Banquet Lunch!

Listen to this article

I think I found my motivation in work and that is the ability to be creative and implement my ideas.

All Fired Up
I was to propose a budget for my portfolio at work but the problem is this: I am new and being barely 6 weeks old, I do not know how I am going to propose a reasonable budget which would be adequate for what I need in the next year... to add to that, I am totally clueless about budgetting but am learning.

Anyway, I thought of a wonderful idea (at least to me) yesterday and began writing an observation paper, documenting what I see as some issues that needs to be addressed in my portfolio and proposing a "seed fund" of maybe $10,000 to be set aside in the budget for various projects which would help address these issues. In this way, I will not be afraid of under-budgetting and yet helps provide the impetus to encourage everyone to be creative in finding solutions to some of these issues I have identified. This has got me all fired up and I got so excited, wanting to come back to office this morning to finish the paper...

All Dampened Down
However, motivation was dampened when my boss called me about an email I have sent to someone more senior in rank to me. Apparently, I was supposed to help compile a survey and was asked to approach this person (who is higher rank than me) for the figures and as such, without much thinking, sent an email to her to ask if she would have the figures. Wrong move! I should have bear in mind that she was higher ranking to me and should have given her a courtesy call about this before sending the email... but silly me just sent the email. No matter how polite my email was, on hindsight it still seem that I am "instructing" her to do work. So my boss called me this morning to tell me that I should have given a courtesy call first instead... well she did not scold me and this is a valuable lesson learnt but somehow my spirits was so dampened for a while in the morning... Somehow just can't stand myself making mistakes like that...

All Fired Up (Again)
Anyway, was "rescued" when I later received a call about a volunteer. I won't go into details of it but then from this call, I saw how meaningful my job can be... yes, it can be boring after sometime of just matching volunteers to services... just like being a matchmaker... it gets quite boring after a while. But it is when you know your job actually stand the chance of making a difference to someone's life that you feel passion again for the job. So this call provided that opportunity. So within a one hour this morning, my passion for my job went up and down, up and down... like the stock market.

Anyway, I am still going to write that observation paper and proposal for the seed fund. It ight be challenging fighting for it but I am all fired up and will nonetheless take up the challenge!

Banquet Lunch
Today, had a special date with my department. Was supposed to go survey a place for our staff appreciation dinner next year and also take the opportunity to try out the food at the restaurant (at our own expense) and also to celebrate 2 of our colleagues' birthday.

Today must be one of the most hearty lunch I have ever had so far... we literally had a 15-course lunch because the 8 of us went for the ala carte buffet lunch and we ordered and the restaurant kept serving... (forgot to tell you my department loves to eat and I have been forewarned to weigh myself and compare my weight a few months later).

Let's see if I remember what we had... we had shark's fin, drunken prawn, salad prawn, sea cucumber with abalone, fish maw with mushroom, sea bass with chilli, roasted duck with herbs, clams, stew pork, venison, fried vegetables, scallops with fried fritters, "Hay Cho" with deep fried bean curd, and some more I can't remember. To top that, we called for yam paste ("or ni") and bo bo cha cha (menu put "bo bo za za") for dessert and ended with fruits platter. Horribly full lunch but also relatively cheap... in the end, we all paid $15 each after discount :)

Shark's Fin Soup being Served

Bountiful Day

Listen to this article

Abundance of Work
Today's just like any normal day so I won't bore you with the details... just a typical work day with an abundance of work waiting for me, so much so I was kept on my toes from morning.

Almost screamed out because just couldn't cope with all the multitasking. I must have some 4-5 projects on hand now and have to balance others' expectations of me with my own expectations of myself blah blah blah.

Anyway, maybe the only positive thing is that I managed to clear quite a number of volunteer enquiries today (including almost 20-30 calls) as well as follow up on quite a number of projects and volunteer placements... I know I have lamented on the relatively slower pace of work here but this is really killing me :)

Abundance of Kway Chup
About 10 of us drove out today to Serangoon Gardens for lunch and with some colleague recommending the Kway Chup, I decided to try it out. So I sat with the "Kway Chup gang" and soon the table was filled with plates and plates of dishes from "dao ki", braised pork, egg, salted vegetables etc... wow sinful!

Apparently, this stall seems to be quite well-received and used to be found in Blanco Court. It has since moved here after Blanco Court closed down and after being in Hougang for 3 years and a 30-month sabbatical, it finally re-emerged here in Serangoon Gardens.

Kway Chap: A Teochew dish. Served with delicate flat rice noodles
in special broth. Eat it with a selection of braised pork,
tender stewed pig innards, bean curd, eggs and salted vegetables.

Paging Paging... You are Needed

Listen to this article

Buried Alive! by MeHere

You Are Needed (to Clear What You Have Not Finished)
Received a SMS from the new director of my ex-workplace, saying that he wished to speak with me. I called back office. He really have his way with words and managed to make me feel real good about myself (at least for a while)... said that I have left a legacy behind and that a lot of people have been asking where I was blah blah blah... then saying that I am like an ambassador for the project; someone who everyone associates with the previous project I did. This made me feel real good about myself... at least until he accidentally mentioned that he would like me to join them in the committee "to finish up the work I have not finished". Sigh...

Anyway, in the brief phonecall, I made the decision that I will not join the committee but will try to give backend support instead i.e. they can call on me for insights etc but I will not want to sit in their committee. Why? In a way, I am trying to keep a "promise" made. At the point of making the decision to resign from my previous job (and before all the conflicts with my friend who "was beginning to hate me"), I mentioned to this friend that I will most probably leave the social work field; he too has the expectations that with this decision, I will not continue links with this ex-supervisor. Thus, I will try my best to minimize possibility of contact with my ex-supervisor. Anyway, I also want to avoid contact with my ex-acting-head who had made life so difficult for me and I do not want to be in a position where I have to be ingenuine and act friendly in front of her. Hence, the decision to be backend support instead.

"I hope you understand where I am coming from; that I had strained working relationships with some in the committee, so I do not wish to sit in meetings. I hope you understand." I told the director.

Almost Mati
I almost died at work today... went to work with a sprained ankle and was starting to feel a bit feverish yet again, so wasn't really in the mood to work but had to contend with work that has piled up yesterday when I was at course...

I had just sent out notice of an upcoming event organized by my volunteers and have helped to heavily publicize it. Never did I think that this would bring a swarm of people emailing me saying that they want to volunteer. At the same time, I need to look into the budget for the next year, coordinate the upcoming event, plan for a quarterly meeting with staff from the various centres which I have to chair, coordinate an exchange programme with Japan, continue to recruit, screen and deploy volunteers for projects, entertain public enquiries through phone and email... quite a whole load of work for someone just 6 weeks old at work... sigh...

Anyway, I don't know why I so shy... always so quiet when among my colleagues. My irrational self at work again... my boss called to ask my colleague forward something to me.

In his email, he mentioned: "it is my pleasure forwarding this to you...".
I replied: "wah so formal ah, using the word "pleasure" hehehe"
and he responded: "it is a pleasure being delegated by boss, hehehe"...

don't really know what he meant but nevertheless I thought negatively... that he might be offended. Sigh...

Heck Care, Self Care
I was supposed to go for a meeting with someone from my church's community service in the evening. He had wanted to meet up with social workers in the church to explore what else can be done by the community service arm of the church.

I struggled with the decision whether to go for the meeting and in the end decided to go home because I was really feeling feverish after a horrible day at work, coupled with my sprained ankle... thought that if I tire myself out (most prob the meeting will only finish about 9.30pm), I won't be able to recover quickly; this week is a real busy week with a class reunion and a volunteers' briefing and a lot of work waiting for me...

No More Mister Nice Guy

Listen to this article

PY_01 by danzo08

"Cab-Jack"!

On course today, so had to travel further to the West. However, wasn't really in the right state to travel with my sprained ankle; the pain is really killing me.

Anyway, decided that I will take a taxi and went downstairs to hail one. Never did I imagine it was such a torture getting a taxi in the morning... I waited for some 45 minutes, standing by the road, bearing with my sprained ankle. To make thing worse, a few people came and "cab-jack" my taxis a few times and no matter how many times I redialled the taxi booking hotline, I just got an engaged tone. My course starts at 9am and by 9.05am I was still waiting for a taxi. At this point in time, I was the only person standing by the road.

Moments later, a group of indian youth came and stood in front of me. Inside my mind I was thinking: "Don't you dare 'cab-jack" my taxi or you are going to get it from me." Moments later, an empty taxi came along and not surprisingly, one of them boarded the taxi... My blood was BOILING at this point in time after 45 minutes of standing with a sprained ankle, getting caught in the rain, failing to call through to the booking hotline and having at least 2 person taking my taxi... I do not know what came over me but I went over and hollered:

"Excuse me, I believe I came here long before you all did and I do not think that it is a nice thing for you to be taking my cab!"

One of the youths told me that they are in a hurry to go to the immigrations but I told them that I came before them (something which they jolly well know) and that I am also in a hurry, that my course has started and I had been waiting for some 45 minutes with a sprained ankle. In the end, the youths signalled for the youth in the cab to alight from it and I boarded without even looking back. In the end, I limped into the classroom some 30 minutes late.

Thinking back: I didn't know what came over me to have the courage to confront them. They looked like some juvenile delinquents and could have walloped me up.

Preview of Old Age
Sometimes I just feel that we take our youthfulness for granted. Today, I finally felt what it was like not being able to move with haste... with my sprained ankle, I seem to take forever climbing stairs and crossing roads... every move of my muscle felt painful. So never take your able body for granted and while being young makes us more agile and fast, this might not be the case for our seniors.

Anyway, am feeling a bit feverish after my course so am now popping panadol cause I do not want to fall sick yet again... what's wrong with me recently? Ailing body?

Watch That Step

Listen to this article

Struggled out of bed... think I was having a hangover from my friend's wedding dinner the previous night, never drank so much before and coupled with the fact that I only got home at 4am, I didn't really get to sleep much and was feeling quite "not my usual self" today. But still an achievement waking up! Had previously harboured the thought of skipping service today but didn't feel comfortable with that decision (how could I even...?!) :)

Watch It!
Think maybe I not very alert and also the step wasn't also well-defined, so I sprained my ankle at a carpark just outside church. The sprain came so suddenly and I nearly blanked out... remember seeing white (but luckily not bright lights :)) and almost collapsed... Thank goodness I was near a railing so I leaned against it to support myself while I tried to recover from the sprain... amazed why no one even offered to help but then again, I most probably will feel paisay and not want them to notice me spraining my ankle; remember thinking inside me the moment I sprained my ankle:

"This is so paisay, don't come near me I can manage on my own".

Funny ah, it is not pain I feel first but a feeling of embarrassment. This is really sickening... my physical self having been doing well for 3 weeks now... a while it was flu, then food poisoning and now a sprain... Anyway, friends told me to go see sinseh to fix that sprain but guess I can be a real stubborn person... decided to "wait-and-see". At least the leg is not swollen... Limped my way the whole way back home and slept through the rest of the day to pay back my sleep debt and nurse my hangover... Looks like I will be limping my way around the next few days and I have so much on these coming weeks... work, training, class reuniuon chalets, meetings etc.

Too late...
watch your step by harry_lund (Modified)

Taking Steps to be God-Centered Somehow was thinking: compared to the pain that Jesus went through when he died for our sins... the sprain just didn't seem so excruciating. But of course, it is still hurting now and all I can do is just pray for healing.

Anyway, on the topic of taking the step... just feel that for one to be God-Centered, we need to be focused on 2 things: putting God in the centre of your life (duh!) and worshipping Him in deep appreciation and gratitude for all that has been blessed to you. Especially powerful in times of need when all things seem to be coming down on you, it is important to remember the blessings, ask for directions and thank in gratitude. Easier said than done but can try... life will seem less daunting.

Remembering my favourite verse from Jeremiah 29:11

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

2 worship songs to remind us of that:

Be the Centre
Michael Frye

Jesus, be the centre
Be my source, be my light
Jesus

Jesus, be the centre
Be my hope, be my song
Jesus

Be the fire in my heart
Be the wind in these sails
Be the reason that I live
Jesus, Jesus

Jesus, be my vision
Be my path, be my guide
Jesus

When I Look Into Your Holiness
Words and Music by Wayne and Cathy Perrin ©1980, Integrity's Hosanna! Music
When I look into Your holiness.
When I gaze into Your loveliness.
When all the things that surround
Become shadows in the light of You.

When I found the joy of reaching Your heart.
When my will becomes enthralled in Your Love.
When all the things that surround
Become shadows in the light of You.

I worship You, I worship You.
The reason I live (The reason I live)
Is to worship You.

I worship You, I worship You.
The reason I live (The reason I live)
Is to worship You.

When I look into Your holiness.
When I gaze into Your loveliness.
When all the things that surround
Become shadows in the light of You.

When I found the joy of reaching Your heart.
When my will becomes enthralled in Your Love.
When all the things that surround
Become shadows in the light of You.

I worship You, I worship You.
The reason I live (The reason I live)
Is to worship You.

I worship You, I worship You.
The reason I live (The reason I live)
Is to worship You.

2 lessons learnt from sermon today:

Sowing Generously (2 Corinthians 9:6-12):

⁶Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

⁷Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

⁸And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

⁹As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."<sup>[a]

10</sup>Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.

¹¹You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

¹²This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

Trusting God's Plans (Matthew 6:33-34):

³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Golden Pillow
I finally got the chance to buy the 933 golden pillow which is a big piece with curry chicken wrapped inside... but it is not cheap... $10.80 for one loaf (my sister say that with $10.80, we can buy more curry and bread), hahaha but nevermind la, just buy once to try with my family... not bad.

Golden Pillow 933
Picture from http://www.goldenpillow933.com.sg