Dreamy December

December has been somewhat peaceful, considering I spent more than half of the month away from work.  And boy.... how I wish I could just win the lottery so that I can quit my friggin' job (I really hate my senseless workaholic team mates, shifty global service department and self serving product owner).  Travelling made me realize there are so many wonderful things out there to see and experience, instead of just being desk bound and work to fulfil someone else's agenda.  A true leader is someone who makes people working under him/her feel empowered and become prosperous, instead of just having them execute the boss' own designs.

The highlight of the month is of course, my Japan trip.  This year we started from Tokyo, then made our way through 4 cities in Hokkaido (Hakodate, Otaru, Furano & Sapporo).  I'll be writing on that trip in a separate post.

Checking Out Shimbashi On Our 1st Night - Galaxy S23+

Normal November

November has been mostly quiet, more because I've chosen to really take things slow and just wind down.  Work sucks as usual, I mean what's new right...  The SAP integration's phase 2 will start next year and I've been arrowed to "drive" it.  So this month I spent a lot of time contacting the regional teams to fix the key contacts from country level and arranging the meetings.  Till today, only Japan still hasn't come to a decision yet, while my manager is already anxious and asking me to block the participants' calendar.  2 weeks ago we also suddenly encountered a platform level incident with Salesforce which resulted in some delays on my weekend.  I mean.... it had to happen on a friday....  

Just Another Rainy Day in Office - Galaxy S23+

Ordinary October

October has been a plain sailing month, even to this date which is the last day of the month.  Work was OK, I mean I'm still doing lousy stuff which won't give me any promotion and such, but I'm cleaning up 💩 from the SAP integration project, where scenarios and situations the analysts did not think of finally showed up as service tickets.  These "cases" appear on the KPI dashboards, or in some cases are missing...  So it's up to me to fix those.  This month I also went to a Salesforce event in Raffles Hotel.  It was the first time I attended such a glamorous vendor event.  Prior to the start of the event I started feeling my panic attack returning.  I guess it was because the place was rather dark, packed with so many people and loud sounds that almost triggerred another attack.  Fortunately a staff ushered us to the front seat where I picked the corner most seat to get more space.  I managed to get the panic attack under control.

Waiting For The Event to Start - Galaxy S23+

Shackled September

So the friggin' SAP integration project went live this month, I didn't give a 💩 and took a day off during the prep week which was during the kids' term break since I refused to do anything further related to that project, not the hypercare, not the sprint grooming, etc.  My BAU is more than enough to occupy me and the lack of work life balance as well as consideration disgusted me enough to pay no heed to this fu💀ked up project. 

Friday Morning Ferry Trip to Batam - Galaxy S23+

Angsty August

Sometimes I wonder when can I start my entry on a positive note.  Work has been disgusting as usual, unfortunately, work makes the most of our lives isn't it.  The cursed SAP integration project is finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel which will be 9th September.  And the amount of preparation and tests that have to be done will have to take place over 1 weekend and 1 full day during the kids' term break.  I can't believe it, another term break that I won't get to spend with family.  This project is just f💣ked up.  And all for vanity.

View From My Parents' House - Galaxy S23+

Jakarta Trip 2024 - Part 2

Day 3 started very relaxedly; the missus went to a nearby eyelash studio while I started the day in Mercure's gym to ensure that my blood sugar and metabolism were well under control.  Even after I was done the missus still wasn't so I spent the morning waiting in PIK Avenue.  I started with a cup of palm sugar coffee and cinnamon roll in The Coffee Academics for my caffeine fix. 

Palm Sugar Coffee + Cinnamon Roll @ The Coffee Academics - Galaxy S23+

Jakarta Trip 2024 - Part 1

Last month the missus and I went on a 4 day trip to Jakarta.  It was my first since 2020 before Covid.  I really needed that trip to break away from the craziness at work, gain some balance for myself and just rest my tired mind.  This time we went on a no frills Scoot flight in the late morning. 

That's Our Plane - RX100Mk3

Juggling July

July continued the shitload from June for sure where work is concerned.  The damned project that was rushed earlier has been further delayed to sometime in September.   I'm amazed that I'm proven correct yet again, but everyone seemed to turn a blind eye and just let things be.  I on the other hand cannot stand the way we were made to rush here and there especially when I'm still doing BAU.  So again...  I'm extremely pissed off as usual.  

I went for a 2nd interview for an internal transfer opportunity, unfortunately I don't think I'll get that position.  The interviewer, a Korean long timer since day 0 of ONE was very sharp and immediately asked for the real reason why I wanted to transfer.  In his own words "your answer looking for new challenge and career progression is very general, out of 100 people 99 will say the same, I want to know the real reason why you want to leave".  I gave an answer that was still incomplete as I only mentioned about the friction and dynamics with another department that's been giving us problems; I can't say things about my boss' poor judgement and vanity for sure, and about my team mates' habits of working on weekends as well as just being assholes.  Well.....  in any case this is going to be another miss for sure...  I'm starting to wonder if I seriously need to consider looking outside....  

Junky June

If May was madhouse, June is ..........  I don't know man......  I've been so pissed off and angry for the whole of the month for sure.  Work was terrible, I really hated work with a vengeance.  My Tuesdays were mostly terrible, and sometimes my Thursdays too.  It was just meetings after meetings after meetings and meetings...  I don't understand why they like to talk so much when there are so many things to do!  And the f&$king SAP integration project entered UAT stage.  I still had my usual BAU and other things, and this f*&cked up project had to rear it's ugly head and made life a living hell for me.  It was the school holidays, instead of spending time with my children I had to spend time on work.  Just work.....  Such a f#$ked up job.  

It Was Just Meetings After Meetings After Meetings - Galaxy S23+

Madhouse May

May has been an extremely packed month, I was even considering recapping this month's entry as "Machine Gun May", but I thought it wouldn't rhyme so well.  So "Madhouse" it is as the word describes the packed month quite appropriately anyway.  

Sunday Latte - Galaxy S23+

Arduous April

April has mostly been difficult.  I think the biggest thing that happened this month is that the missus got let go by her company just this Monday.  It took a while for her to process the news and I did my best to comfort her.  Just earlier this afternoon we went to her office to clean up her cubicle.  

Me and Lindsay Cleaning The Missus' Cubicle - iPhone 13

Mad March

Oh yeah, the pressure's going up this month for sure.  I've been so busy at work that I have been working on Sundays for about 4 hours just to catch up.  I really hate this month... So the SAP, Salesforce & in-house ONE Finance integration project has started in full swing and it's really making life a living hell for me.  The SAP part which is the backbone of the project is not even fully implemented yet, the end users don't have a picture of how they'll do things and we have to design our new module without a clear picture of the use cases and processes.  The ONE Finance API is also still in development, which means we can't do any testing or have a clear picture of how the products interact with each other until the API development is completed in mid-April.  

Crimson March Moon - Galaxy S23+

Farcical February

This month has been a lot of things.  Chinese New Year, Lindsay's birthday, my wedding anniversary, an old hand returning to deck at work and yet still no change to my working conditions...... Where the f*ck should I start....

So there's Chinese New Year..  this year we travelled all the way to Klaten via Yogyakarta on the first day of Chinese New Year, right after reunion dinner on the night prior.  I dreaded the flight in the packed and cramped Air Asia jet, and true enough, I panicked moments after boarding when I saw people streaming in and filling up the seats one by one, I felt boxed in and my heart started racing until I had to take a 5 mg Xanax pill which I fortunately had prepared along with 2 cans of mints.  I really hated that flight, no way I'm going to fly on Air Asia again for sure.  The thing that I really hate about this is how my wife is taking my panic attack very lightly, just saying "I have to resist it".  If only resisting is as easy as her words...  Ironically, I made this trip only at her behest and yet I can't help but feel neglected by her and even frustrated by her lack of empathy.

Onboard The Claustrophobic Air Asia Flight, After I Took My Xanax - Galaxy S23+

Jabroni January

So here I am towards the end of January.  It has been a busy month, which is very surprising for a start of the year.  But then again.......  This is how my department works.  1 person has left today and another will be transferring to another department in April.  These says a lot about how bad things are in my department.

Cowabunga! - Galaxy S23+