11

11 more working days till end of my internship..

Just realised that I have to move to another seat on monday.. I have to make way for a graduate trainee from Russia who will be posted to my department.. Although I hate to give it up, I have to.. The perk is I’ll get a bigger space.. And there is more freedom..

This working stint can be quite tiring at times, especially when you watch soccer late in the night and have to wake up damn early the next morning..

I will continue to look for more things to do.. Go for more inspections..

Only problem is that valuation department don’t really get out much, unlike those dealing with corporate clients.. They get out a lot to their clients office.. Presentations.. Meetings.. The more interesting stuff..

People management is quite difficult actually.. Especially if you are maintaining a portfolio of clients and each of them with their own needs and demands.. It can be difficult at times to maintain the relationship with them.. That’s something that I want to learn and that can’t be learnt elsewhere..

Connections is also very important and at a department where you get to work with other departments, that gives you the exposure that can be quite useful at times..

Well..

11 more days for me to achieve all that..

Postponed Operation

Was suppose to get the wisdom tooth out today.. Went to the dentist and he told me that it is going to be a complicated operation and that he was unable to do it for me at the clinic.. I have to get a referral from a polyclinic to National Dental Centre for the operation.. This sucks.. I seriously thought that I could get it out today..

The problem with the wisdom tooth is.. It did not come out straight.. It is actually growing out at an angle towards the inner cheek..

It was quite fast at the polyclinic, especially with the aircon installed.. What a relief on a hot day like today.. It was my 2nd time at a polyclinic.. First time was when I was in camp and was down with a fever.. As SPF is did not have their own Medical Officer, we had to make out way to the nearest polyclinic.. That was quite a bad experience as I was down with a temperature of 40 degrees and had to wait at quite a rundown polyclinic, without aircon and with fan that doesn’t seem to be working properly..

Oh well.. My referral letter got through and my next appointment is on 17th July, 0830hrs.. Let’s just hope that I can get my operation date before school starts, if not it is going to be quite disruptive, especially with rag and o week coming up.. Cant afford to sit it out..

Pain

I think i have to go the Dentist soon..

Freaking pain..

Unbearable..

Have to decide soon where and when..

Crazy Sale

There is the connection between PEOPLE and SALE, as if it is in their blood. Instinctively, whenever someone hear of a sale somewhere, especially if it is those private sale, they will rush over there, squeeze like mad, get in, and spend lots of money in it. The ladies in my office are talking about the ISETAN sale and it is those that you have to queue for quite a long time just to get in and even if you are in, you still have to plough your way through the sea of people to get to the products, even after that, if you are looking at apparel, you still have to queue for the fitting room. End of the day, they end up with bags and bags of things that they might need but most probably wont need.

I would imagine private sale be something that is more relaxed so you can take your time to go through the things, not like a crazy frenzy.

Promotion stints by companies have degraded so much so that they have lost their meaning.

Should just rename it CRAZY SALE.

Forward

I need work to keep me occupied.. I suppose as an intern there is that much of work that they will give me..

The market ain’t doing quite well and that has a recurring effect on the real estate market.. Rising cost in food and oil puts inflationary pressure on our cost of living.. The market has a more direct impact in my STI-linked investment policy that is still in the red.. We all know that the real estate market is a cycle and what goes up must come down.. Questions like when will it hit the bottom and when will it rise..

Life is hard nowaday and definitely that is not the end of it..

Something strucked me when I was travelling to work.. One has to work hard to get themselves out of the predicament that they are living in.. We can complain all we want but that is all we will ever do if we do not do something about it..

With all the whining.. What’s important is what you are going to do about it.. Are you going to do something about it.. Are you going to fight for the kind of future that you want to be in..

I have told myself.. That I want a different life.. I don’t want to squeeze every day in the MRT with tonnes of other ppl to shuttle to and from work.. Though others may say that I don’t as I drive around in my car.. But that doesn’t mean that I won’t take public transport in the future..

I don’t want the office life that day in day out you do the same old things that gets you no where.. That kind of unattractive life that most people are living now.. I want to challenge myself everyday at work.. I want to get somewhere and I will work for it..

That is what I want..

This differs people to people.. Depending on what they look forth in life..

Road Trip

This weekend ahead will be spent in M’sia..

Off to the villa for Philippians’ retreat..

Have to start packing for tomorrow night’s drive up to M’sia..

Interesting feeling as this is the first time that I am driving to another country..

First time that I am driving into another country with Dar Dar..

Our first road trip..

So looking towards it..

Last RE-Search

Finally…

I finished the research for Mr Tan…

After 3 days spent in school and countless pages of photostating…

It is finally over…

Not to mentioned that I have to travel back to office to report on the status to Mr Tan…

It’s been a good experience as I didn’t know that there are so much resources that can still prove useful even when you have finished school… The resources can be useful when you are working… When you come across weird cases that you have not much experience with… And hope that there are books out there to teach you what to do… And there resources in Central Library… Outsider have to pay an annual premium for the usage… Quite a few organisations are interested in tapping the resources… My boss is… So is Xue Mei’s…

Here we are… Having the resources in our hands and how many people actually goes there to use them…

RE-Search

Have to go down tomorrow again.. This time have to go to 3 different places, namely SDE, Central Lib and Law Lib.. This is becoming more like a chore as there are so many places to go.. Oh well.. Better than nothing to do in office.. But I sure hope that I can leave from there.. Give me less time spent on travelling and more time spent finding the information..

Change of Environment

I am not going to Republic Plaza tomorrow.. Instead I will be heading down to NUS.. I am not going to sit in office finding work to do.. Instead I will be at IRC going through the resources..

Mr Tan gave me a project to do.. Look for resources that are not being produced by anyone in the market.. In the changing environment of the market, there are also changes to the kind of information that the industry needs.. Academics definitely are unable to keep up with the constantly changing environment of the industry and sometimes the industry will do their own research and data collection..

I didn’t expect that valuation department needed such research until I heard and understand the scenario that Mr Tan and Chee Leong depicted to me.. I also recalled what Dr Kwame said during lecture, that valuation ain’t that simple and there are many contentions to the very basis of valuation..

This is a very fresh experience for me as I wasn’t aware that I could be asked to do such a research.. It is also good for me as the information can help when I doing my thesis.. It is also good as it is something different from what I am doing now.. It is also more relevant to valuation as I would understand more about how people come up do their valuation decision and the consequences to their decision..

Best thing would be that I can drive to school instead of taking public transport.. Bad thing would be that I have to report back to office to Mr Tan on whether this kind of research could be done with the level of information access that I have.. But at least that I can park my car at Plaza Singapura and take MRT back to Republic Plaza.. With the first 1hr free and $1.20 for the subsequent hr, this is a great deal and so much cheaper than parking in CBD, not mentioning the ERP charges that I have to pay when I enter CBD..

If the research goes well, I might be spending the next few days, even weeks in school doing the research.. It may be boring but I certainly hope that I can spend some alternate days in office and get more experience in actual valuation and especially the valuation of REIT..

Shot on the Shoulder

My irritating shoulder problem gotten worst when I felt a sharp pain near the left shoulder blade.. Usually it just get a bit sore after I put too much pressure on it but this time was quite bad.. Thought it will go away, but I didnt.. After a few unbearable day.. I decided to give the doctor a visit and see whether I have to visit the physiotherapist..

The doctor explained that that particular spot that keep hurting is a result of the injury.. When you get muscular injury, the body will react by protecting the injured portion by cover it will more muscle.. Muscle get stretched and tightness developed at the spot.. Thus my pain..

The doctor suggested that I get a injection at the spot to relieve the pressure built up at the spot.. Big thick needle.. Dar said that the needle went in around 1inch before reaching the muscle..

Instant relieve:)

Really appreciate that Dar went to the doctor with me:)