Updates from Shenton Way

A Fight to get My Ass to Work

I've always thought that I have the smarts to perform decently in the corporate world. Instead of taking the so-called 'easier option' and opting for a career in coaching/teaching, I should first test myself in the fast-paced business environment. Note that I've put the possibly offensive phrase in approstophy, indicating that while it may be the opinion of some people, it certainly isn't mine. Let's leave the debate as to which is tougher for other people, shall we?

A Day in the Life of a Typical White-Collared Worker

Initially, it was really painful process. My body clock, accustomed to sleeping late and waking up even later, underwent a rude shock while readjusting. The entire process of dragging my body to work and then continually abusing my brain throughout the duration of the day left me haggard. After work I was mentally exhausted, reaching the climbing gym looking like a zombie. It was necessary to stone for 30 minutes before even reaching to extricate my rock shoes from my bag. That time spent staring into space is crucial for clawing some form of sanity back. Truth be told, I wasn't expecting myself to be so drained.

When I first started out, I resented being made to do mundane tasks like data collection and compilation. Perhaps I did a decently good job, because after a while, my superiors starting entrusting me to harder tasks. I snooped around a bit before it dawned on me that some of my work is going into some consultancy reports, of which they charge their clients upwards of several tens of thousands for. A sense of pride swelled up inside. My ego purred. They really trust me! I've also started to see the big picture of how everything comes together, that it is in fact a factory line process right from data collection to data analysis to providing recommendations. A report is only as good as its weakest link, and I certainly do not wish to be that crumb which made the cookie crumble.

Foreign Talent

I am especially impressed with my superior who is from the PRC. When asking requests of me (the shitty bothersome intern), she begins her sentences with Sorry Jansen.. Can you please help.. After I get the job done, she thanks me profusely. Academic wise, she is highly qualified. If a Ph.D and a CFA 2 doesn't count as being qualified, I don't know what does. One might think that with such credentials, she would probably be ivory tower material, or worse, a snobbish personality.

The most amazing thing about her is that despite her sparkling credentials, she has absolutely no airs about her. Nope. Nothing. None at all. Once, after realising that she has made a silly mistake, she laughed at herself. In her slightly wheezy voice, she said, I think I studied too much, got permanent head damage (Ph.D) now. The colleagues in the surrounding tables burst out into laughter. I laughed along too. But on hindsight, an untested undergraduate like myself has no place laughing at someone like her.

She is in the office before 830am and leaves way past 6pm. In fact, I don't even know when she leaves the office. She has no qualms about going back on weekends to tie up any loose ends. My mentality when I started out was that I am going to leave at 6pm on the dot. After all, why stay beyond if you are not going to be remunerated accordingly? After seeing her work ethic, I told myself that maybe 615pm is fine. Soon, it became 630pm. Now, I only leave the office when I've completed all the tasks assigned to me. Such is the inspiration she provides.

Others may not consider this zealousness to be positive work ethic. They may think her to be a workaholic. They may think she does not have work-life balance. But I beg to differ. I think the reason for her single-mindedness is because she takes immense pride in her work.

This is despite her having a 15 month old child waiting for her attention at home. She did not take maternity leave. Heck, does she even take annual leave? Yet she shoulders on, putting in the extra hours now so that she can provide a better life for her child in the future.

I don't understand why certain Singaporeans are so anti-foreign talent. At opposition rallies, such people even chant about kicking out foreigners, without realising that Singapore's economy is heavily dependent on the maintenance of our export competitiveness. Is it not plain to see that if you kick out foreigners who value add to the company, you eventually shoot yourself in the foot later?

Moods fanned to a fever pitch. Tensions run wild. Petty emotions over-ride logic. They turn into a mob, deriding foreigners as if the foreigners are some alien entity incapable of feelings. Hello? Aren't these people human too? Laughable. Honestly, if I were the employer, I have no qualms of giving the job to a foreigner of her calibre, rather than some local whose best response is to whine.

Little Intern Ko still has much to learn. He finds it highly ironical that much of that learning is from a foreign talent, whom some of his fellow countrymen despise.

Little Intern Ko

I apologise for the dearth of updates recently.

The stress of the entire academic semester took a turn for the worse in the hectic project submissions and presentations week. This semester was especially trying, what with 6 projects, on top of the usual schooling workload. I didn't get to climb as much as I would have liked, but I make do.

Like a cascading avalanche feeding into itself and growing exponentially more fearsome, all the work from the preceding weeks piled up into the last week of school. The avalanche had snowballed, accumulating material and gathering speed. It was only a matter of time before it slammed into something. BOOM! Its tremendous force surged against a granite boulder, splintering its base with a sickening crack. The boulder lurched forward, but as if resisting its destiny, it teetered back by the force of ts own weight. It leered back and forth, before finally settling. But the damage had been done. It was hanging precariously on the edge of a sheer precipice. As if the draft generated from the flap of an eagle's wings several miles overhead would provide the impetus to tip the boulder over the edge and send it spiraling into the abyss, its fate was uncertain.

The thunderous episode gave way to a deafening silence.



The final week of school has eased into Reading Week - a one week Study Break. Do not let the words 'Study Break' lull you into a false sense of security. The words merely deceive you into thinking that you can heal up before facing the final hurdle. Do not be had, for it is the calm before the storm, just like that boulder perched on the knife's edge. Any false move would result in disastrous consequences. There is no rest for the weary. Instead, you are supposed to continue holding your breath, and shoulder on, just like the boulder forever opposing whatever the mountain throws at it.

Coffee, snacks and late nights are a student's best weapons against the unfathomable beast that is exams. But no matter the preparations, the lecturer can easily throw a monkey spanner in even the best laid out exam strategies by setting a paper in which the examinee flips open the first page and go HUH? Looking around the exam hall, you realise that almost everyone else has the same blank looks etched onto their faces. You heave sigh of relief and start to ease up. You even smile to yourself slightly. Ah hah.. Since we're all on a level playing field, I might as well write according to instinct..

After the exams were over I made a short climbing trip up to Malaysia. This trip is a well deserved break (this is how the word should be used) from school. In view of the upcoming ClimbX competition, I took the chance to work on my endurance. Fitness chapped and chipped by the ravages of school, I was immensely pleased that I managed to redpoint Affenhausen, 7c in Ipoh. The route was put up by Team Mammut when they headed down for a bolting expedition about 4 years back. I had made several trips up previously in anticipation of sending the route, but each time new challenges (in the form of a new crux section, rain, poor endurance) kept me from the ascent.

Now that I've finally cast aside the chains holding me from overcoming the route, I want to put up a picture in celebration of the occasion. The picture would preferably be one of me on the crux section, wearing an intense look, with rippling muscles to boot. Alas my girlfriend only managed to capture a picture of me resting at the mid section part (after the crux). It wasn't a very flattering photo. At best it cut me as a frail figure, squeezing into the weakness of the rock and gasping for oxygen. I think she was more interested in capturing that super-mesmerizing-shot-of-a-lotus-flower while I was climbing. Granted, perhaps pretty flowers are more exciting than boring boys who emulate monkeys. Or perhaps I so clumsily scrambled up the triple stalactite section on the roof such that she didn't perceive it to be all that difficult. I don't know. Perhaps I'm doomed never to understand girls and their idiosyncrasies.

When I clipped the chains and was lowered to the bottom, I eagerly anticipated the photos. Will I have decent shots of myself to present to my boss, Mr Seah? She loaded the memory card and showed me, with a glowing look in her eyes, of brilliant photos she took of that radiant lotus flower, in all its dazzling glory.

I am so sorry, for all I have to show for my journey of self discovery on this route (the finding, attempts, frustrations, fight, angst, satisfaction) is the following picture..

me on the rest section of Affenhausen (Austrian for Monkey House)
a sad depiction of an awesome route

But heh. No matter. There is little point in getting upset over the pictures she took, or the pictures she failed to take. It is the memory, of the time shared together, which is priceless.

The alchemy of lots of sleep and lots of climbing, without excessive cortisol, coalesced as a potent potion for my climbing form. Suddenly, I remembered how to climb all over again. Whispering into the deepest chambers of my body, I called for the form to return to its master's side. At the competition, I climbed as best as I could, eventually ending up going into finals as the 1st qualifier.

3 cheers for STS Warriors!

Going into the finals as the top qualifier, aka top dog/expected-to-win climber does put some stress on the climber. One could hear the ohhs and ahhs from the spectators in the isolation chair. The heart palpitated a tad faster. Veins throbbed. What? A disappointing ohhh from the audience for 3rd qualifier (and good climbing buddy) Yixiong? Huh? 2nd qualifier Jon (another climbing buddy) fell early? Distractions abound. Closing my eyes, I let the temporary darkness slide me back into focus. Breathe in.. and out.. I was slightly nervous going into the climb, but the moment I started moving my limbs, instinct took over. The hat sitting firmly on my head reminded me to love climbing, no matter the result. Everything else just fell into place..

ClimbX 2011: Winning at my alma mattar :)

ClimbX 2010: A decent result

starting on my internship at Savills Singapore

Posted to the Research and Consultancy unit. This internship is somewhat of a personal continuity of the internship I did last year at a property management company. I want to understand the different aspects of a real estate business (agency, valuation, sales, marketing and others). Little Intern Ko hopes to learn as much as possible!