Day 4

This morning I was pouring out my grievances at the office to Pa and Leng on the drive to work and I found out that voicing out your thoughts helps you figure things out faster and better. Most of the time, I don't talk about my problems, and that is to my disadvantage.

I was exclaiming how frustrating it was when things "ding-dong" at work when all there was to do was for my boss to make the judgement call. I was missing the big picture all along. As Dad rightly put it, "Different level management have different considerations". I'm still such a novice, unable to spot things that are out of place, unable to present my thoughts coherently, and not thorough enough in my work. I overlooked things in the website updating, I did not follow up on loose ends dilligently. Basically I took things too lightly. Take for example a set of slides we were preparing for CE. I thought that by making the changes that he wanted, following exactly what I was told to do, the work was finished and I chucked the drafts away. But then a senior came over and wanted the drafts with CE's comments from me just to understand management's line of thought.

I'm just too operational. I don't know if it's a civil service culture to have your backs covered, anticipate questions and prempt things, but if everyone's doing it, I should learn it too right? Going back to the "ding-donging" I realised that my boss was simply trying to make sure we make the prettiest decision just in case Chmn asks why things were that way. Moving forward, I will need to put in more effort to find out the rationale behind every proposal and decision made.

Day 3

Looks like this year my blog posts would be fewer than last year. I'm struggling this morning being fired up mentally but tired physically. Attended a netball practice last evening after work and it was terrific. Being newcomers, PW and I were really stunned by our "coach". It was really great cos neither of us expected the level of seriousness the ladies took to the game. I was never into team sport so I never officially had a coach, but this lady was great. Judging by the way she gives commands and corrects our mistakes, she must have been a real coach once. PW instinctively answered "Yes Ma'am" every time she gave advice and I was half imagining myself to be in a girls home having netball practice. It was cool. I felt like I was having PE lessons in school once again, sweated it out, and then hopped onto the bus to become a stinking public nuisance.