Commentaries

Did u guys catch the great Liverpool Galatasaray Match? Stupendous. Then I found this in You Tube. Check out the arabic commentary! Crouch.. ya allah... crouch.. ya allah... peter crouch... ya allah...

Aquamen

I was over at Aussino's store in the Ikano Power Centre today and I spotted a couple of Ah Kuas there. Check it out!

Divine help

The last few weeks have been interesting. Firstly, there have been many "job offers"
- one fr my old company but from a Singapore partner
- one fr also my old company but from KL, to go back to a previous client
- one fr my current company, to focus on Asia
- also got some more lah, but cannot reveal... heh heh

So it's damn funny, I was at this "friend's house" and this "friend" invited this clairvoyant dude... so for the heck of it, I asked lah...

"eh, my old company asking me to go back. Good ah"

After some cheem sounding chanting, he said
"wah.. you cannot go back.. your old company, if you go back, there will be someone very jealous of you..."

So my wife batu api lah.. she asked.. "who ah"

so here I am, cracking my head, thinking who would be jealous..

the dude gave a hint "boss..."

so i'm like "this indian partner left, this other chinese partner with lawyer wife left, this other partner with sexy wife, kena hantar to China.. so there's really only 1 partner..."

then my wife asked "just newly promoted ah?"

and the dude said "ya... the Indian fella lah. The chinese one not so jealous"

I'm like.. WTF!

Kencing

When I saw this licence plate today I laughed man! Think in cantonese!

Conversations with a partner

Recently, a Singapore based partner started this email trail with me:

"So, would you ever come back to OldFirm when you get tired of being a mercenary"


So I said

"Before I left, I told my career counselor: I hate the need to sell just to make
partner. Why not create an ap landing for me, let me use my skills where they can be used best ie going from project to project to ensure successful delivery. Make me the lead Solution Architect or some shit. I thought that was a good win win. Unfortunately, he said cannot :(

So how to come back and chase numbers? If no number chasing, perhaps lor "

Then it started to heat up:

"Is money going to be a consideration or is it going to be for the love
of the work ?"

So I said "My friend, what do u have in mind, buddy?"

He replied:

"Nothing specific ….. just looking at options…..

Obviously, if you want to go project to project to ensure delivery……these projects must be quite significant/important/big in order to position you for ap level

So, the question of money is one ….The other question is of course travel …. I thought other half was against you traveling when you were in Old Firm but you seem to be traveling a lot with NewCo…. So have you two sorted this out
"

So I said

"Haha.. my wife still bitches abt the travel.. but there are some good sides to NewCo. I travel every 2 or 3 weeks.. so that's the bad part. But the rest of the time I spend at home. So my wife loves that. So I can do the housework, fetch my son to school, fetch him back, be on her beck and call.. so that's the benefits from working from home.. I can take most of my conference calls on the road so it's good... "

So he continued:

"Yeah ….there is always a trade-off somewhere.

For a delivery AP in OldFirm, because of the project-based nature, you will need to be onsite pretty much full-time. So, unless there are mega-projects in Msia to justify an ap level person, there is always a possibility of a request from other mega-projects in the region.

So, we have 3 issues

- the need to chase numbers (which I think can be solved)
- money
- travel

How ?"

SO I amused him more:

"
Cheem. Must discuss with my boss (my wife la!).

I believe my wife is now very settled in Malaysia. Our son is already Standard 1. So uprooting and following projects not so steam.

Unless the projects are say in Hong Kong or Singapore. These places, she's probably ok.

Money's probably an issue. I think in Malaysia a level 4 AP makes ... peanuts a month? Hmm... in NewFirm, I am happy. So that's an issue.

Travel - I think like above, best option is to be based in Malaysia. I'll be happy with a Solution Architect kinda role based in Malaysia but flying to projects once a while to help out. So, frequent but short travel is ok. Second option is likely longer mega projects but since my son is schooling, I think this limits where I can possibly go for such mega projects.

Numbers? U know lah...
"

His last response was...

"I can try to tackle the need to chase numbers – no guarantee but may have workarounds

On money, you may need to buy less gadgets and she has to settle for smaller diamonds. But not much can be done here, you have to consider the trade-offs

So, assuming you are a sucker for doing things for the love of it, the remaining issue is travel …… or put it another way, how to have you base in Msia while still providing sufficiently meaningful platforms for you contribute.

Hmm…..
"

Wah.. is this desperation? What's happening?

Huh?

Saw this sign pasted next to a parking meter.... isn't it obvious?

Cherie

Someone asked me... "Cherie Who?". Ayo.. I guess if u're as old as I am , then you will know who Cherie Chung is. She was one of those HK actresses during the 80s when Maggie Chung, Wong Jo Yin was hot...

http://www.brns.com/pages3/cheriepc2.html
http://www.brns.com/pages3/cheriepc3.html

Now, I tell you, talking abt Cherie Chung... reminds me of this story. I used to study in Uni of NSW and you know lah, all these uni kids at that time, all just wanna party only... (of course lah, just started uni mah, lepak mah, after 13 years of slogging in primary and secondary school.. )... and you know at that time there were so many "party societies" to join.. MSO (Malaysian Students Organisation), SSO (Singapore Students Organisation), HKSA (HK Students Association), ISA (Indonesian Students Association)... and all these student bodies.. the ultimate goal was to organise the most kick ass disco at that time.

So end of Week 2 there was ISA party, end of Week 3 was HKSA's Disco, Week 4 was MSO's disco etc etc... So one one of these discos I met this damn sui char bor from University of Macquarie... wah lan, she used to look EXACTLY like Cherie Chung man... so all the guys wanna khow her.. of course I tried lah.. but at that time, you know lah, I damn kaku one... so my pickup line was "wow, did you know you look like Cherrie Chung" and of course lah she said "yeah, everyone tells me that".

Nahia!

She's joined a law firm in Malaysia right now, lost touch with her... saw her appearing in the papers once... that's it..

Someone also was telling me.. how come nowadays you don't write any controversial shit anymore? WTF is all this Alan Tam lah, Cherie Chung la...

... well you shd ask that f*cker who bocor rahsia and released this blogsite to all the high powered folks! CB!

Alan Tam!

I was on the way back from Mexico yesterday, on the Cathay Pacific 9am flight from HK to HK, and lo behold, who did I see sitting next to me at the business class seats? Alan Tam!

Couldn't believe my eyes. Almost immediately, i wanted to "cheh hang cheng, cheh hang cheng, cheh hang cheng..."

Anyway, i fly so much on Cathay, this is not the first time I'm seeing Hong Kong superstars. I saw Eric Tsang the other time on the flight to Vancouver.

But basket, how come only batangs one? Why don't I get to bump into Cherrie Chung, Kelly Chen, Gigi Leung, Jolin Tsai (drooll)?

With my luck, I bet you i'll bump into Ng Man Tatt next.

Bad English

Last weekend, I was out at a bookshop looking for books for my son...you know, he is towards the end of his Standard One... and there's streaming for Standard 2, so it's abt time all parents started panicking... Wah, I saw this "English Standard One Workbook" with this picture:


Horrendous English! Straight away I rejected that book. Haha

WARNING 2

Guys, today I got 2 SMSes, 1 from a Partner, one from an Associate Partner from the firm I used to work. No... there was no arm twisting.... but this gives me the shivers... all you guys shd know that when you read the stuff I write, the unwritten rule is not to "publicise" this outside the "inner circle".

What happened?

Come on...

WARNING

Guys, I know a lot of you read my blog, but please don't freaking publicise it, ok?

Just 2 mins ago, I got an SMS from a partner asking "are you aware folks are reading your blog"?

I will have to stop updating this blog if you guys leak shit out.

MayFlower 3

wah, this MayFlower issue damn hot. Over the weekend, one of the partners of the firm I used to work with called me up with an indepth discussion on this person.

One of the things that he mentioned was the fact that this partner was upset that some of his good advise to MayFlower fell on deaf years and he said MayFlower insisted that she was ready (now, I'm not gonna get into a discussion on whether she is or not). And this partner said in the past, she used to be very receptive, and he was wondering whether she has been influcenced by her "boyfriend".

Yes, this is the subject of this blog.

This boyfriend of MayFlower, nahia, works on a project with my existing company. He sometimes is posted in this EU country so we normally ask him to follow up on items.

Kanina, sometimes when we ask him to follow up on certain things, the f*cker got the cheek to ask me to attend the status call to find out the status. I'm like, CCB man, that's the reason why I'm asking YOU!

CB!

Mayflower Extended...

I found this interesting comment on my post abt the Mayflower story.. so cheemology that I had to cut and paste it here...

-----------

Can't help not to comment...I can understand why Mayflower is so pissed. This news apparently is quite hot in circulation even to ex-colleques. I heard some of these people's integrity are at stake.

This is the version I heard la. Apparently Pole which is going to be promoted to SE (Senior Escort) only informed Mayflower she isn't getting promoted mid-August when he could have informed her after banding (early June). The story I heard was Pole told Mayflower he wanted to catch up earlier but was busy.

I also heard that French Monster never do any work wanr (not sure true bo)a lot of complaints...he claimed he was the project manager of this particular project which Mayflower help to do up the proposal and he was credited instead. I heard testimony that Mayflower actually deliver the project and French Monster did nothing much.Also I heard the clients complaint about him during a QA session - what was his role as he seems not to be doing anything even he is named Project Manager.

Also this I heard from another good friend ..French Monster also has a buddy called Bald Stick..this I have to validate it seems both of them never seem to work much and still get promoted to SM (Senior Masters)

Apparently Mayflower also helped to sell quite a few other proposals in her previous projects but somehow those were not even appreciated and weighted against what was said (allegations)- all these people focus on the backstab saga comments Some big shots apparently did appologised and admit there are some technical errors but still they cannot do anthing to change the situation. I heard some of these big shots have even tried to wriggled the story around it and it seems two different Senior Escorts stories were contradicting with each other. No one can tell the right story when Mayflower drilled them further.They even try to pursuade some contract Senior Masters on her current project to convince her to stay longer. Unfortunately it back-fire. These contract senior masters put it point blank that they have seen her performance and it's definitely above her level and even better than some managers currently in the project. So that's why they will support if she quits!

Quite an irony to it all when there are actually third party view in all these and those top shot people can't even make a change on things. Anyway today I heard that they are still trying to retain her - endless conversation but the fact is they are asking her to stay another year when she is already at that level and paid "ciku" salary while doing a manager's job. Such a rip-off. I wonder what will happen if this issue gets escalated to a higher authority - such a let down on leadership nowadays when you hear more of these stories and the integrity of this new breed of leaders. It seems in this company's next generation of leaders can only be either French Monster like - back stab all the way and move up - even the mgmt seems to bow to all these nowadays or the Bald Stick like - ignorance is the best game.

Chicken

Last nite, my mentor from my old company called me up from New York. He's one of the rare ang mohs who I totally respect (there's only 2 who I respect... the rest all tokok, sing song one... cannot execute...)

We had a great conversation, right until the end when he talked abt promotions and he said "all my ex mentees have now been promoted to Senior Executives, except you".

Yeah... that just hurts....