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In my last entry, I have mentioned that work has become more bearable now and how I went through a few dark months in 2008 at work.

Man, those dark months were the longest days in my 2008. I have even labeled the organisation I work with as Miseryville because I was in misery. I worked long and sometimes, crazy hours, neglected my fitness routine during the week, not sleeping well on most nights, not spending time with my friends and family and my social life was neglected. I also had chest pains and after consulting the doctor, who carried out some tests, concluded I am healthy but was suffering from anxieties. There were days I wondered if I had jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire when I left Rubbishville. It took my father to say something to make me realise. All he said was, “We don't know you anymore. We hardly or never see you at family meal times in recent months.”

So I reflected and decided that I was going to choose life. I took a step back and looked at the situation and realised that I was letting work get to me. I have been in this situation before and I should know how to manage it. Hence, what I did was go to work and do whatever I can, work late if needed and if not, I'll leave whatever that can wait till the next day. However, I carried out my duties without any passion and take one day at a time. I began to deal with work without any emotions. I don't think long term at all. I made the decision to come to Miseryville and I have to deal with it!

Also, of the three corporate accounts I am managing, there is one account which has been such a pain! In October, it was at the lowest point and I was utterly miserable. As I have mentioned in my last paragraph, I carried out my duties especially on this account with no passion and reluctance. Then last week, as part of my objective, I had to carry out a survey on the various areas of our services for the last quarter. The previous survey went horribly wrong where most areas were rated red, including my role. Now, how's that for motivation?? So, I went to meet the customer with all the negative feeling. Then, a miracle happened. Most of the ratings that were in the red have turned to either amber or green and one of those were my role. The customer turned to me and said that the bad rating given before were not personal and felt that things have remarkably improved between us.

Pinch me because up till this point I could not believe that all these are happening. In the past, the customer was reluctant to see me. All I get was nasty emails of how unhappy they were with things that were going on. It was very painful. Now, they want to see me and my colleagues every week and even giving us new businesses. This week alone, I have been to their office twice for meetings and it is only Tuesday.

Last week, I have also received another customer bouquet on my support to their account and my management have sent me notes to congratulate me, especially for how things have turned around with that tough account I am managing. To be honest, I have no idea what I have done but I must say that there were other things which have changed on how that account is being managed. I have a couple of people on the account with me now, compared to before where I was the only one here. I guess the support helps.

It has only been 2 weeks into the new year but I have been busy as a bee since it began. With the bouquets received and pleasant working relations with all my customers now, my confidence is soaring and I think I am getting my groove back, which I thought I have lost. I did not loose it - it is still there, waiting to be unleashed again. I am no longer a misery resident at Miseryville - the 'town' is ready for a name change.

my 2008...

Before we get well into 2009, I must recap the highlights (and lowlights even) of my 2008. There were reasons why this blog was neglected for much of the second half of 2008 – there were a mixture of low and high points but I tend to let the high points to be overshadowed by the low points. I am not going to let that happen again because, bloody hell, looking back, there were so many highlights in my 2008.

February
The visit of my buddy, PJ. I was so happy to see him again after he disappeared for like a decade!

March
I was offered a new job. My ticket out from Rubbishville, finally! I have had enough of the rubbish for much longer and had only a month left to put up with it.

I chopped off my tresses away as well – get rid of the bad vibes that was Rubbishville. Ha. Ha.

April

One of my favourite people I used to work with, Sonia, was in town and we spent quite a bit of time enjoying a few bottles of good wine and cigars!

Started my new job. A week later, I was Vienna-bound to run my first half marathon overseas, followed by a few days in London, a long weekend in Mallorca and a quick visit to Paris. The most productive holiday I have ever had – recorded my best personal time in half marathon, had a bit of a tan from my first visit to Spain and spent quality time with my friends, Kevin, Ger, Kam, Cyrille, Helene, Pierre, Jerome, Stephane, Judith, Ludo, Jim and off course, my favourite little people, Alexandre and Juliette – There was a new little friend too, Le petit Arthur.

May
Not only did Manchester United retained the English League title, they won the Champions League, defeating Chelsea (boo!) in Moscow! And this time, I stayed awake to watch the Live match till the end. I was totally stoked!

I miserably completed a night marathon in over 8 hours. I am not a night person and there is no way in hell I'd run another night marathon.

June
Participated in another race – 15km Passion Run.

July
The beginning of my low points – work was beginning to be hell. I began to work long hours and getting chest pains.

Managed to squeeze in a long weekend to Bintan with Ken & Mun Yee. That got work off my mind for a bit.

August
One of my favourite performers from the 80's was in Singapore for a concert! Yes, Rick Astley! Truly a highlight what with yours truly managed to get at least two metres away from the stage and saw Rick almost up close. It was well worth the money too because I enjoyed performances by One Republic, Jamie Scott & The Town, Jason Mraz & Pussycat Dolls.

Flew to London on Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 AND on business class for business. The work bit did not thrill me to bits but London, the royal treatment on board the A380 and making Kevin green with envy that I flew on the A380 – priceless! It was nice to be back in London again – twice in a year! This almost never happens!

Meanwhile, the chest pains continued.

November
Was at Kylie's (Minogue, that is) concert. It was wow wow wow wow! I should be so lucky!! Actually, I was. Meant to be traveling to Bangkok for work the following morning after her concert but with the unrest in the capital, all flights were canceled. Spared me from having to struggle my way out of the city if I had gone a day earlier. Thank you, Kylie!

December
I completed the Standard Chartered full marathon in 6 hours and 4 minutes. Considering that I did not train as hard as I did last year, I managed to shave off 18 minutes from last year's time. An achievement for yours truly, regardless.

Set off to Sydney, Australia a day after the marathon. My maiden voyage to Down Under – never been there before, mate! Met a few friends who I made while working at my favourite French organisation and had a blast! MC, Phoebe & Bella were a fabulous company! I had a good dose of retail therapy too – bagged myself some good deals, Aussie's labels mainly. Packed myself a few bottles of wine after a visit to wine country.

My friend, Beate was in town for a week after my return from Sydney. The last time I saw her was in 1995 when she was here for her Asian holiday. I was thrilled to see her again. Although we rarely wrote to each other in the last decade also, I am so glad that we were able to pick things up again the moment we saw each other, like all of the last decade was just yesterday.

So there! That was my 2008. September & October were the dark months but those were the months where I had learned to deal with the anxiety that was work. My chest pains are no longer there and no long working hours for yours truly anymore.

Despite not being in love with my job, being at work is not a drag because I have a good boss and very supportive colleagues. I have never felt like I belong for a very long time now. I am close with a few of my colleagues and with them, everyday is always filled with laughter to help alleviate the stress that we have to deal with everyday.

2008 was a also the year where I had built new found friendships with a few people. One of them is with Andrea, who I have so much in common. We can go on talking for hours and never ran out of topics to talk about.

I feel that my life is well balanced now. Work is bearable with some good colleagues for company and out of work, I have good company too with new found friends. Plus I have enough activities to keep my mind off work when I away from it.

I am utterly positive, aren't I? I hope to maintain in this mode for 2009. Here's to a good year, if not great!

happy 2009!

Happy New Year! Bonne année ! Selamat Tahun Baru!

I did not start the new year very well - I was in bed all day with a cold and cough. :-( But hey, I am ok now. All ready to go through another 365 days in 2009.

I could not believe that I have neglected this blog for, oh, so long! Much has happened since 9 July. More details in my next post - which I hope will be posted soon!

withdrawal mode again...

Ok, one more entry about football and I will put this to rest until mid August (that's when the new football season will commence for those of you who don't know).

It has been a week since the curtains closed for Euro 2008. The Spaniards did it and with style as well. I did not watched much of their matches because I was too mesmerised by the Dutch to notice that the Spaniards were a much stronger team (and some good looking players too). I saw them played in the semi finals againsts the Russians, who defeated the Dutch in the quarter finals. Well, I saw the second half only but I didn't miss much because the first half ended without any goals. The second half however, was spectacular. That Fabregas lad, he was amazing – contributed to 2 of the 3 goals scored in the second half.

Although the Spaniards sealed the final with just one goal in the first half but their performance throughout the match was magnificent. I will not dwell on the final match but I felt that for once, a good team has deservedly won a major football final for once. Phil Ball wrote an article on EPSN's soccernet.com which echoed the sentiments of most football fans, including yours truly. It was probably one of the best written articles I have ever read and I could not help but read it over and over again.

Yesterday, I was in such withdrawal. It was Saturday, I was very much under the weather, stayed under the blanket in my bed but there was no live football on the tele to keep me entertained. I ended watching a couple of chick flicks on DVDs. There are still about 6 weeks left before the new football season starts and 6 more weeks of withdrawal, with the occasional times where I will watching classic matches being re-run on the football matches.

let down...

Woke up at 2.45am this morning to watch the live match between the Dutch and the Russians, only to be disappointed. The Dutch lost to the Russian 3-1. So much about the hype. Oh well...

Now, I feel a bit restless. It is the first weekend that I don't have any major activities scheduled. I should get things that I have been meaning to do in the last few weeks but it is just so difficult to get going. Well, I better do something productive or this weekend will be a waste.

mesmerised...

The Euro 2008 is now into its third quarter finals and so far, the matches played have been entertaining. One of the many teams that has made an impression one me is the Dutch team. They were in Group C in the early rounds where they played against Romania and the two 2006 World Cup finalist, France and Italy – aptly called 'The Group of Death”. Now, who would think that that the Dutch would come out tops from that group? And their performances were outstanding and had left me mesmerised.

Their manager is one of my favourite players, Marco Van Basten and he has done a good job so far – tactics, team work, which speaks for itself with the results. They beat Italy 3-0 and thrashed France 4-1. I missed the match they played against Italy but the one against France was truly astonishing. Even the commentator has nothing but praises for the Dutch team during that match. He described how the Dutch were playing as a team and that they were playing football from a different planet, let alone a different level. At the end of the match, he said that the Dutch has put a sword through two previous World Cup winners. I have to agree with him. All the four goals were spectacular – two from counter attacks, scored by Robin Van Persie and Arjen Robben. The last one was from long range by Wesley Schneider, where he had the ball with his back against the goal post, turned his body and kicked the ball from outside the penalty box straight into the left corner of the goal post, beyond the reach of the French goalkeeper, Gregory Coupet.

I must say, not only is the Dutch team talented but they are quite the looker as well. That is the bonus about enjoying football as a woman. Not only you love the game, enjoying the good looking footballers and their well-defined bodies. Ooo la la la. When Arjen Robben was about to come on as a substitute during that match against the French, all I noticed was his nice chest and his ribbed abs through the tight t-shirt he was wearing. That motivated me to work on my abs as well. Not that I want to have ribbed abs like him but you know, you see a picture of health, you want to work just as hard as well.

Tonight, the Dutch will meet the Russians in the third quarter final of the tournament. The Russians are led by a Dutchman, Guss Hidink. The Russians have been entertaining too – that match against the Swedes was thrilling with loads of goal-mouth action. However, I am rooting for a Dutch win i.e. with Marco Van Basten. He won the European Championship back in 1988, where he scored the winning goal – I remember that one.... a goal from a very tight angle. And he deserves to win one as a manager as well. So, come on you Dutch!!! Go out there and beat the Russians! Go Holland!!! We have to see you in the Final!

running knackered...

I was feeling blah yesterday. Completely knackered from the weekend. This is what happened when you made full use of your weekend, be productive. The result is you feeling blue on a Monday.... waiting for the clock to strike six, so that you can rush home and lie on your bed.

Anyway, on Sunday, I took part in the Passion Run for the second year running. Last year, I signed up for the 10km Women's Open but this year, I signed up for 15km Women's Open. After the disastrous marathon the weekend before, this run was not so much about improving my personal best. It was just another leisure run, what with the route was along the beach at East Coast.

I checked my results today, off course. I was not all out to win it but I am interested in my timing. I completed the route in 1 hour and 48 minutes. My previous 15km race, I completed it in 1 hour and 59 minutes. An improvement of 11 minutes. I finished 307 out of 661 female runners who completed the run. It has been almost two years since I started running but I still believe that there are plenty of room for improvement.

No, I was not knackered from this run. In fact, I was full of energy after that. I spent the afternoon at the pool with a couple of my friends and their kids. I think starting your Sunday as early as 5am and your activities did not end until 9pm, could leave you shattered. Hence, the blah feeling yesterday.

I am looking forward to the weekend already now.

misread...

What? Aaron Ramsey has not signed by Manchester United yet? Geez, I thought Man U has signed him. I guess I had misread the news. Let's hope he is not going to make the same mistake like Paul Gasgoine. Signed for the wrong club and become a total mess!

i want to say a few things about football...

I am tired of this coverage in the sports news and speculations about Ronaldo and Real Madrid. I think Man U should just sell him and we all can move on. Let’s see what Aaron Ramsey can do for Man U next season.

So, Mark Hughes is going to Manchester City. I think he is a good candidate to take over Sir Alex at Old Trafford or maybe after Carlos Quieroz.

Mister D’s dad predicted that the special one i.e. Jose Mourinho would go to Barcelona and current Barcelona manager, Frank Rijkaard would go to Chelsea in the summer. Well, the special one has now been appointed the manager for Inter Milan. Mister D’s dad will not be able to make it 2 for 2 but we’ll see if Rijkaard would make his way to Stamford Bridge.

Speaking of Stamford Bridge, poor Average Avram. He was fired for almost making it. And Ericson was fired at Manchester City after only one season. Look at Sam Allardyce – a few bad runs and was fired even before midway into the season. I find that clubs are firing managers too easily. Sir Alex took several years to turn things around at Old Trafford and I think the other clubs’ management should do the same. It takes time to build a good team and turn it into a great one. Ok, maybe not in the case of Chelsea back in 2005 – they practically bought the championship trophy that season. It’s called cheating.

One more day to Euro 2008. Not rooting for any nation but good to have some football matches on the tele for the next month.

walking with the night...

I completed my second half marathon at the end of April with a personal best. I managed to shave 12 minutes off from my first half marathon I participated in August 2007. I cannot say that I have done the same for my second full marathon over the weekend. It was an embarrassment – I completed my second full marathon 1 hour 40 minutes more than I did for my first one i.e. 8 hours and 11 minutes. I have no one else to blame but myself.

I was not prepared for this. I have done much training like I was supposed to, leading up to the day. Then, this particular marathon was not like other marathon – this one was a night marathon. The race started at 12midnight on Saturday. So, not only was I not physically prepared but I was also not mentally prepared.

About 3 hours before the race started, I almost decided not to go but I went anyway. I managed to run 14 kilometeres before my brain and body started to shut down. By then, it was almost 2 in the morning on Sunday and I have been awake for over 16 hours (I took a 2-hour nap that Saturday afternoon but I guess that didn’t help much). Despite the cool weather and minimal heat, with your mind and body shutting down, it was challenging to continue the remaining 28 kilometres. I ended up brisk walking back to the finishing line. I was hallucinating on the most parts – it was like sleep walking. But once the day broke, I was brisk walking as quickly as I could to the finishing line, so that I could get home, lift up my legs and sleep. Even the last 1.4 kilometres to the finish line seemed like it was still miles away.

By the time I crossed the finish line, I could not feel my feet. I expected to have sore legs and feet by lunch time and that the sore will not go away till Monday. However, I must have done something right, because by Monday morning, my legs were not sore at all and managed to get to work without much struggle.

I didn’t have much of a weekend really. I spent all of Sunday sleeping, waking up three times for meals, before hitting back to slumberland. Despite the disappointing end to my second marathon, I am in good spirits at the moment. I'll take part in another marathon but not another night marathon. Night marathon is a nightmare!