Sunday, July 28, 2013

First off, let's give credit where credit due. I had lunch with Christina and she is having alot of success with her travel blog, winning acclamations and getting invitation on sponsored trips to various travel destinations. Naturally, we talked about it and it reminded me that I have a tome to dust off and to start inking my quill. So thanks to Christina, I decided to let myself loose on this forum....

Contrary to my image of being a happy-go-lucky dude who seems to take everything in stride, I have another side which is seldom shown to others. It takes the form of a weight and writing is a way for me to release that weight.

This weight is now really burdensome and weighing far too heavy for me to bear. This slab of weight is deceitful, shameful and filthy. It also comes with a stench and is decadent in nature. I need to release that weight somehow, and I need help to do that. I am searching for that panacea and really hope it will come soon. The current remedy is a placebo, and will only add to the weight if I continue in that vein.

Moving to a lighter note, and some positivity to inject into this dark post. I have been promoted!!! I am now the Sales Manager for Asia Pacific and Middle East in the HODer team. It is a growth area, and I believe I may be working in a great team through my initial on boarding experience. I am fired up and relishing to do a great job. Wootttt......

On music, it's back to Mandopop. There are so many great new ballads that I feel like tainting in PartyWorld. Give me that damn mic now will you!

On books, I am reading "The Pillars Of The Earth" by Ken Follett. It is a Christmas gift from Aimee/Thomas and the first 200 pages tell me that it will be good!

Alrighty, it is 3.38am and I need to get some rest for football tomorrow. Good night mates!
posted at 28.7.13 _________________________________________________________________ Sunday, January 01, 2012

Happy New Year..... Welcome 2012!!!

2011 was a great year and it flew past just like that..... As usual, there are always ups and downs but all in all, there are more ups than downs..... So in that aspect, Im thankful for that.....

And yes, now that all the parties are done, I need to start thinking for my liver, and stop drinking at the rate that I am doing right now.....

Yesterday night, an incident happened which reminded me of how it's like being in a relationship again..... It can be really nice, and also can be really shitty when it turns another way.....

Not in the mood for writing but no idea why I decided to blog anyhow.... Oh well, have a good year ahead!!!

Labels: Happy New Year

posted at 1.1.12 _________________________________________________________________ Monday, December 19, 2011

It's been awhile....
Noticed that my last entry was Feb 16th 2010. Wow, almost 2 years whizzed me by just like that.....

I am not going to attempt to fill in the blanks for these past 2 years..... Life have been generally good, still a blessed child with good health, good friends, good family.....Too much time on my hands and I really missed this therapeutic form of expressing myself..... It's almost like talking to myself but in a less perverse way without freaking anyone out.....

Going to begin a new chapter of my life in Rotterdam, Netherlands..... I recently just started on my third role in Shell..... After 3 and a half years in the marketing business, I have moved onto to the "dark side" of commodities trading.... I am in the Fuel Oil desk and looking specifically at the bunker market globally...... The exposure will be good for me as I will be more intimate with the European market..... On a personal exposure point of view, it's excellent, as I will have the chance to travel around Europe, and basically living my dream of working overseas for an extended period of time (18 months)..... Praise the Lord and I am really blessed to get this role and can live the expat life so junior in my career.....

More updates on that department after 4th Jan 2012 when I depart for Rotterdam.....

Weather in Singapore had been shitty recently..... Makes it really depressing with the gloominess of it all..... Which I think is a contributing factor of why I decided to start blogging again..... You can't do shit in this weather..... And it's apt that "Set Fire To The Rain" by Adele is on repeat mode on my speaker.....

On a positive note, Reuben is back from Hong Kong, Josh is back from Australia..... I foresee crazy raving parties in the coming weeks with Christmas, New Year just round the corner..... Woot woot.....

And in any case, I have been partying like no tomorrow on my recent trips abroad.... I describe this phase as a "monster phase" to my close friends..... I did crazy silly things never before in my life and decided to let loose and live the moment...... I didn't know I had that wild streak in me at all, but I guess I did after all...... Hehehe.....

Deep in my heart, I guess I am still a good boy as I yearn for stability rather than some crazy adventures which I am exposed to in the past few months..... So Rotterdam is really a good transit for me, as I will be kept busy at work and settling down..... And of course, travel!!!!

On books, I am a bit slow in my reading in the past month with all the travelling that I have been doing..... I was on a roll with the epic series of "A Song Of Ice and Fire"..... I am waiting for the paperback version of the 5th book..... And right now, I filled the slot up by reading "Have A Little Faith" by Mitch Albom...... Am also waiting for the paperback version of 1Q84 as well as a new title by Ha Jin..... *Yum yum*

On music, "Save The World" by Swedish House Mafia, "Set Fire To The Rain" by Adele and "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster The People seem to top my billboard recently.....

Cheerios for now...... Till the next entry......

Labels: Comeback

posted at 19.12.11 _________________________________________________________________ Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Happy CNY peepz......

Wheeee.......

First off, Ive gotten my IPF...... It didn't disappoint..... I got what I expected......
Its an A-/A kind of result which Im really happy about....... Thank God for that...... And I hope I can continue with the current performance level......

Well, I think Im sorta lucky this CNY......
I won in Blackjack in ZQ's on Chu Yi
I won in Mahjong in Ed's on Chu Er
I won in Blackjack in Aunt Mary's on Chu San

Well, will it be "I won in Blackjack in Sand's/Sentosa's in Apr or May"??

Prolly will wait till Mid year before I will take a look at the IRs.......
Lets hope the luck stays with me yeah......

Wishing everyone a very good year ahead and most importantly good health...... HUAT AH!!!

Labels: Huat Ahhh

posted at 16.2.10 _________________________________________________________________ Saturday, January 23, 2010

Ushering in 2010..... Wooottt......

No New Year resolutions as usual.... Just aspire to be the best I can in all aspect of my life......

Im currently in my new role..... Very exciting, I must say...... This week is sorta my "baptism of fire" as my colleague is on leave...... Im technically still in onboarding phase hence its really quite tough trying to cover for her as there are still alot to learn......

Nonetheless, I made many first yesterday......

Ive made my first deal, sold my first paper swap, bought my first paper swap all in one day...... Yippee...... As I progressed into my role, Im alittle clearer on what my role entails......

My official title is Port Commercial Manager and many friends asked me what is a Port Commercial Manager (PCM)...... Three weeks ago, I am not too sure how to respond to that, but now, I can safely answer that after my stint in the hot seat......

Essentially, there are two aspects to my role, Pricing and Supply......

For pricing, I priced the queries coming in for Bunker Oil...... I quote the price (spot) or a pricing formula (term) based on the information I have, hows the cargo and paper market is moving, what is our competitors pricing, refinery margin, my nett position (long or short) and alittle of where I think the market is heading towards........ It sounds like a trader role but its not with some constraints like, PCMs can only take limited exposure and are suppose to hedge all our exposures if possible. We can only take limited exposure....... In gist, trying to optimize the margin based on the available information I can get........

For supply, its the not-so-sexy part but with alot of learnings, I make sure that I have the oil to sell, talking to refinery people, I make sure that I have the available supply modes (barges, trucks) talking alot to my ops team (schedulers) and fighting fire like Vessels ETA changes, product off-spec, handle disputes between customer and us, forecasting the oil I need to sell for future months....... Something like a trader ops with differences that I have my ops team and schedulers supporting me......

All in all, a very interesting role where I think I can get alot of value for....... This is part of my rotation so I will only do it for 2 years before Im rotated again......

As Jong put it, PCM is like a high level trading ops....
As Mey put it, PCM is a mini trader with limited exposure.....
The way I see it, PCM is like an optimizer, making the most value out of the end to end process based on the decision they take...... (should I sell today, or wait for tomorrow, should I optimized volume, or go for margin, should I sell more of these, or more of that)......

Definitely very different from my analyst role where Im usually in the sidelines giving only some influence in the action, now Im in the thick of the action and making things happen...... Very lucky me...... And thanks to Mey for recommending me for this role......

Another interesting element is that I will be virtually doing all this for my countries in charged (PH, CN, HK, TH)....... Will be heading to Manila next Sunday, Hong Kong and Bangkok in March to get to know the local processes, people and customer....... Will be very challenging and I welcome it...... Will plan another "asia tour" in the second half of the year.......

Thats a not so brief intro to my new role...... Anyway, its time of the year where I get my "results" for my previous role......

In 2008, Ive gotten a B+/A- equivalent review.......
In 2009, Ive been getting some rave review from my GM and my line, Im hoping for something like A-/A now....... That will be my consistent target...... Im a result oriented person, I hope to be rewarded for the efforts Ive put in and Im lucky that my management has recognized it at least verbally to me.......

Back in SMU, my GPA is sorta like my guiding lamp where I reference it to know how much more effort I should put in to achieve my aim...... In Shell, I rely on my IPF and CEP...... I just hope that I can mantained a high level of performance without compromising my personal commitments, so far, I think I have been able to do that......

Thankful that God had been blessing me with all this opportunities......
Push on, Push on!!!!

On a side note:

Ive got the chance to see an old video which had always moved me to tears (back in SMU)..... Im not shy to say that this video did it to me again, Its a video on Team Hoyts; Think I mentioned this before on one of my entries so wont dwell deep into that; For those who are interested, its an inspiring one.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLUPiAs20i4&feature=related

And trying to learn this worship song on guitar by MercyMe called "I can only imagine".... Its the same song in the video...... A real meaningful one......

CNY Approaches, wootttt.... Till the next update..... Cheerios......

Labels: PCM

posted at 23.1.10 _________________________________________________________________ Sunday, December 20, 2009

Wheeeee...... Just got back from the BKK trip...... It was tiring but still a wonderful trip with many good purchases and of course quality time with Nat......

Accommodation was a little disappointing....... It was by no means bad but just that it doesn't meet our expectation....... Some good points on Baiyoke Sky; We got upgraded into the VIP rooms staying on the 65th floor...... It was huge ass and clean...... Service was not bad, we received good night cards every evening...... Things got fixed almost immediately when its down like the bed lamp and the bidet...... The breakfast buffet has a wide selection....... Yum yum......

My expectations; I was expecting the decor of the room to be as nice as Pan Pac (SG), Crown (KL), Grand Millenium (KL) as some examples but the room just didn't cut it....... The location of the hotel is alittle far off the BTS...... The nearest station was Chit Lom and its a 15 - 25 mins walk depending on human traffic...... Will

We paid about 120 SGD per night including breakfast but we don't mind paying more to get a much nicer room and better location....... Will stay in Holiday Inn the next trip to BKK........ It will be about 50 bucks more per night but in terms of utility, more value for the buck.......

We shopped like mad through all three days....... In terms of percentages of time distribution on the entire trip; Shopping 45%, Meals 30%, Transport 15%, Leisure 10%....... We got many good buys at various malls; Platinum Mall, Siam Paragon, Siam Square....... For myself, many great shirts made at "Pinky Tailor" introduced by Alvin Chia....... In this trip, I concluded that whoever states that ladies are the inferior sexes physically is bullshitting...... If route marches are conducted along the shopping strip, I dare say that the ladies will thrashed the NS Men hands-down in those route marches.......

We tried the Fish Spa at Khao San....... It was ticklish as hell....... But it was great fun....... We always wanted to do the Fish Spa thingy in Singapore but never got down to it...... So when opportunity presented itself in Khao San, we jumped on it...... It was cheap as well...... Something like 7, 8 bucks for 30 mins per pax.......

Too much to write but to sum it all up....... Great Fun, Great Food, Lovely Nat!!!! *Wink*
Getting late, 3,0120,120,130 mails awaits me tomorrow...... Good night folks......

Labels: BKK Update

posted at 20.12.09 _________________________________________________________________ Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Its been a while......

Just an update on life in general..... I have not been using my computer other than work nowadays..... Hence the dismay blogging frequency......

Life is good..... Charmed and blessed I must say...... No complains so far....... Pray that God will continue to shower His blessing on me and my family......

On the work front..... Its been going well for me in my current role...... 2009 is the year where I have "climatize" to the culture of Shell..... And I think I have impress my line managers as far as I can tell...... At the end of the day, lets just say I am back to my SMU self where I know what I am doing...... I know my job well, and I understand the business much better a year earlier....... In some areas of my work, I am probably the only one who knows it inside out......

You can only add value when you know the business, and I think I am doing alot of that now....... Back in the school days, I always thought a rotation program should be 3 - 6 months...... Shell's 18 months and I use to think that its too long...... After being through it, 18 months is about right...... Whoever says that 3 - 6 months is enough to add value, my rebuttal is that, either you are doing a role which is so miniscule or you are freaking brilliant......

Prolly 99% of the population are not genius hence its prolly the former......

So yeah, Im hoping for a good IPF..... I got something like a B+ equivalent IPL the last time round in 2008, Im gunning for at least an A-/A this time round...... Ambitious I guess, but definitely achievable........

I am going to move to my next role coming 2010....... Wheeee...... My official title is "Port Commercial Manager"....... Doesn't say much but in a nutshell, Im like a little of everything covering Greater China (China, Taiwan, HK), Japan, Korea, Phillipines and Thailand...... From what I understand now, I am going to do pricing for bunker fuels and covering the market in its totality....... Which is cool in my opinion, I have grasp a basic foundation in Marine Lubricants, now Im venturing on to Bunker Fuels....... Afterwhich, I think Im ripe to move out of Marine into some other businesses like Chemicals, Bitumen, Aviation etc......

The new role is cool in the sense that I may be accountable for margin...... In other words, PnL..... Anil once mentioned to me which I think may absolute sense, the best roles are those that you are accountable for PnL, roles that involves cost cutting..... In gist, generating value for the organization....... So its cool and Im looking forward.......

It will also allows me to travel...... I have been told that we will need to make a visit to the above countries to understand the market and to build relationship in those countries...... I have been itching to fly ever since I joined Shell as thats one of the CVP of Shell...... I am one of the few Gs who hasnt fly much since I joined...... Been to KL once and going again in December..... Thats it....... Looking at my peers, I am one of the pathetic ones.......

So in my next role, I am looking forward to these exposures...... Joining the ranks of Gs who complained that; "Ray, you know travelling is very tiring", "Ray, living life out from a suitcase makes you old"........ May be true, but still its something I want to experience while Im young......

Personal front, everything fine and dandy.......

Nat and myself are going to Bangkok this coming December...... Living it up a little I guess by my standards...... Flying SQ instead of budget carriers, staying in Baiyoke Sky (4 star) rather than "Samran Place", a place we stayed in Year 2 of Uni with 4 other friends squeezing in the same room paying 9 bucks a day...... She "slogged" it out with me in my schooling days and I think its time that I can start affording her a little better...... Think same goes for my parents, they have sogged all their life...... Raising us to what we are today....... Its time they lived it up as well......

On reading, well, I am devouring books by the cartload....... reading titles from some of my favourite authors..... Michael Crichton, James Patterson, John Grisham, Malcolm Gladwell (new title: What the dog saw)...... Venturing into some classics like Frankenstein and Sexing the Cherry....... Books older than a centurion...... And new authors like Jiang Rong (Wolf Totem).... New in the sense that I have not read their work yet......

I think I need a proper bookshelf soon enough..... I am stacking them now, and they are already growing to my height...... Prolly 120, 130 over books now...... Which also means that I have spent about 2000 over bucks in my past 4, 5 years...... Money well spent, I must say...... A chinese saying goes " Shu Chong Zi You Huang Jin Wu"...... I subscribe to that...... Though the books I read sometimes doesn't give much value...... Haahaha.......

On golf, not bad so far, I am starting to play more on the courses..... Either executive 9 holes with my pals or 18 holes with colleagues...... The best and only score so far I have kept is 122 strokes in Pulai Springs....... My best game so far....... Trying to get better..... But like what we (LN, Ed, JH and myself) always said, we have a good 30 years to better our game.......

On guitar, its still fun...... Better with some chords now...... Comes quite natural to me...... Since I have been practising a few times a week...... Still sound like shit for some songs, but it gives me great satisfaction when I hear some resemblance of a song that Im trying to play....... My recent favourite is Hotel California, I can strum the whole song, but Im still far from the original song which uses picking rather than strumming....... Trying to play "You Found Me" by the Fray, its really quite shiok when I go into the chorus, the feeling is really awesome.......

Lost and Insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
...........

Starting to learn some worship songs as well...... My aim is actually to play worship songs for the church once I retired....... So like golf, I have a good 30 years to master my guitar.......

Ok, think that it so far....... Till the next update...... Have a good one, folks......
Cheerios.....

Labels: Quarterly Update

posted at 28.10.09 _________________________________________________________________