Being Professional

Maybe I am not a professional yet. Faced with the last 3 professional papers before I become an affiliate, my morale is getting lower after the 2nd paper today. 1st paper on tue - Advanced Audit. The compulsory question was in a format I never seen before, and that wasn't the worst - asking audit procedures on share based payments and deferred tax nearly landed me with a heart attack!

When the chief invigilator announced "Exam over. Pls put down your pens and stop writing.", a girl sitting on my right was still writing...one of the invigilators came over to warn her but she persisted in continuing. That invigilator was pretty nice - she went ahead to collect other scripts before returning back to that girl...but she was still writing! The invigilator raised her voice and grab the girl's exam booklet but she desperately held on to her script and continued writing. Could see she was on the verge of breaking down when she finally let go of her writing materials...that was how stressful the exam was!

Today's Advanced Financial Management paper was no better. I have always known that the shorter a question is, the more dangerous and tricky it becomes. Boy am I 'lucky'! As I opened my question paper, 2 very short questions stared at me! The past year questions were at least 1-1.5 pages in length, yet today there were 2 questions that barely filled half the page! This is not funny if you know that these 2 seemingly simple and short questions comprise 60% of the marks...

Last professional paper next week. Will my morale sink to rock bottom or will I heave a sign of relief? Keeping my fingers crossed...

A Month of Birthdays

October is a month of birthdays. Ever since children's day, I have been sending birthday smses and going out to celebrate friends' birthdays. As expected, this month is also where the hole in my wallet becomes the largest!

Last tuesday, I went to meet up with my usual study group to revise for our upcoming examinations. Before hitting the books, I went to the nearby cake shop with Ms A and bought a small slice of cake with a candle to surprise Ms B - her birthday is just a few days round the corner. I also picked up the tab for dinner and we had a nice chat during dinner despite the interruptions from some noisy diners! It's really pleasing to know that small actions like these can make someone really happy :)

Yesterday was another friend's birthday celebration. I met up with a friend to shop at Suntec for presents to give our birthday girl. After walking around, we finally settled at a shop and bought some cute stuffs. Guess what? That was exactly the same shop where the 2 of us bought presents to give to the same birthday girl! Such a coincidence...maybe next year at this time of the year, we may yet go to this shop again?

I also met a friend who was shopping with his mom (I think so). There was some distance between us but we managed to acknowledge each other's presence by waving. He then made a handsign that seemed to ask "Is the friend beside me my girlfriend?" I returned a handsign to say no, but I wonder if he managed to get what my handsign meant? lol

Caught the movie 'Max Payne'. Again same problem with 'Eagle Eye' - the first half of the movie looks good, but the second half turns out to be mediocre. Even though I have forgotten the storyline of Max Payne as a PC game, I can definitely confirm one fact - the movie is a far cry from the game.

It's almost that time of the year again! The exams are slowly approaching and I hope this will be the last round of exams for me to become an affiliate! Frankly I am getting pretty tired of the entire thing - the difficulty levels of the papers have far exceeded my initial expectations and I kept having regrets about quiting the BBM for this. If I have chosen to continue the BBM instead, most probably I would have lost much less braincells?

Not So Good Experiences

It is by no means easy to organise a dining experience for a big group. My experience? Either certain members were very late or, some complained about the environment and the food. To make it worse for the organiser, a close member of my gang sabo me - he called me up several weeks ago to ask me not to plan spicy food as he can't take such cuisines; yet during last weekend's dinner when some members complain about the lack of Thai and Indonesian variety, I explained that was due to his preference over non-spicy food. But what did he say? "Actually I don't mind going for spicy cuisines"...

Last monday, I watched the movie "Eagle Eye" with a friend at Bugis. Certain events (forgetfulness, being blur) before the movie made me realised that I am really getting old! And the movie wasn't that fantastic; during the first half an hour or so, the suspense and mystery level was pretty high - I was waitiing to see who that genius mastermind was. After the answer was revealed, everything became crap and hilarious. Maybe we should have picked "The House Bunny" for a good laugh instead?

"My Best Friend's Girl" was a pretty ok movie, with some occasional laughs here and there; though not the best comedy around, it was certainly better than some of the reviews posted on the websites. Watched this movie with my ACCA group of friends on Thursday - the girls apparently enjoyed the movie more than us guys, as they were basically laughing most of the time throughout the 100 minutes.

Next movie to watch is Max Payne...or any other nice comedies?

Interim Report

I realised a shocking fact when I called up the accounting board a few weeks ago - the working experience gained before graduation actually don't count towards the 3 years needed to obtain the accounting licence! I was still dreaming to find a full time job and studying my last few papers slowly...now I better graduate fast before accumulating the experience!

I have come across nice and not so nice employers during my job search, but one thing never fail is - they all want candidates to commit fully to their job, which is something I can't guarantee before I complete all my papers. One interviewer even said straight in my face "I really don't believe you will continue to stay in this position in our company after you complete your studies next feb, and we do not have any graduate positions to give you any time soon." Well...what can I say to that?

Last friday, I sent a package to UK by speedpost. It cost me $12! Hopefully this amount will be worth it as the package contains my dissertation to obtain a degree in accounting. I always thought writing a 8,500 words report isn't anything difficult; my theory still holds but it's a very tedious process and I finally can say I have gone through a similar 'honours project' which I didn't had the chance to do back in uni days.

Exams coming in 2 months time! Final 3 papers le...

The Job Search

Certificates and experience. All along I knew these 2 go hand-in-hand, but I only realised the full brunt of it from the job interviews I went to. Hardly any interviewer questioned my qualification -it seems ACCA is still quite recognised even though I have not graduated! But the 1st question most interviewers asked was "U have no prior experience in the accounting field?"

It is an ironic situation. Who is born with prior working experience? We all have to start fresh from somewhere. However, most job advertisements I seen require tons of working experience. The most hilarious ad I seen was a job position that involves mainly data entries - the company is looking for someone with at least 5 years of working experience for this position!?

I went for a particular interview about 2 weeks ago. I was very confident that I will sign the employment letter as the 2 interviewers had said during the interview "We are very comfortable with you....look forward to working with you...." Job scopes, salary negotiation and orientation of the company were done after the interview; However, they never made the offer on the spot but say they will get back to me in a few days time.

I was almost certain I will land this job, but after 1 week plus of waiting, my confidence was dashed. What went wrong? Maybe I said something wrong during the interview or they found an even better candidate? The highest possibility was...they found a female candidate for the position. Why? There was one glitch in this job - the accounts department is a total female department! The interviewers had highlighted this fact to me during the interview but they seem pretty comfortable with a male employee as long as I'm ok with it. Thinking back, it's highly probable that they still prefer to maintain a totally female environment...

My 1st Interview

Last week I received a call and an email to go for an interview at Shenton Way. It was a 3 months contract job but as it was a very reputable company, I decided to go for it. It would be great if I could add working experience at this company in my resume.

My 1st interview after so many years of studies - I arrived at the company 15 minutes in advance. The reception lady showed me to a small room and told me "Please wait here for her." Ok. The hint - the interviewer will be a lady. After 5 minutes of waiting, the door opened and in came 3 ladies! - 2 of them about my age and dressed very professionally with heavy makeup; the 3rd one was in her mid 40s but was dressed like an auntie and I couldn't see any makeup on her face.

One of them joked "Hope we didn't scare you!" Well, who won't be scared if they get 3 female interviewers on their 1st interview? The 2 younger ladies were the ones who asked the questions, the elder lady only sat there and seem to stare into space. At 1st the questions were pretty general, but then came the more technical questions which got me sweating even in the cold air-con room. Now I know - those 2 are the accounting personnel in the company and they really gave me some tough accounting questions to answer!

After I managed to struggle through their questions, one of them asked me "So do you have any questions for us?" So I asked "What accounting software does the company use?" To my surprise, both the ladies turned to the elder woman and said "Maybe our supervisor can answer your question." For the 1st time after about 20 minutes into the interview, the elder lady opened her mouth, but she didn't directly answer my question! Instead, she reflected the question back at me "So, tell me more about the *** software that our company is using."

*Sweat* I really regreted asking that question as I had awakened a monstrosity! I know nuts about accounting softwares, if only she had asked me about C programming instead? I think I stammered a "I'm not sure..." to her. No expression on her face. She asked a 2nd question which make me hate myself for asking her that earlier question! Why couldn't I just say "I have no questions for yr." just now? I muttered something to them - still no expression on her face while the other 2 were staring at me. *sweat sweat sweat*

What a nightmarish interview! Come to think of it, the way the interview was conducted made me feel as if I was applying for some managerial post instead of an entry level position! Hope my subsequent interviews will be much better!

For the past few weeks, I watched 'The Dark Knight' and 'The Mummy 3' with some friends. The Dark Knight was superb, though some scenes were pretty violent. The late Heath Ledger was an excellent actor and the Joker became the main focus of the movie. The Mummy 3 was rather disappointing though - given a choice I would rather watch the 1st Mummy movie over again than this 3rd release.

Food For Thought

I was cleaning my bedroom out of boredom when I came across some books on Zen which I bought years ago. Some interesting food for thought:

"When you are hungry, eat; When you are tired, sleep."

This phrase looks absolutely hilarious at first sight, but upon further thoughts it does make sense - although everyone of us do that automatically, how many of us actually really just 'eat' when we are hungry and 'sleep' when we are tired? More often than not, most of us when eating, are full of thoughts and desires and when sleeping, are full of cares.

How many people awake each morning with a mind unburdened by things of the past? One has to dispel dangerous things that cause inner turmoil and live according to one's original nature.

How to lead a better life
A man asked a Zen master on how to live a more fulfilling life.

Zen Master: You need to speak words of Zen, listen to the sounds of Zen, carry out the work of Zen and have the mind of Zen.

Man: What are the words of Zen?

Zen Master: They are factual, cheerful and modest words.

Man: What do you mean by sounds of Zen?

Zen Master: You must transform all sounds that come into your ears into refined ones. i.e. you must be able to turn insults hurled at you into compassionate sounds and transform slander into encouragement; when you no longer take offence at the harsh words of others or anything you consider unpleasant, you will be able to hear the words of Zen.

Man: What is the work of Zen?

Zen Master: It involves charity, service to others and all actions that are in accord with Buddhist teachings.

Man: What is the mind of Zen?

Zen Master: It is the harmony between your mind and the minds of the sages and ordinary people which blesses all beings.

Me, The Hermit

Accompanied mom to see the doctor a few days ago and also some of mom's friends came over to our house to visit her. All of them said the same things - she needs more rest, go on a longer diet and she cannot move about too much. Quite true. I thought mom was recovering pretty fast, so I went for a project meeting with my mentor on Tuesday afternoon, but I was shocked and upset when I returned home to see mom looking weak. She told me her wounds hurt a bit and felt dizzy because she had to rush to close the windows due to a thunderstorm while I was away. Oh no... :(

Ever since mom's operation, I have been staying at home most of the time doing the daily housechores and avoiding letting her move about too much. Maybe it is also a good thing that the resumes I sent out so far never get any responses. A few of my friends complained that they sent out 30+ and 50+ resumes, yet none of the companies replied. As compared to them, no replies to the six or so resumes I sent out was within expectations...

I had stopped sending out more resumes since then - got to see how mom progress before I start sending more. Luckily the next mentor meeting can be communicated through email - I guess I need to remain as a hermit for the next few days or so...

Went to watch the movie 'Get Smart' last friday evening with some friends (Dad was at home). I didn't expect it to be such a hilarious show - a 4-5 stars for this comedy. Somehow, it reminds me of 'Johnny English' ;p I was hoping to watch '10 Promises to my dog', but such movies seem to be less popular among friends. Guess I have to wait for the DVD version to be released..

The 'Hidden' Restaurant

The Waraku Restaurant @ Marina Square wasn't exactly easy to find - even my friend and I had some difficulties in locating it during our recce the week before. It wasn't a surprise when some of my friends couldn't find the location last saturday(even though I had smsed all of them the exact address). It was also within my expectation that my friend TT will complain and complain non-stop about how come I booked such a wulu restaurant...haiz...even the girls never complain...TT is a guy somemore! But I'm used to his whinings after so many years...just like I always forget to bring along some masking tapes to seal his mouth ;p

What really astonished me was when I saw TT coming to the restaurant together with a security guard...how nice of him to guide TT all the way from don't know where to the restaurant hahaha. The room reserved for us was huge - it should be able to accomodate at least 20 people. We had to leave our shoes outside the room and the dining table was a super long one that stretches from one end of the room to the other end. Instead of chairs, cushions were placed on the floor. However the area below the dining table was hollow, so none of us chose to sit like traditional Japanese ;p

For the past few days, I have been searching online for a company to write my report on. It suddenly dawn upon me that a few companies' financial statements are in a complete mess! Their format changes every year and items in the cashflow statements fall in the wrong place! I was wondering how could this have happened when my dad told me "Oh, these companies are making losses every year and their share prices are plummeting." Now, is that a valid reason for the incompliance with the FRSs...

Scouting the Hulk

"Good health should not be taken for granted."

Mum is finally back! After 3 days in hospital since Wednesday for her operation, we went to fetch Mum home early in the morning. For the past 2 days, we have been staying at the hospital and keeping Mum company almost the whole day. It was such a joy to see her recovering so fast and up on her feet the 2nd day.

For at least the next 2 weeks, Mum has to go on a strict diet. I have decided to follow what she eats - maybe I will finally be able to shed some kilos? It was kind of wierd to go to market with just Dad alone - all along the shopkeepers and our neighbours always see the 3 of us together. It was no wonder that most of them curiously asked Dad and me "What happened to your wife/mum?"

On Monday, I caught the movie "The Incredible Hulk" with a friend in the morning. The Marina Square cinema was almost empty - there were less than 10 people in the big theatre! The sequel was much better than the 1st - at least there weren't long stories on how Bruce got infected and jumped straight into the action. However, the last scene with Ironman leaves much to wonder about.

After the movie, we had a nice lunch and a long chat at Kenny Rogers. We then proceed to scout the area for restuarants since I am so called 'the organiser' for my gang members' birthdays this year. Took a few name cards at Marina Square, Suntec and Cityhall - I guess these should be sufficient to last for the next few birthdays before I relinquish my post.

We had a long long walk from Marina Square to Suntec, then to Cityhall and final destination to Sommerset where we went up to the school where I have been studying ACCA to search for an MBA for my friend. The program looks and sounds almost as good as I had expected - ok, it will go into my list of 'programs to consider for pursuing' :)

Prologue: Day 1

1st day after exams - supposed to be a nice time to enjoy myself but...early morning I met up with a friend to go down to town and sign up for our accounting project. We registered at a small, wulu school - sounds wierd but then they give flexible timings for project meetings, cheap fees and adequate support. The size and brandname of the school doesn't really matter here - ultimately, the marking of the dissertation and award of the degree lies with the UK university.

We had a nice lunch at Billy Bombers before watching the movie 'Sex and the City'. I had long heard of this show while it was broadcasted on TV but I didn't watch any episode then. And today, I had 145 minutes to catch the entire plot in the cinema. The 4 characters played their roles pretty well and overall the movie was pretty enjoyable, but I felt some of those M18 scenes were simply unnecessary - I guess they were there to account for the name of the movie? There were also alot of talks on sex, but nowhere comparable to the movie 'Superbad' where I would even take off my shoes and add my feet plus my 10 fingers and point downwards "Bleah!"

All of a sudden, there seems to be a lot of things to do - write a dissertation, search for jobs and not forgetting the big pile of notes to prepare for next semester's exams! The deciding factor will be - how long will it take for me to land a job? Until then, I must try to finish my report within this period of time and revise for the December exams.

Exam stress has temporarily gone for a holiday, but other stress has come to visit...