It's been a while

It's been a while since I posted anything here. I have to say that it's been a very long few months for me. Been working almost every weekend since Chinese New Year ended. Not that I'm complaining but it's a little ridiculous to ask that from an intern who's paid RM800 per month.

So far, I've completed 5 months of my internship with 1 month to go. Looking forward to the day I have to leave Ernst & Young so that I have no more work to do. On the flip side, it really saddens me to leave the company because of the people I have met there since I started my internship. The things that they have taught me, the things that I've learned and all the good and not-so-good times together really made me feel the sense of kinship with the people there.

Most importantly, the people there are so willing to lend help to me even though they have bigger problems of their own to solve. Anytime that I requested for help, they would always drop anything that they're doing and teach me how to do them first before continuing with what they're doing. I'm not sure about what the other companies are practising culturally but I really like the people in my department.

This is aside from my pretty manager :P I have to admit that my department doesn't have as many hot chicks as the Assurance division. The division itself boasts of the most number of hot chicks. And rumours has it that EY has the most number of hot chicks among the Big 4 accounting firms. I'm not sure how true this is but at least there is some truth to it. Too bad I'm with the IT Risk & Assurance team which is doing more of IT work (which also means more guys and less girls)

As it is, I was just thinking of starting a small business in my hometown and taking it off from there. On the flip side, another plan that I'm thinking about is to relocate to Singapore where all the job opportunities are and try to reposition myself in the Banking industry. I have to admit that being an Accounting student, I have a personal preference to be in the Banking sector. This is partly due to my strong interest in numbers instead of laws

My only hope is to be able to be in Singapore at one of the investment banks. It would be a very enriching experience for me but I doubt if I can make it. My current grades are not that great considering that my university isn't a particularly great university either. Fingers-crossed, I can get a decent job in Singapore

Knee injury but making a comeback

It has been a few weeks since I truly ran. My training routine has been bogged down by this receent injury that has literally stopped me from running. The injury wasn't sustained at the PBIM, but it was sustained AFTER PBIM. Probably this is the only regret that I have from not being able to run now

Sometimes, I just feel that it is painful for me to climb 1 flight of stairs. Even running 5km is difficult for me nowadays. I used to be able to run 19km in one morning without much of a problem. Now, seems like 3km a day is already considered a feat.

I was running yesterday in Teluk Intan where I normally run. After around 3km (which is the distance of the entire course), I stopped running for fear of hurting my knee too much. It wasn't perfectly fine and I was feeling mild soreness. Today, I had mild muscle soreness in my thighs. This is how far backwards I've moved since completing the PBIM in 4 hours 33 minutes.

Even so, I am determined to continue running in marathons. The next one should be Energizer Night Race (apparently in Sepang). I was told about this by my friend who ran her first 10km in Energizer this year. The early bird registration deadline is 31 January 2011. Until then, I have another 1 month to get myself into good condition before I register. And when I register, there's no turning back.

From now until then, I shall have a very busy month in January:
1st weekend: should be out partying with friends from University
2nd weekend: District Rotaract Conference
3rd weekend: Cousin's wedding in Kluang
4th weekend: Futsal competition organized by SJBAYS
5th weekend: TBC

In the mean time, I hope I'm able to recover from this recent bout of knee injury. Hope my recovery will be fast enough to allow me to run in Energizer Night Race. I shall remain optimistic

Harrassed In Public

Today is a very eventful day for me. I got harrassed by a Malay dude while crossing the road on my way to have dinner. The only thing it did was to cement my belief that Malaysia is a nation with first world infrastructure and third world mentality.

Almost Caused An Accident

Just came back from Cyberjaya not too long ago. Almost caused an accident with a bus. Braking too hard right in front of a bus after speeding. Got honked pretty terribly but luckily I wasn't involved in the accident :D

Triathlon?

Considering to join a triathlon at the moment. It feels really challenging which makes me even more excited to try it out. The pictures I saw on Ric's iPad made me want to do a triathlon

However, at the moment, I already have a pledge to complete the 84km Ultra-Marathon first before everything else. It's due at the end of the year and I haven't really done that much of preparation at all. Need to buck up soon

Hope to update soon :D

Work Life

I've been working for a bit now. It's been almost one month so far. Learnt a lot through real-life experience. There are times when you have customers who are cocky walking in to ask for information, there are times when you have very polite customers walking in. There are just so many kinds of people that you meet everyday. Some are just contented with the information that you can offer them while others would want to speak to your boss instead of you. At the end of the day, I'm just glad that I met all of them because it's a learning experience that I'm going through at the moment.

I have to say that it's been rather rewarding so far since starting work. I'm very glad that I had a group of very supportive colleagues to advise and facilitate me when I need help. They really gave me some quality feedback on what to do and what not to do. Thanks! This is especially to the people who had not only trusted me but also gave me close guidance on what I need to do etc. during work. I'm pretty sure that the friendships that I have made in this job will last for quite a while. It's just that I don't know how long it'll last over the years.

Aside from working, I've also ran in the KL Marathon. For the first time ever, I managed to complete the marathon in less than 5 hours!! LOL... In fact, I managed to do the run in less than 4 hours 29 minutes. It's indeed an achievement for me since I haven't done less than 5 hours at all before. I guess all the effort of training a few times a week really paid off.

I have to thank Energizer Night Race for the 2-week Celebrity Fitness membership that I cashed in and got good value for. I went there almost every other day after work including weekends. Not only did I manage to use the treadmill in the gym, I also managed to use the weight training equipments in the gym for upper-body workouts. There are really top-notch equipments in there but the problem is that the monthly fees are very expensive!! >.<

The last time I ran in a Half-Marathon (three weeks before KL Marathon), I sucked terribly. This was at Setia Eco-Park in Setia Alam. I have to admit that I didn't train hard enough for this race. Had a nagging cramp and slight pain on my calf at 18km and 20km. It took me almost 1 hour just to finish 3km of the race. Horrible! I guess that might have woken me up from my laziness.

Next target would be training for BHP Orange Run and PBIM in November. I might be going for an Ultra-Marathon in December if I have the time to train so hard at that time. Hope no issues until then. Ciaozz :)

Achilles?

It was recently that I started to feel a slight pain on my left foot. It's really nagging and sometimes, I can't even walk straight!! It was only today that I asked a medical student friend of mine and he said the place of the pain is the Achilles tendon. I was like @.@

For those of you who do not know, a ruptured Achilles tendon means that you will be out of sports for a few months, possibly more. David Beckham isn't able to play in World Cup '10 because he ruptured his Achilles tendon a few months ago in an AC Milan game. That is how much trouble a ruptured Achilles tendon can cause

As it is, I believe it's only a sprained Achilles tendon at most. I have a half-marathon to run in 2 weeks and a full-marathon to run in 1 month. Now I'm not even sure if I'm physically fit to run 21km >.<