Recap : December 2011

After the massive relocation project in early December, the company held a X'mas party at Dempsey House. Honestly it was the first X'mas party I've attended that was paid for and organized by the company. Back in my last job in HK, these type of X'mas parties were usually sponsored by local managers. Food, games and finally an opportunity to meet some of the colleagues. Most of them knew me (since I was the new guy) while I knew very few of them.

Towards the later part of the event, the MD had a short speech and called me up. He told everyone how he had given me a hard time due to the relocation project, and how I managed to pull through regardless of the differences between the 2 merging companies. He even gave me a portable massage chair for my efforts! The rest of my team also got token rewards. At the moment in time I felt really good with myself. 2+ months of effort were recognized by people all around as well as senior management. Yet I couldn't help but feel that the whole relocation project was made out to be a bigger deal than it was (since I've done several relocation projects in China already), and I guessed that people were more impressed by how I managed to survive the political battle very much unscathed.

It was only some time later, when I tried to look for pictures for my kid's 1st birthday that I realized that I didn't take many pictures of him during the month of November and early December 2011. That was the key period of the relocation project and I probably neglected my family more than I realized. From a father who spent nearly everyday with him to a father who hardly had any time for him. A baby grows so fast that even 2 weeks' difference will be significantly noticeable. I will never get back those 2 months of our lives...

Lunch at Marche Vivocity before we drove into Sentosa

Fortunately enough we had plans to bring the whole family to Sentosa for 2 nights. We checked into the Amara Sanctuary on the 1st day. We spent the day roaming around Resorts World Sentosa and also went for Luge rides. Dinner was at Palio~ Great as usual and J had lots of attention from the serving staff as he was dressed in the same uniform!

 J enjoying himself in Hard Rock Cafe

 Ride up for Luge!

 X'mas light-up in RWS

 J wondering what the waitress in Palio wanted...

Tiramisu from Palio was pretty good~

Day 2 was all about Universal Studios~ After our ride on the Transformer, the rain came pouring down. Initially disappointed by the bad weather, we counted our blessings when we realised that the rain drove the queues away and we managed to get on the Human and Cyclon rides without having to queue at all! That didn't go down too well with the missus who nearly lost her breakfast on the Cyclon ride~ J was too young for most of the rides except the Shrek 4D show. However the loud noise and water-spraying got him into tears! 

When we left the Shrek 4D show it was pouring again and I then realised I parked the baby pram out in the open. When I went back to the spot the prams were gone and were all parked under a sheltered area for queues thanks to the park staff. It was at that point I realised that we finally gotten ourselves a real world class resort. We may not have the politeness and dedication of the Japanese, nor the refined upbringing of the western countries but service can definitely be improved if we bring in the correct organizations and expertise. We got all the infrastructure, all we need is a bit more investment in the soft skills~ 

Day 3 was uneventful as it was pouring again, causing J to miss out on his first swimming outing~ we packed up and left for home. That was when I got a phonecall which notified me of a power trip in the office! 

(-_-;)...

X'mas feast for the whole family!

A week later we had a family X'mas party. We bought food, presents and even had a X'mas tree in our house. My nephews and niece brought their own presents to put under our tree as they didn't have a tree at home. After so many years away it was great to celebrate a X'mas with the entire family. Somehow all these festive cheers gave me an outlet to forget about my problems at work and diminished my desire to quit the organization...