i've never sent so many mails in my life!!!

here's something which i did and not many people get to do:
i weigh and posted 503 10grams, 41 20grams, 8 30grams, 8 40 grams, 4 50grams, 248 60grams, 1 80grams, 1 90grams, 1 100grams, 9 120grams, 1 210grams, 1 240grams, 1 260grams, 1 300grams, 4 370grams and 1 620grams of mails. and it took me one whole hour and 2 completely filled postal bags! damns! i have never sent so many mails in my life. heck, i never even send that much forwarded mails!
i also carried loads of boxes and arranged them in sequence at work today. damn those boxes are heavy and my arms are aching now... i think it's time for me to do some push-ups every day and jog regularly.
i like what i am doing now. i would definately prefer a job in investment banking, but putting that aside and looking at my current situation and with my current job, i am satisfied and contended. i don't lose precious sleep by waking up every hour which was what happened for my previous job. i go to work each day confident (though it has only been 3 days) and i know what my duties and responsibilities are and how to perform them. i have to say that it has been good. the next 2 months is going to be enjoyable.
the turjey is roasting in the oven... it smells good. just like yesterday's roast beef. =) i always look forward to dinner every day when i get home from work.
till i blog again... tata

all glory to God that i've found another job

Praise God. I found a job again.
I got another job within a week of quitting my old job, i also got a pay increase and i get to start work at 9 instead of 8. the extra hour of sleep is very very much appreciated! and it's only a 15min walk instead of a 30min bus ride which will also saves me 9.50 pound per week for the bus pass. though walking in the street in winter might not be such a good idea, but oh well, i'll see what i can do bout it when the time comes...
but i got to admit that it had been tough waiting for a job becoz i quitted my previous job only after 2 weeks, i have little work experience and i am in a foreign land and i got rent to pay. it's very tough and mentally draining coz i am afraid that i could not pay my rent in the future.
when i quitted the previous job, i trust God that i'll find a job soon. and from wed till today, i was applying for jobs and waiting for any response. i got afew letter of rejection and nothing else. i felt very anxious becoz i don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. and today itself, i spent the whole day applying for jobs. and till 3:30pm, i didn't receive a single call. i would expect that after 3-4 days of sending so many resumes, i would get at least a few phone calls but i didn't. however at 3:35pm, i received a call and an hour and a half later, i completed the interview and i got the job.
I am so happy that i've found a more 'stable' job and it's soemthing that i look forward to and i give all glory to God because He provided for me and he's grace is sufficient. he's grace is sfficient becoz i worked out my finance and i estimated that i need bout X pounds after taxes per week and my current pay is exactly that amount.
so praise God. gtg, time to cook dinner.

money for my analysis

in case you don't know what's happening in the financial world, the US dollar has shed 3.5% against the euro and major currencies in the last few days and oil has again jump to record prices.

my analysis is that you should sell USD now coz it will continue to weaken. it might rally alittle but in the long run, it will continue to fall till dec.

given the current exchange rate of 0.545 pounds for a dollar, selling 1,000,000 USD will 'earn' you 545,000 pounds. (so you borrow 545,000 pounds from the bank if you can do that. at a rate of 4% p.a.)

if the dollar continues to weaken 1-2% within the next 2 weeks and 3-4% within the next 2 months (my analysis).

in 2 weeks' time, if you can buy 1,000,000 USD at a rate of 0.5395 and that will cost you 539,500 pounds. so income - cost =profit. 545,000-539,500=5450 pounds.
additional cost: interest of 2 weeks for borrowing 545,000 at 4% will only cost you 839 pounds.

in 2 months' time, if you can buy 1,000,000 USD at a rate of 0.52865, that will cost you 528,650 pounds. income-cost=545,000-528,650=16,350 pounds.
additional cost: interest of 2 months for borrowing 545,000 at 4% will only cost you 3,634 pounds.

ok, so who's interested in this high-risk money venture where you can potentially earn 12,000 pounds in 2 months.

btw, currency traders do this every day. so their portfolio increases by a compunded interest of about 0.9% every day. at least that's what i think...

man u vs arsenal: 2-0

ho ho ho! man u beat arsenal! damn shiok! i'm so happy that my team beat its arch enemy in EPL. btw, arch enemy in CL is real madrid! =) but that's not important for my entry today.

it was a typical man u vs arsenal match. emotions and feelings are always very high when both teams meet and it always seem like that there's something to be settled by the current match from unfinished events/emotions accumulated from the previous encounters.

similarities from the previous encounters were a penalty, highly-emotional charged match, cautious playing style/tactics....

difference from last season's encounter is that nistelrooy converted the penalty and man u beat arsenal! we didn't kick their ass but at least we won.

i am too lost for words now. so i guess this entry will be quite boring to read =)
damn, my knee and wrist is still hurting... but i am still smiling for now...

lengthy and boring blog...

my wrist and my knee hurt. they both took a direct impact from the ball. i really got to be more careful and less injury-prone! but it feels good to play competitive soccer again even though i am very unfit. i got the chance to play football on wed and today because phinehas and the IC team are training for the nottingham games and i was there as an extra. =) i so love to play football!!! =)

i had 2 interesting discussions during bible study yesterday. one was bout friendship. how do you define friendship, who are our friends and what make them our friends. the other is bout the assumption that we human are a higher form of being than animals.

in my opinion, it's hard to classify friends and friendship. i don't like to do and i don't think i will do it. i admit that there are good friends, very good friends, friends of other friends, friend from an organisation/ club... but i don't want to say one friend is a better friend than another. i would say that my friend is someone that i have relationship/bond/communication with and it's not something that happen instantanously, but it's something that developed and is still developing. i can go on and on talking bout friends and friendship and it will not end. and i think it never will. i'm just glad that i have my friends. =)

the next topic is quite interesting. it's bout the assumption that we humans are a higher form of being than animals. are we not a higher form of being than animals? actually, what is the meaning of a higher form? human being is not the strongest becoz a horse can carry more weight than us and the ant can carry 20 times it's bout weight. we are also not the fastest coz any cat or dog can run faster than us. neither can we flap our hands and fly nor can we dive into the water and hold our breathe for for more than 10 mins. so we not strong, we are not fast,we can't fly, dive... so what is it bout human beings that make them a higher form? (let put aside the bible context of a higher form for now)
so is it because we are more intelligent? is it because we can stand on 2 feet? is it because we have a sub-conscience? is it because we need socializing? is it because for the last 100 years, we made great progress in technology? is it because we are able to plan and to plot? is it because we are able to lie and deceive? is it because we are cruel? is it because we are evil? is it because we are the only being that kills for fun and not for food? is it because we are the only form of being that have sex other than for the reason of reproduction? after asking so many questions, i don't have the absolute answer the question that ask why is the human a higher form of being. the only thing that i feel and can say is that the human being truly has the knowledge of good and evil and the ability to do good and evil... all because adam ate the apple...

wanton mee sauce

no one's eating at home except me tonight, so it's time to experiment with food and cook my style of wanton mee... actually, it's more of the wanton mee sauce that i tried to made.

the meal was a simple one. basically, i dumped the noodles, vegetables and slices of beacon into a pot of boiling water for a few mins.

but the sauce was tougher to make. i used 2 part soya sauce, 2 part water, 1 part oyster sauce, ? part sugar, ? part sesame oil till the mixture looked abit oily and it tasted quite alright lar. it was just a little too salty and not enough sugar for the sweet taste.
hmmm, looks like i got a long way to go b4 i perfect it, but at least my first try wasn't too bad.

the actual way to do it is 1 part sesame oil, 1 part oyster sauce, 2 part dark soya sauce, 5 part water and 7 part light soya sauce, 0.5 part seasoning and alittle sugar... at least that's what it says on the net...

time to dig into some chocolate or ice-cream =)

to be fair...

to be fair, it's not that i hate the job, it's just that i can't communicate too well and i hate it. however, i did learn alot from the job and on the job. but like i said, i am not cut out for it.

my manager, Mr Atkiinson just offered me an extension of the contract to 4 weeks coz i was under a 2 week probation. but i declined it. i have to be fair to him and myself. I hope i did the right thing... then again, it's one of my principles to give my best in everything that i do. and i don't wish to break it.

i hope i get to complete 3-4 surveys before i leave tomolo. that's bout an extra 30-40pound!
=)

office boy

I am sad that I couldn’t hang onto my current job for much longer. It’s not that I like what I’m I doing. In fact, I don’t even like it at all. I got to wake up damn early to prepare for work, call people from all over the world to set an appointment to ask them bout 30 questions on client banking. The success rate to get an appointment is bout 20-30% not to mention that i usually get transfer between 2-3 departments before i even end up at the correct department. and sometimes, I not only got rejected but I also got to bear with rude remarks. Damns, I'm not even good at making conversations nor talking and what the heck am I doing here!

I am disappointed that I could not serve the entire duration of the contact. I believe that one is able to learn as long as he's willing and one must also give his best in everything. but it's also true that if it's something that i don't like and know that it doesn't suit me, it's pointless for me to finish the 3 months of my contract and not being able to give my very best. i don't know what my very best is nor what am i capable of, but i know for sure that doing surveys over the phone is not something that i am good at. and the last time i was damn good at something was serving in the sound ministry and performing my duties as an operational aircrew specialist.

hmmm, i don't know what am i good at, but i know that i have to start looking for a job now and hope to start work next week. i need a miracle and i know who to look for and ask for.
just another day of an office boy...

13 Oct 2004.

i am in my office right now and i am blogging! i got bored becoz after calling 20 banks and FI all over the world from thailand, bangladesh, germany, italy, sweden, denmark... i only completed one interview. the danes and sweds are the nicest people i have talked to so far. and i shall not talk bout who are the rude ones.

i am grateful that i got a job and i am learning. i learn that there are many many banks in the world (much more than i initially thought) and i learn bout the services and products. but i am sure that this is not the job for me. i don't see myself staying here long term. and honestly speaking, i hope to change to another job asap. there's nothing wrong with the people here, it's just that the work doesn't suits me. i wanna learn bout banking. ie analysis, reseach work, operations, treasury, compliance, FX... but not telephone research work. yeah, i have speak my mind... i just hope that i find something that i like soon. and my min salary expectation is only 18K.

the weather today is pretty nice. bright sunshine, so i don't think it will be that cold. lucky phinehas who's playing soccer and those who doesn't has school today. honestly, i don't mind working... it's just that i don't like what i am doing. i am quite proud that i got a job and i am earning my keeps. i just hope that i can continue to be indepenant and i wn't use my sub-card in the near future to buy some winter clothings.

title: RESEARCHER

first of all, i wanna say that it's not that i didn't want to blog for the past 2 weeks, but the problem was that i couldn't login to my blog. don't know what's wrong!
but here i am now, but with a headache! sucky!

anyway, today was my first day at work. i got this job as a researcher in a research and advisory firm. and what i gotta do is to call up our client's clients ask them questions to complete a questionaire on my client's industry. and i can't reveal my clients' name so that it won't affect the interviewees' opinion. sounds easy right, but the questionaire takes at least 20mins to complete and i got to call directors, presidents, vice-presidents, head of departments and managers of financial institutions from countries like japan, HK, india, germany, sweden, US, brazil... and from what i can see, the experience ones get bout 4 questionaires done a day.

but oh well, at least i got a job that helps with the rent and i am learning something. coz i don't usually have the confidence to carry a conversation, so i guess this job will help me alot and i am sure that it's God's plan to train me for another better job that's coming coz i am praying for one. (just as Joseph didn't rise to become prime minister of Egypt overnight but he rose through the ranks slowly, so the lesson learnt is to be patience and make the best out of the situation)

btw, i don't wish to be sold as a slave nor go to jail... but my hope is to enter investment banking preferably M&A, corporate finance, treasury, operations, compliance and finally a vice-president or president of a financial institution.

but meanwhile, it's 8-5 every weekday and i gotta wake up at 6:40, stand in the freezing weather while waiting for the busand earn only 200 pounds each week before tax, which is only 134 pounds after tax and 100 pounds goes to the rent, 10 pounds for the one-week buspass, 10 pounds for one week's lunch and 14 pounds left for whatever i am able to afford...

sigh, abit depressing to talk any more bout it... anyway, i am going to bath, praise God for any reason that i can think of before i go to bed tonight.

take care everybody who's reading this. and remember that God is faithful. coz 3 weeks ago i said that God gave me an answer that i will get job this week and it came true =) and now, it's time to ask when will i go into investment banking, how and which ministry will i serve... (oh, i asked God if i should serve in a ministry and He said yes, but haven't give directions yet)