Checking in

I know I have not blogged over a week.
Well, I had been busy (still am actually).
I have been trying to sort out work that is slowly coming in as the deadline for it draws near (i.e. end of the month, which happens in a few days).
This is work submitted to me, which I then have to "magically transform" to make it become user-friendly to our "customers".
This is the back-end job that I do, which I rather like.
Having said that, I am fortunate that some of the work has already been done.
I only have 3 more lots to do.
Considering that I have yet to get my new support staff in to help me out, I am truly lucky that I only have these 3 lots to do for end of April.
Talking about new support staff, my boss hastened me to go ahead with my hire.
So I have block-booked his time for the second round of interviews he will be doing this coming Friday.
I told him that I won't be telling him who I have in mind to hire from the 2 I have now shortlisted and interviewed in the first round.
I said I would like to see if his eventual choice would be the same as mine.
He joked, asking me what if he didn't like either of the 2 candidates I have shortlisted.
I said I will have to start looking for reserves then...(ok, I was joking too).
I already have my mind set on this particular guy.
He has the right skills and experience, and then some.
His other skills are going to be handy when my department expands.
In fact, there will be a new unit that will be set up which I can potentially see him in, in time to come.
That is, if he is determined and interested enough to stay on after the 3-month probation!
I am hoping that he can be groomed to become one at the mangerial level, since his current work experience and skills will stand him in good stead.

Anyway, a bit about my personal life.
I have not really gone out of my way to do social things.
For one, quite a number of my weekends was taken up by work-related duties.
For another, I am still holding faith that my sweet someone is going to be around for awhile.
I say that as we have re-started our communication again.
This is be it via text-messaging on our mobilephones, or chatting on the phone.

The 2-week army reservist stint seemed to have done him some good.
He probably had a chance to break away from the hectic work routine, and although tiring (he has said), I'm sure the personal space that I gave him in that time turned out good.
That is, I didn't attempt to touch base with him much in the time he was training in camp.
He must have had the time to catch up with his army mates, and probably exchanged news of one another's lives.
From the most recent text messages that I have received so far, I get the sense that although he is polite, he is also "testing waters" by the warm way in which he wrote his messages.
Some of which were in response to a couple of emails I penned to him, reflecting my thoughts about us.
He also gave me a flying kiss on the phone only just yesterday, which was surprising but nice, of course!

We have even agreed to set aside time to meet up next week, in order for me to pass him his belated birthday pressie and to give him a belated birthday dinner treat.
You see, his birthday was spent in the army camp last Saturday.
So he thoroughly deserved his pressie and the dinner treat from me! :o)

Yikes!
It is already way past my bedtime.
Looking at the clock, I will only have 5 hours' sleep.
I better sign off now.

Ciao...

Tiring weekend

Yesterday was my organisation's Open Day.
I had to carry out my duty (and so did all other staff), answering queries and promoting our programmes.
After all, our performance bonus is dependent on how many 'customers' we are going to get!
It was comforting that I actually know many people on the job, although it has only been a couple of months since I started on this new job.
This event also allowed me to get to know some of my colleagues by their names and to chat with them, when previously, it had merely been nods of acknowledgement when we passed each other at work.
I also found out more about my scheming colleague - the one who has been withholding work information and at times, leaving me 'to the dogs' regarding related issues at work.
The latest thing I have found out was that he is now planning to 'clean up' some work stuff which has been messy previously.
In short, it is currently 'in the works' - as usual.
And that was only reluctantly revealed to me when I approached him about related similar work matters!

Oh, I have side-tracked...

Back to the Open Day.
I was asked by my (that) colleague to wait for him at a spot while he went to find out where I needed to go as far as leading a group of visitors was concerned.
After waiting for nearly half an hour, I thought something was amiss.
I then proceeded in search of my 'lost' group, only to find that he has gone ahead with leading one group of visitors himself instead, without getting back to me.
When I asked him about it, he made up some excuse about being too last minute for him to inform me, and whether the person he left word with had got back to me to relay his message!
Whatever.
I vowed to myself then never to trust him again.
Being a trusting person myself, it is disappointing that someone can be like that.
It's no wonder that he is getting so unpopular with so many of our colleagues.
Now I am beginning to know why.
And I am still discovering other things about him that has made him a 'bad egg'!
Isn't it sad???

Today has been another busy day for me.
I am working on a document that needs to be submitted by tomorrow at the very latest.
This is to be emailed to the UK, so I am hoping I can finish most of it for this evening.
Let's keep our fingers crossed, shall we?

Next week is going to be a pretty busy week.
It will be a busy combination of work and play, but right now, I am not thinking about either other than the document I am working on...!

So glad to be the way I am

I am thankful for all the life experiences that have made me the way I am.
All the accumulative experiences not only have made me a stronger person, but also a person who has acquired the ability to formulate opinions about people she has met through her own observations and contact.
And not through mere hear-say.

I actually discovered more about myself through an hour-long conversation that I had with my boss earlier this morning.
I was merely wanting to take up 5-10 minutes of his time.
However, since I started on this job, I haven't really made a point to see him to update him about how I am getting on with my job.
I explained to him the reason why.
For one, I didn't want to take up his time when he already has a busy schedule.
For another, any problems that I felt I could handle I would do so without alerting/alarming him.

Anyway, this hour-long conversation revealed that my unsettling mood wasn't me getting paranoid on the job.
The problem was more to do with my fellow colleague whom I can now safely classed as being a control-freak.
He was (and still is!) the so-called "bottleneck" with regard to many work-related issues.
And according to my boss, the colleague has actually been acting difficult with many other colleagues of mine.
Basically, he has not been cooperative in the things that needed to be done.
That has upset the rest of the people working with him - people who have been merely wanting to get their job done.
He also tried to throw me into the lion's den, hoping that I would be eaten alive (that's metaphorically speaking, of course).
Fortunately, being the way I am, I was able to stay on top of each of the situations, and came out the better for it.
Tough news for him to swallow though, especially now that he has realised I am tougher than I look!

I have not attempted to confront him about the things that he had done to me.
I figured that time will reveal all, without me trying to resolve the issues.
For now, I simply let him think he has out-smarted me, with the additional work issues that have cropped up - all thanks to him.
After all, I have better things to do than wasting time on playing these mind-games.
Besides, his head is now on the line, and not mine.
How ironical, considering that that yesterday, the same colleague has "advised" me that I could be out of a job if I don't start finding out how I could work on developing certain aspects of my job.

With that in mind, I later found out from my boss that he has plans for my future career development.
That was rather flattering, considering that I have not interacted with him properly (i.e. on a one-to-one basis) before today.
I would end up doing something totally different from my current job scope now.
Wow.
More exciting times ahead! :o)

I am happy.
Happy that my quiet efforts have been recognised and appreciated.
Despite the fact that I have only been on this job for a couple of months!

I shall end on this happy note.
It's about time I am happy about something again!

Keeping to my promise...

At least I am not waiting till next week to blog.
I'm one week early! :o)

It has been one of the longest weeks for me so far since I started on the new job.
But it's because so many events happened during the course of the week.

First of all, I miss not having contact with my (ex-) sweet someone.
I feel that I should let him to concentrate fully on his job in this last month.
Anyway, he is due to go for his long-overdue army reservist in a few days.
He had postponed it 3 times so far, due to his unavailability with all the travelling he had been doing.
So understandably, he has been trying to clear as much work as possible before he does.
Especially when he would not have that many days left in the month after he completes his 2-week reservist stint.

I also have work issues to resolve in the past week.
My fellow colleague who was showing me the ropes is starting to feel insecure about his current position at work now.
In fact, he is starting to have his own agenda at work - he has started to make work-related decisions without feeling the need to discuss with me or my other new colleague who joined my department 2 weeks after I did.
It's a shame, as he has more experience working at the organisation than either me or my new colleague, but seemed to have overlooked that fact.
He is actually trying too hard to please our boss now, and is doing lots of things that he feels will do the trick.
From what I know, our boss is too wise for that.
Anyway, I shall leave it up to the boss to handle all that.

To be continued...

Life's surprises

Another 2 weeks have gone by in a flash.
Time really passes quickly when it's a job that one enjoys.
That's not to say that I haven't had my fair share of "wars" (already!) at work.
Which, I might add, I had been unknowingly thrown into by other colleagues.

But, I have been able to hold my own, and I came out safe and sound in the end.
And those who wanted to create trouble for me ended up being the embarrassed ones.
I guess it's because I am new on the job, and some people wanted to "test" me out at work.

Sure, I may look lady-like, have few words (unless necessary), easygoing and accommodating enough, but I guess some people also thought I was weak enough to be a "pushover".
They hadn't realised that all those who have been through a Doctoral course previously are potentially able to weather most "storms" and setbacks!

Anyway, I have more or less established my position at work now.
And some people have begun to realise that I should be taken seriously than not.
In fact, I have won the respect of some of these people now.
I think they end up admiring my guts for making a firm stand!

Anyway, that's just one of life's surprises.
My sweet someone and I have decided to take a break in our relationship.
The situation with him now isn't a bed of roses.
He will be out of a job come end of the month, despite having slogged for the present company in the last 3 years.
The thing is: his company has been bought over by another, larger company in a similar trade.
And since the larger company has already had its own worldwide operations in place, my sweet someone's company has been downsizing its staff or letting each of them go.
To go from almost getting promoted before the company's sell-out to being jobless is such a blow to anyone, especially for a man!
So, we both mutually agreed that he needs time to sort out his life and to determine what steps he wants to take in his life.

Of course, it was a painful decision for the both of us, but we are so alike that we understand this needs to happen.
And if we are meant to be together again in time to come, we are sure we will.
But for now, the relationship will have to take a back seat.

From my own standpoint, I fully understand his situation.
Not knowing what's in store when faced with a jobless situation is rather daunting.
Especially when my sweet someone is actually in his late 30s.
Suffering from so much work-related stress in his line of work has taken a toll on his mental state too.
He is suffering from insomnia and lethargy, although he has always been one who can go out like a light when his head hits the pillow!

I can say that I am the only person who is closest to him right now.
This is because his own friends have stopped keeping in touch with him with all the frequent travelling he had to do on his job.
I have made it clear that despite the break in our relationship, he mustn't lose the closeness that we have shared in terms of understanding each other.
He is an orphan, and not being close to his siblings, he needs a person who understands him well to be by his side in such difficult times.
For me, whatever happens to us in the future will be a separate matter altogether.

To my dear friends out there, I am sad but fine right now.
I will be very grateful as long as you keep me in your thoughts and prayers...