graded B+ according to performance? What if I really do not have any grade C worker? I think this guideline is really stupid. And apparently, double promotion is not recommended and neither should a staff be promoted yearly. A staff have to wait at least 2 years before his/her next promotion! How do we as department heads motivate our staff to perform? Most of the long-service staff knows about this policy and since the company do not terminate staff as well, most of the staff are just going through the motion at work. As long as they come to work on time and don't mess up their duties, they can be sure that they will be given the company's average yearly increment until the day they retire.

I have worked in this company for more than 9 years now but lucky for me, my promotions were not decided by this Admin Director. I have a boss whom I report directly in HQ and I made it to AGM in 3 years...but then again, I got this promotion because I was offered a job at another company and I resigned! So they retained me, seconded me to HK, made me the AGM of IT and Logsitics and of course doubled my salary. I did well in HK and if not for baby J and other family commitments, I don't think I would come back. I think hubby is thinking the same, especially now that he's lack of luck in his job search...

Back at work...

My 16 weeks of maternity leave have officially come to an end and I am back at work from last week. I am not unhappy about going back to work but I miss my baby...being with him 24/7 for the past 16 weeks and breast-feeding have made me a sucker for my baby. How I wish that I can stay home longer with my baby! Before baby J arrived, I was telling myself that I would only spend 3 months fully attending to him and then take the last 2~3 weeks to go for a holiday to rejuvenate myself and that I would wean him off after 3 months...However, I am still breast-feeding up till today and I even try to sneak home during lunch time to feed him!

Back at work, the first task that is presented to me is staff appraisal as well as appraising myself. I have to think of what I have achieved in the past year and give my boss reasons to appraise me better and perhaps promote me? I have afterall held this AGM title for the past 6 years with no GM above me...so I guess it's high time they change my title to GM? To be honest, title is not that important unless I am looking for another job and having the GM title in my CV will probably boost my next salary. Will I start looking for another job? Hmmm...I don't think so...unless I want to look for more challenge and more work that will need me to apply what I have learnt in my MBA course to my work. In this present company, I don't really have a chance to do apply what I have studied and my boss doesn't really care if I have MBA or not...which is kind of sad...

Hubby has started seriously looking for a job about a month or more ago and has yet to receive any offers which is quite demoralizing for him. Initially he had wanted to take a half year break, keep me company during my maternity leave, spend time with baby, watch him grow...Then now that I am back at work and he is still not employed sort of hurt his ego and he is beginning to doubt his decisions...thinking that he should have gone for a MBA instead of a MSc in IT Management. I understand his frustrations but am helpless as to how I can help. I can only try to encourage him and cheer him up. I believe that there are timings for everything and maybe it's just not the right time yet. The right job, the right package will come by eventually...Then his life will be perfect. It is now just 1 step away from perfect although it is a big step...

Baby J is 11 weeks old

My baby is 11 weeks old now and we are more or less settled into a daily routine where we will both start the day at 11am with me giving him a bath and then put him at his swing by the window while I grab myself a cup of coffee and some breakfast of mainly bread with pork floss or nutella. I will also read the papers briefly and also check my emails on my iPhone while I eat. By this time, baby J will already be making noise for attention and grandpa will entertain him while I finish up my breakfast, do the laundry, feed the dogs their vitamins, go to toilet, clean myself up and put on some makeup, etc...By 12:30pm, baby J and I will head up to grandma's place. At grandma's, I will have a light lunch of mainly bee hoon soup and some fruits while grandma plays with baby. Then it will be time for feeding and putting baby down for his afternoon nap...Then I will be free to do whatever, which is nothing much as I probably have only an hour...the rest of the afternoon is spent playing with baby J and attending to his needs.

This is the 11th week of my maternity leave and I really have not done much. Other than taking care of baby J, I am trying to watch my daily calories intake and exercise a little to help myself loose weight faster, I still have about 8 to 10 kgs more to loose before I consider myself back in my desired shape. I doubt I can loose all of that weight in the next 5 weeks when I am due to go back to work though...I am also worried about loosing hair as baby J approaches 3 months old which is common...

Will be going out with the girls and watching Wakin's concert at the indoor stadium this Saturday. It's a much looked forward break away from baby J for me and hopefully he will not make too much of a fuss for his grandpa and daddy...

Love is His Form

Went to the memorial service for Bhagawan Sri Sathay Sai Baba at the convention center of Singapore Polytechnic on May Day and paid my last respects to my beloved Baba. He has blessed and given me so much these past 12 years since I met Him that I really could not hold back my tears at the service. I know that He is omnipresent and although He has left His human form, He is still lives in our hearts and we should continue to live our lives as He has taught us. I don't really know why I always cry when I see Him, whether in person or in photo, I will always cry...I cry even thinking of Him...I remember when I first see Him in India, I just broke down and cry! And when I got the chance to actually meet Him in an interview, I cried even more! He told me that I have a monkey mind, very unstable, sometimes high and sometimes low, and He shook his head...then He said He will bless me...and He said "very happy"! I knelt down and kissed his feet, I wanted Him to forgive all my sins, that was what the other devotees were telling me...that if I have a chance to kiss His feet, that means I will be forgiven. So, I guess I have been forgiven...

The service was more of a tribute to Baba, they showed a documentary video of Baba's works which was really inspiring. It inspired hubby and he said that he would like to do some volunteer works. He is checking out what he can do. As for myself, I am trying to live my life with love everyday as what Baba has taught me. To try my best at everything I do, to do service to my family, to love my husband, to love my mother, to love my children, to speak softly and use gentle words, to never hurt anyone with my words or actions, etc. I have many responsibilities at hand and much discipline to practice. I need to make myself a better person in whatever capacity I am in, to be a better wife, a better daughter, a better mother, a better daughter-in-law, a better staff to my boss, a better boss to my subordinates, a better citizen to my country, a better friend to my friend, etc. I have so many roles to play and I need to play all of them better!

The Passions in My Life

It's mostly me and baby J this week at home as hubby is out attending a 4-day bowling coach seminar. Bowling is one of his biggest passion in life and he has always wanted to be eligible to teach kids bowling as a sideline. So, this is his first step towards his dream and I am happy that he is able to do something that he likes.

As for myself, I don't have any real passion in my life...I just try to be the best at whatever I happen to be doing at each point of my life. When I was in Primary School, I swam competitively and trained really hard to become the best in my school and 3rd nationally for the 50-metre freestyle event. Then in Secondary School, I achieved the highest rank there was to achieve in the National Police Cadet Corps (an uniformed youth organisation) and also attained all the various badges by my senior year. In Junior College, school became secondary as I became terribly busy with other things in my life. I started dating, so my boyfriend was the center of my life then. And I started working part-time and modelling. I was then obsessed in making money for buying myself branded stuffs and also enjoying the finer things in life such as dining at Japanese restaurants and wine-tasting. I was also very passionate about all things Japanese as I was learning the language. By the time I was in University, I was quite good at speaking the language, so I worked as a part-time tour guide to Japanese tourists in Singapore. After graduating, I attained license to guide professionally and also started my own agency.

My life became more complicated in adulthood. Made big money, lost most of it, fell inlove with the wrong man, got married, had 2 children, bought property at the wrong time...When my business went bust after 4 years, I started to work as an office worker mainly in Japanese companies. Thanks to my fluency in the Japanese language, I was able to climb the corporate ladder pretty fast in my present company. I have a stable income although it is not the kind of job I really like to do. I have a big family now. My husband, his mum and his uncle stays with me. My mum and my two children stay just 2 floors above. And I have a new born son who is at present my biggest passion.