2016 Week 3 Update

The week started on Monday with Big B changing my yearly appraisal meeting to later in the week. Then the recruitment company where I am nominally employed wrote to me saying that Big B has not yet confirmed that he is going to renew my contract. The whole week I was in pins and needles thinking about this this. At one point, I even thought that Big B was just sitting out my contract which is due to end in 2.5 weeks since I was having no work to do as it is!

After the appraisal, which to my surprise went well, I am even more confused. Big B is very satisfied with my work and I’ve gotten mostly 4s and 5s on the different parameters (on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best). The only criteria where I didn;t score was relationships. Apparently the people here don’t think I am a happy camper. I need to up my ante more on the office politics (something which I loathe) and as Big B put it, “When you are in a situation where you need to get get approval to get on board permanently, it helps to have more people on your side”. I agree, but I don’t like it!

Apparently since I am in this role for three years now, Big B is being pressured to either regularise my employment, which means making me permanent or let me go and this job will be done by one of the executive assistants as an enhanced role. They are still mulling over what the final decision will be, so in the meantime they will extend my contract for three months. I actually asked Big B “What would happen if they didn’t get the green light for my extended appointment and so does that mean I will be without a job after three months? Should I start looking for a new job now?” I think he was a bit taken aback at this, but he didn’t tell me what, just said he didn’t think it would come to that. So now I am to write a new job scope for myself which takes into account my current role as well as an enhanced version of what I want to do. So I guess my plan of action is to do that and at the same time start seriously looking for a new position.

On the home, we finally put the plans we had to renovate BB & GG’s rooms which we had not done when we shifted here around seven years back. The carpenter will take out the existing furniture and then pre-fabricate the new desk and book shelves in his factory and during the March holidays, will come over to fit it. In the process BB’s bed will have to go as it’s part of the existing built-in furniture, but we will replace it with a single bed which converts to a double one, so this will be useful when we have guests over.

After this, one after the other, my washing machine and laptop have also given up on me. After thinking we need to replace the washer since it’s almost eight years old, I spoke to the company customer service and tried to see if it could be repaired, but it was a no-go as the technician could only give a three months warranty and the repair job would cost slightly less than a new machine. So we went and ordered a new machine and happily, they delivered in less than 12 hours, so now we’re all sorted in that department!As for the laptop, I now need to take it to the service centre to get it repaired once again!

Because I don’t have much work in office, I am reading more than ever! I came to the Goodreads app a lot later than I care, but last year when I got in, I started the yearly reading challenge. I challenged myself to read 100 books in 2015 and completed the challenge just after Christmas. This year’s challenge is 125 books which this time at work helps. Reading fluff books (romances, chick-lit etc) will help me reach the goal faster. According to my calculations, I need to read 2.5 books a week or 10.4 books a month. I am currently ahead in the challenge and I need another 3 books to reach my January mini goal, which should be by the end of next week….

Have a great week people!

2016 Sec 1 Week 3 Update

School has started in earnest now. The children have exercised their Co-Curricular Activity options. BB’s school had three choices and so he chose the Youth Flying Club (one of the main reasons he chose this school), Robotics Club and NCC (Air) as his three choices. He had to go for an interview cum audition for the Flying Club which was run by the seniors. According to BB, there were almost 80-100 students, mostly boys who came for the audition. Hopefully on Monday when the CCA postings are done, he will have gotten the Flying Club as his CCA.

GG’s school had trials and selections for the sec 1 children so that they could have an idea on what the CCA entailed before they exercised their selection. They had to choose 6. She went for Choir trials/auditions this week and as I expected she was selected for it. The choir conductor apparently said she has a nice voice and coupled with her choir experience in Primary school, this was a done deal! She retains her Soprano 1 position, which is the highest singing voice. During this audition, the conductor also called for people to audition to sing solo during the school’s Chinese New Year celebrations and GG was selected for that too! We also received this week a letter from BB’s school, signed by the principal, inviting selected students to be part of their Broadcasting Club. From the letter, it seems that they have selected some students based on their English and overall PSLE results. The club sounds very interesting and will teach students scriptwriting, interviewing techniques as well as pronunciation. Their duties will include hosting duties during school events and also some daily PA system broadcast duties. I think this will be a 1-2 year programme and hopefully this does not clash with his CCA.

 BB will be carrying a full load this year. We also heard news that he has to compulsorily take part in his school’s Maths Olympiad team. Apparently all A* students have no choice in the matter, so that’s one more day that he has to stay back for practice….

 The first full week of school also meant that studies have started and both are starting to see the pressure that is secondary school. We cannot take this year off as the number of subjects increase from four to eight or nine! This on top of CCAs which can up quite a bit of time! CCAs are important in secondary school as you get some points depending on your involvement in it and leadership positions which you can use to shave off points from your O level results. The end of next year (secondary 2) is also streaming year, when students have to choose their subject combinations for their O levels. This pretty much determines what you will do in life as wrong subject choices will impact junior college and/or Polytechnic course applications. Doing well in secondary 1 and 2 will allow you a much broader base from which to choose subjects.

In My Hands Today…

On Sal Mal Lane – Ru Freeman

On the day the Herath family moves in, Sal Mal Lane is still a quiet street, disturbed only by the cries of the children whose triumphs and tragedies sustain the families that live there. As the neighbors adapt to the newcomers in different ways, the children fill their days with cricket matches, romantic crushes, and small rivalries. But the tremors of civil war are mounting, and the conflict threatens to engulf them all.

Instagram Interludes

Today is a random kind of day. My phone which has 64 GB of memory, of which there’s 59 GB available memory is down to critical levels. I only have 2.66 GB memory space left. This meant I spent the whole of yesterday going through the loads of photos in my camera to delete all the junk we collect over the years. So here are some pictures that reflect all randomness in my life…

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Sunrise as we leave home

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Sunset

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Colourful fabrics at the Night Market in Siam Reap

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Colourburst at the Night Market in Siam Reap

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Who says these? I am guilty of using #1, #2, #4, #7 and #9. You?

In My Hands Today…

The Devil on Her Tongue – Linda Holeman

Diamantina is 13 when her father, a Dutch sailor who washed up on the Portuguese island of Porto Santo, abandons her and her African-born mother and sets off for the New World. Unbaptized, tainted by her mother’s witchcraft and her foreign blood, the girl is an outcast who seems doomed in her struggle to survive. Diamantina refuses to accept her destiny and vows to escape her circumstances and forge a life of her own, no matter the cost. But as the price of her desires rises, can she live with the choices she has made? Diamantina’s odyssey to change her life is a sweeping narrative of starvation and plenty, cruelty and love, disaster and triumph.