Snapshots of my work

Got a very tight working schedule today, kept writing e-mails and reading confirmations all day long. Went to the dealing floor twice and was being introduced to a senior trader. When I read the name of that trader previously on confirmations, I presumed he must be an aged foreigner --- at least in his middle age. Turned out that he looked very young, and was quite friendly. He's busy at the moment I approached him, so I'd go meeting him tomorrow morning again. Hope that he won't turn bad-tempered by then. Sorry, I knew the stuffs I'd ask were tiresome, I didn't wanna deal with that old trade as well, I just followed the "guidance and instruction" given by Trevor =P

Got an interesting observation on the trading floor. All traders were tall, even for Chinese ones. Then I thought of tall, tall Michael. He's a trader as well, but in another bank. Was that being tall the pre-requisite of being a trader?

Upon receiving the last round of e-mails from a counterparty in London, it marked the end of my peak season --- September coupon payment confirmed ... wahaha, so happy with it *,* but then, I was suddenly given a new mission ... me alone again? blah ~ @_@

Sometimes, I wondered if Trevor would feel bored reading all those e-mails I sent to counterparties. On average 15+ e-mails every day, excluding those replied by counterparties. Nothing funny, all were tedious business contents, sometimes lengthy. I once suspected that he didn't read them at all, but he did. I suggested to him not to copy him e-mails I sent in a past occasion; anyway, he said it didn't matter and he might add on mine sometimes. If everybody copied their e-mails to him, he gotta read more than 500 e-mails everyday. How could he do that? No wonder he focused on the computer screen most of the time if he's not away for meeting ... Was that sitting like stone in front of computer the pre-requisite of being top management?

Off at 7.45pm finally. Felt very hungry since I had a light lunch this afternoon. Gotta rush back home for dinner prepared by father ... yummy *,*

Himalaya

Got the chance to have a look at Joyce Cheuk's photos finally! She went hiking up Himalaya in August. Even though she didn't get to the top (if she did, she'd be a superwoman!), the experience was invaluable and, for no doubt, once in one's life.

I know I won't be able to climb up Himalaya, but would I have the chance to hike around its foot? There're so many places around the world that I wanna go ... Gosh, nowhere to go for the remaining of this year anyway -_-"

Conrad Tea Buffet

Sister Cat earned a big sum of money from property markets + she'd be going back to KPMG, that's why she gave a treat of tea buffet at Conrad.

For no doubt, Conrad would ask for a premium over market price for tea buffet due to its famous brand, but we didn't actually see any special attractions which took our hearts. Really.

After the buffet, I walked all the way to the Star Ferry Pier and took a ferry to TST. It used to be my most favourite route to go home from Central after work, but since I switched my job I didn't take the route for a long time. For sure, when you're off over 7pm, what's on your mind would be to get home for dinner asap rather than taking ferry to enjoy the harbour view.

If I got the chance and money to buy my own house, I would definitely like to have one with harbour view. I like sea, I won't feel bored even if you asked me sitting there and watching it for the whole day. Ironically, I don't know swimming, which is something that I couldn't pick up for the past 20+ years ... Gosh ... -_-"

Alvis's turn to chase up my backlogs of diaries. I'm working very hard on it @_@

孫燕姿演唱會 [晴]

1. "Japan" 燕姿?
2. 說了兩遍十月會出新碟，唱了首《完美的一天》：「我有一所大房子 ... 」 -_-"
3. F.I.R. 做表演嘉賓，第一次聽他們的歌，不錯吖 ~
4. 要拿出「貓紙」來照著唸出需要嗚謝單位的名單，很可愛 *,*
5. 自彈(鋼琴)自唱《我要的幸福》，讓我想起我曾經自製了一套 MTV @,@

《我要的幸福》 孫燕姿

作詞：嚴云農　作曲：李偉菘　編曲：Martin Tang

為愛情付出　為活著而忙碌
為什麼而辛苦　我仔細紀錄
用我的雙眼　在夢想裡找路
該問路的時候　我不會裝酷

我還不清楚　怎樣的速度
符合這世界　變化的腳步
生活像等待　創作的黏土
幸福　我要的幸福　漸漸清楚

夢想　理想　幻想　狂想　妄想
我只想堅持每一步　該走的方向
就算一路上　偶而會沮喪
生活是自己　選擇的衣裳
幸福　我要的幸福　沒有束縛
幸福　我要的幸福　在不遠處

PwC Private Party @ Family

Eunice would go to Japan to further her study while Christine decided to dump PwC and searched for new life in another company. Rather than going to those restaurants which we usually went for farewell, Monitress Shum booked a café for private party this time!

The café was named "Family", which was really operated by a family. It's located on the 2/F inside an old building at CWB. We ate and played and yelled, a funny and happy night there =)

What would it be like if I was a pedestrian walking pass on the street opposite to the café? How would I feel if I was one of those who sat at the café just opposite and facing this café? Must be interesting to see so many people shouting and making weird posture ... haha =P

Indonesian bond prices

Felt really bad that my off time was delayed by Indonesian bond prices since last week >_< !!! The case was so extreme this evening, I finished all my other tasks by 6pm something, and only kept waiting for Indonesian bond prices until 8pm for completion of my last reporting!!! Mad about it. I was so bored that I gotta took out "Wayfung", a magazine published by the bank, to read as pass-time, since I really got nothing else to do @_@ I made several calls to the Rate Control Officer to file complaints, who in turn made calls and sent e-mails to Indonesian Branch, chasing them up for final data.

If the case goes on like that, I'd file further complaints. Too bad!!!

"Healthy" restaurant

Date for my weekly lunch with Florence. Planned to go to "Step" but it's crowded with long queue of people @_@ On our way walking to SoHo, Florence spotted a small restaurant suddenly, which claimed to offer Healthy foods. We're lucky enough to get 2 seats there before people started flooding in some time after we got in.

There're many dishes offered by the restaurant, too many choices that we couldn't pick one easily. Foods were delicious, but the shop was crowding and food orders were not properly arranged. Someone has taken my dish, and when I chased for my order, the waiter gave hers to substitute mine. Quite messy indeed, but the foods really tasted good.

Florence chased up my backlogs of diaries. I gotta trying my best to start writing something tonight =P

鴻運會

以前常到那餐廳吃午飯，每次只會說「那家樓上餐廳，有香蕉 pancakes 送那一家吖!」，從來都不知道它的名字。所以當金詩韻建議到「鴻運會」吃午飯，大家還不知道她在說那一家 #_#

今天是午餐小莊聚，有我、金詩韻、何曉珊和雷炳森。本來柯福星也來的，可是何曉珊說他常常被很多「女仔」給包圍了 ... 哈哈，看來阿星挺受歡迎嘞 =P

Mark 哥

又到半年一度 PwC 進行 counseling 的日子，朱姐和 Sam Wong 為了逃避填長長的 counseling forms ，於是約了我、 Joan 姐 和 Let 姐與阿 Mark 吃晚飯，當作 counseling 嘞 ...

Joan 姐選了Alexandra House 的北京樓，一如以往， ex-PwCers 呆等 auditors 姍姍來遲；如果 Mark 哥不在場， Joan 姐一定發火 =P

大家說了近況，說了很多 PwC 的事，又替 Let 姐打點擺酒安排，還有她和 Kenny Chan 到英國後的大計 ... 氣氛是愉快的，可覺得大家的價值觀分歧越來越大 ... 倒是有點擔心 Mark 哥，希望我們可以快點再有飯聚，那表示他已經跳出火坑了 =P

Dine Dine Dinner

The cruise finished later than what've been scheduled, so I was late for dinner with Dine and other Darians @_@ so sorry for that. Dined at a Shanghai restaurant at Diamond Hill. I was not hungry at all indeed, since I've eaten a lot during the cruise; but it's nice to gather with all OLD friends, wasn't it?

Welcome home, Dine my dear Touyi =)

Cruise

1. Woke up very very EARLY, as I'd join Ming and his secondary school friends for cruise.
2. Got myself a Hash Brown when passing by Times Square McDonald, yummy *,*
3. Very heavy rain, but the ship owner claimed that everything was fine, so we went on.
4. Stayed at region named "Ha Mei", near Lamma.
5. SOMEONE didn't tell me to bring swimming suit when I asked what have to bring last night >_< 6. BBQ foods cooked by the ship owner were SUPER DELICIOUS!!! 7. Rain stopped, climbed up to the deck and sleep while others're playing wake-board. 8. Feel like sleeping in the middle of the sea, breeze kissed my face, I love it so much >,<

Maritime City

Had hair cut with Ming at TST. He looked different after the hair cut, but not for me ... haha =P

Went to Maritime City to have dinner with Ming's elder sister. She's pregnant, expected to give birth by the end of November. She used to be very thin, and it's really surprising to see her "size" turned so big *,* waha~

Very relaxing today, and I enjoyed it ...

Happy Birthday Darling *,*

So lucky that Trevor took half-day off in the afternoon again *,* Today's Ming's birthday, I wanna leave office as early as possible to enjoy dinner at "Sun" with him >,<

Anyway, things won't be going so smooth usually. Those traders who were normally lazy to make deals on Friday suddenly turned very proactive and got a lot of deals executed. Simultaneously, those counterparties who didn't give reply for long unexpectedly responded and I'd have to check a set of iTraxx agreements before the close of business. Indonesian bond prices were delayed again, so could just keep waiting, waiting and waiting ...

As a result, could only leave office by 8pm. Ming has been in CWB walking alone and waiting since 6pm something. So sorry @_@ We headed to the restaurant right away when I arrived CWB. The environment of the restaurant was pretty good, but we're both busy with our dishes ... haha ... We ordered a lot. Left the restaurant at around 11pm, both are foods and tired. Didn't go elsewhere to play since Ming has to work tomorrow morning, and it'd be over 12 midnight when he arrived home even he started going home by then. I didn't join ex-PwCers for gathering, since I've decided to go home for a sleep until noon tomorrow ... hehe =P

50s'

Eventually arranged to have lunch with Carmen Au Yeung. She recommended going to "50s'". Nice restaurant, food quality was fine with unlimited supply of appetizers and desserts. HKD64 for lunch sounded a bit expensive, but with the abundant quantities of foods it should still be classified as "worthy".

Actually our aim of lunch was to discuss our insurance strategies before we talk to Terry; however, it turned out that we discussed nil on it but talked a lot on other topics ... hehe =P

Half-team lunch

Yaqub asked me and Joyce out for lunch, in order to celebrate "Joyce's travel to Disneyland tomorrow". Such a weird reason ... haha ... anyway we really went for lunch together finally on L28.

Joyce told us a lot about SDG team, and eventually I understood why people dislike Jeffrey ... so did I =P

Messing Day

Lunch: Supposed to have private weekly lunch with Florence, but we invited PwCers to join this time. Lunch of 7 people, we went to "Man Kee" at the secret building. Kept on chatting, chatting and chatting ... haha, funny time *,*

Dinner: Clara gave a treat for me, Emily and FK, since she got a job offer. Went to CWB "Banana Leaves" to have Thai foods. Again, chatting, chatting and chatting. Very probably, we won't be able to have dinner with Clara on Mon to Thur starting from Oct, as she won't bother to take long, long ride from her new employer at Tsing Yi to CWB/ Central/ TST, and then take long, long ride back home at Tsing Yi.

Last lunch with Big King for 2005?

Big King would visit her hometown for the coming week, after which she'd be heading right back to Harvard. So honoured that her majesty invited me and Emily for lunch =P Anyway, it turned out to be lunch of 4 --- Big King So Tsit, Michael, FK and I.

It's the first time for me to have lunch at Vintage, a small restaurant adjacent to New World Building and was once so-called "canteen" for So Tsit when she's with McKinsey. There're just 4 tables of 2 to 5 within the restaurant, and some bar seats as well. Each of us ordered a set lunch and started chatting while waiting for foods to be served.

Enjoyed the chat very much, but not for the foods, simply because I made a wrong order of TOMATO SAUCE Tuna Pasta =( I presumed that Tuna Pasta should be in creamy sauce, so I was really surprised when it turned out to be tomato one ... I could only finished half of the dish, that's my further extend though the sauce was very dilute indeed ... @_@

XB

ICBCA Alice had her wedding photos developed. That's why my ex-colleagues dated me out for lunch. Got the 6th sense that I'd be meeting them right in-mid of the downhill lane if I took the "footbridge" route, so I tried out --- Bingo! I really caught them there! *,* They're so excited that we stopped and talked lively for a while; but then, my ex-boss ET appeared on the lane >_<" All ex-colleagues speeded up their paces suddenly, leaving me alone with ET; ET said he followed my ex-colleagues and spotted me ... poor me -_-

Finally, ET went for lunch with us. So bad, turned out that I and Ame had to talk to ET, while others kept burying their heads in foods. Plus, cheapy ET dared to ask me treating him! Weird, weird, weird! I rejected him at once and even scolded him --- I used to scold him by the time when he's my boss, I could scold him even more fiercely now for sure as his ex-staff ... wahaha =P

No beach again ...

Woke up at 12 noon sharp and looked out to the sky through the windows. Cloudy. No beach AGAIN!!! >_<

When will sunny Sat come ...

"Chung Kite Tuen"

Trevor's on leave in the afternoon, it gotta be a relaxing day; however, Joyce's on leave in the afternoon as well @_@ as a result, it turned out to be another busy day. Dated Janice, Florence, Kathy, Monitress and Ivy to have dinner at 8.30pm at TST, but finally I could only arrive by 9pm something =(

Tonight, we had Korean dishes at a small but famous shop named "Ching Kite Tuen". Foods were fine, but I skipped all those spicy ones. Talk and talk and talk all the time. Monitress, Kathy and Ivy would go to Tokyo in mid September. I and Monitress kept discussing on her plan drafted, while Kathy and Ivy just stared at us since they've got no idea about Tokyo ... haha ... such a funny scene. Got souvenir from Janice for her Saba trip, thank you so much =)

Sexy Angel joined us for the chat after she had dinner with somebody else in TST. She walked all the way from Harbour City to TST East, but then we decided to have drink with Sam Wong, Carrie, Joan and Rebecca somewhere near the Kowloon Park, so she gotta walk all the way back through her original route ... haha

Eventually we went to the café recommended by Florence, which was located on the 2nd floor of an old building. A good place for leisure gathering. Lately, I was quite fond of this sorts of cafés, do tell me if you know any which is good, and let's go together for drink and chat through afternoon or night ...

柯頌謙

他是一個月大的柯頌謙 Little Daniel ，看他多可愛、多勇敢，面對這麼多叔叔和姨姨也沒有哭!

對吖，我們一班莊員隨著小 Daniel 的誕生，一同升格到 uncles 和 aunties 級了。在 ACY 1141 課認識郭麗珊還仿如昨天的事，今天她己成為柯太一年半多，且已身為人母，有點不可思異 *,*

謙謙，你要乖乖吖，乘著爸爸媽媽、叔叔姨姨和無數人的愛與祝福，健康快樂地長大成人 =)

「但願你的眼睛 只看得到笑容
但願你留下每一滴淚 都會讓人感動
但願你以後每一個夢 不會一場空

天上人間 如果真值得歌頌
也是因為有你 才會變得鬧哄哄
天大地大 世界比你想像中朦朧
我不忍心在欺哄 但願你聽得懂」

Watami

Alice dated us out for lunch at Watami as part of the sharing session. For 'us' it represented Mary + Myra + 6 graduates. Actually not much sharing had been done regarding our work, but it's fun time. Didn't wanna talk about work during lunch time indeed ... hehe =P

Terribly busy for the week, but we could foresee that it'd be even more busier for coming weeks until 20 September. Peak season is approaching >,<

奧運

今天上午到奧運上 Induction Training Programme ，要九時前到達，特地早起一小時。

每次要到奧運站，總會遇上點意外，或許是因為早起的緣故罷 #_# 今次沒上次嚴重，只是睡過頭，沒有在太子轉車，到了旺角站才醒來嘞 ...

MD

Didn't had my MD with me for long. Got it charged last night, and brought it to work with 《Charlie and the Chocolate Factory》 MD received from Ming last Fri. Another piece of old MD as well.

Willy Wonka accompanied me all the way to and from office and home. After which came Leo Koo and Sammi Cheng. Yes, Sammi Cheng ... by that one would know I was really listening to a very old MD. At least 1.5-year-old =P

Wandering at lunch

Super busy day, due to daily work + extra work to be cleared after Trevor's annual leave last Fri. Gave myself a break during lunch by going out alone. Purposely. Felt refreshing when I wandered around Central. Ignored people passing by, my mind started to become clearer and clearer, and seeing stuffs through. Went back to office with a cheerful mood, and continued with my busy day.

That serious?!

Really felt bad to get involved in such kind of irrational "conversation", which turned out to be non-value added. To certain extend, I was quite angry at the very beginning, for a friend who I've known for 7 years could keep on saying such things before I revealed I knew the whole story. Then, I found it's useless to give my advices, though I thought she gotta understand it for her growth. Okay, when I found that no progress could be made and said forget about it, trying to have a friend move later on, I got a cold response pinpointing that I've made an innocent accusation which she couldn't forget.

That serious?! Everything turned upside down, inside out. I wondered whether my written English was that poor so that people didn't understand me at all, or she really couldn't catch the point.

Anyway, I won't deal with it further, it has already spoiled my mood. Both parties had wrong doing in the whole incident. I knew it won't be the end of the story, I might be impeached, I might be blamed, but I didn't wanna deal with it anymore. Dear Lord, please forgive me.

Out of control

Heavy rain again, couldn't go to beach =(

Something kept spinning in my mind, out of control.

Opus

Such a coincidence that Trevor took a day off today, and turned out I could leave office by 7pm something after the daily reporting quoted at 6.45pm. So happy with that, thanks be to god *,*

Dined with Ming at Opus tonight. Located on 29/F and have seats next to French windows, we should be able to have harbour view pretty clearly. However, the heavy rain blurred the scene; we could even see thunder flashing through right besides us ... haha =P

7 years ago, it's the first day of 98' BA O'camp; today came the 7th anniversary.

Received Florence's postcard from Australia when I arrived home.「好嘞，相信我回到香港， postcard 應該仍未去到你家。祝你收到 postcard 那天心情愉快!」

I did =) Thank you!

Lunch with FK on her last day

Today is the last day at work for both Emily and FK. That's why I felt a bit surprising when FK called to date me out for lunch at one of her favourites --- "Yung Kee" ground floor. Her company and her boss were really weird. It's good for her to leave asap.

My teammates

I just realized that all my teammates were either grown up or educated in foreign countries ...

- Yaqub, grown up in Canada
- Joyce, grown up in the UK
- Reynold, grown up in HK but educated in Canada
- Kelvin, grown up in HK but had master degree in the UK

Also grown up in HK but educated in the UK for Trevor, my current direct boss. Didn't know for Simon and Jeffrey.

Seemed that only me was a 100% Hong Kong girl, being grown up and educated in HK for the past 20+ years. Am I "extraordinary"? Haha =P

沒有熱褲的巴里

原本的四人晚餐變成我和何曉珊的二人晚餐，卻沒有影響我們的食慾。結果到翡翠拉麵小籠包吃晚飯，逛了街，再吃 Haagen-Dazs *,*

Highlight 了紅髮的何曉珊想買熱褲來迎接巴里的海灘，可惜不是顏色不對、就是尺碼不合 ... 只好空手而回嘞 #_#

一人還比一人遲

又是和郭婉汶午餐聚的日子，因天雨關係，我們去了 IFC ；又因人多關係，我們最後到了 Starbucks 。收到郭婉汶的澳洲手信「能量棒」，感謝 ^o^

告訴她我昨晚九時半才下班，以為會博得同情；怎知她比我更晚，十時才離開公司! 果然一山還有一山高、一人還比一人遲嘞 @_@!!!

Sweety

So happy that he remembered it, even though he got a wrong date *,*

Busy ... busy ... busy ...

Record breaking! Left office by 9.30pm tonight. Joyce took half-day annual leave this afternoon, so I picked up her job. Plus, Trevor finally read the correspondence I forwarded him yesterday, need to draft response for his approval. Plus, system down for the peak hours from 5pm something to 6.45pm. Plus, being assigned around 10 counterparties. Plus, gotta learn matching traders' blotters to system record. Plus, need to call over a set of master agreement. Plus ... after many "plus" added for the day, it sounded not surprising at all to off duty by 21.30. So lucky that there're no reply for London for the outstanding, or else I'd have to work even later @,@

Very productive tonight, and I left Trevor with some questions to be resolved tonight/ tomorrow ... Sorry, I just tried to sort out stuffs which I didn't understand, I didn't expect that all of you haven't noticed that before; and apologies to inform you late, since I only finished checking the agreement by 9.15pm ... =P

Don't cry

Cecilia cried in office! I tried to comfort her and took her out of office for lunch. Actually crying for work would be useless as it couldn't help at all. It's just barely a way to release emotion but scaring colleagues. Cecilia said that it's really great that I could keep smiling even when I was flooded with tones of works; I told that no matter you cry or smile, tasks would have to be accomplished eventually. Why not cheering up yourself as well as your colleagues, so that assignment completion could be speeded up when you work it out with positive attitude?

Seemed like she understood and really learnt something this time.

Hope that everything would turn out fine for her *,*

人種的測驗

人種的測驗

「你是個很有趣， 友善和出眾的人。 你是個真正的會開解別人的人，你經常會走去市中心與朋友分享你的時間，之後你會帶一些你媽媽教你的東西回家。當你快樂過之後才會覺得婚姻與孩子對你重要，不要讓令你快樂的人使你迷失。」

我是這樣的嗎? 於是再做一遍，變成 ...

「你很可愛而且每個你認識的人都喜歡你。你是能夠成為別人最好朋友的人所以沒有人會嘗試做任何事而引致失去你。你從不傷害別人的感覺和我很少傷到自己的感覺的。生活對你來說是輕而易舉的，你經常表現可愛和平靜的。你只要避開金手指就能夠無憂無累了。」

其實我只改了一個決定不了的答案，分別就這麼大嘞 *_*

Tidy girl =)

Finally got all bank statements and correspondences properly filed. Started from 3pm and ended by 6pm. Well done! *,*

《Charlie and the Chocolate Factory》

Watched 《Charlie and the Chocolate Factory》 with Ming this afternoon at APM. I like it! Indeed I read and got addicted to the story since I was in childhood; and after 18+ years, someone did turn the story into a movie show *,* So glad with it ... hohoho

Though Charlie and Willy Wonka were of no doubt the main characters, I was sure that Oompa-Loompas were the ones who did make everybody laughed =P Their "performance and singing" were so entertaining ... haha

《Wonka's Welcome Song》
Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka ... the amazing chocolatier.
Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka ... everybody give a cheer!
He's modest, clever, and so smart, he barely can restrain it.
With so much generosity, there is no way to contain it ...
To contain it ... to contain ... to contain ... to contain.
Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka ... he's the one that you're about to meet.
Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka ... he's a genius who just can't be beat.
The magician and the chocolate wiz ...
He's the best darn guy who ever lived.
Willy Wonka here he is ...

When will be my turn ...

Dated 4 ex-PwCers + 2 PwC girls for dinner tonight. When I arrived at the restaurant at Mongkok by around 8pm, they're there already. It's a Shanghai restaurant. Foods were just so-so, but seats were acceptable and price was reasonable. Anyway, I guess I won't have it included on my restaurant list.

Monitress Shum will go to Tokyo for leisure trip with Kathy and Ivy in mid September. Trip trip trip. Everybody has trip. Carrie by last month end, Christina for last week, Florence on her trip now, Sum this weekend, Emily, FK and Clara 1 week later, and Monitress Shum in mid September. When will be my turn *_*

Fresh graduates

Had lunch with 4 fresh graduates after a so-called "Sharing Session" held at 11am to 12 noon. Seemed that they've different types of "complaints" after working a month here: long working hours, too much idle time, no leisure time, not working on main parts of operations, minute workload, too busy, low pay (@,*?! Indeed higher than pay of 90% of fresh graduates already ...), exposure, etc.

It's funny to see them having the discussion, I wondered whether I did the same when I just started working at PwC ... haha =P

By the way, I met 4.0 Joyce Ng in office this afternoon. She came to our floor to have discussion with someone in our section. We recognized each other once our eye sights met, and chatted for a while so "lively" that aroused others' attentions =P haha ... Really glad to see her, though we're not familiar with each other indeed --- I knew her since she's the first in PAC in CUHK, while she knew me since I was a committee member of CUSA, I guessed. Anyway, she proposed for a lunch gathering and I looked forward to meet her again =)

Pret A Manger

Changed the time of weekly lunch with Florence to today for this week, since she had to go signing contract with ABC yesterday. Yeah, her new office would be closer to mine, and she'd have 1.5 hours for lunch (vs 1 hour currently). I longed to have lunch at Admiralty with her =)

Intending to have better food before her short trip to Australia tonight, we headed to IFC. Saint's Alp Teahouse was our first choice, but it has been closed ... I proposed to go to Pret A Manger instead. Pret A Manger always ignited my desire to go to South Bay, for every time I went there, I would bring a pack of Pret A Manger sandwiches with me. It has been 4 months since last time I visited South Bay. Lately, I missed the beach very much and planned to go; yet, it'd be rainy again this weekend according to the weather forecast. When could I be there again *_*

First month completed

I've been here for a month. Time flied. So far so good. The disgusting feeling flooding in my mind last week faded along with increasing workload. As long as the assignment is meaningful, I would be happy to work on it. I won't work on tasks which are redundant or not contributory, as well as those which I think I shouldn't have to work on. That's my bottom line.

Workaholic?

My life was so solid today. Due to ad-hoc tasks assigned by Trevor, my day was fully occupied from 9.30am to 8.40pm, working non-stop except for lunch of around 1.5 hours. Yet, I felt so happy with the busy and concrete work. Was I crazy? Was I a workaholic? #_#

Remember?

Suddenly got a weird thought --- Would he remember that?

倫敦

又是一整天沒工作、工作突然在下午五時多湧現的日子，全拜倫敦所致，只因我們有七小時的時差!!!

美國和香港時差十二小時，今天的交易永遠都是留待明天更進，不過我不負責美國的交易。至於日本和澳洲，比香港快一、兩小時，他們收市時還是香港的辦工時間，工作可在香港的辦公時間內完成。

唯獨倫敦最可惡! 他們最喜歡在倫敦時間上午八、九時/ 香港時間下午三、四時把大堆交易文件一併傳來，輾轉交到我手上，已經是下午五、六時了，弄得我要加班工作至八、九時 >_< 其實只要他們不留待次日早晨、是日下午就開始傳送，那麼我便可以在香港早晨後黃昏前把工作做妥，不用加班嘞 ...

可惜，世事是沒有這麼完美的 *_*

出奇

非常出奇地，除了幾個 daily reports 之外，今天沒甚麼工作做嘞! 癡癡地等，終於到了六時四十五分，立即趕製最後一個 report ，七時十五分踏出辦公室大門， yeah *,*

走過辦公室外的會議室，透過百葉窗簾看到金詩韻還在面試。不知道她這回表現如何? 無論她得到這個 offer 與否，她未來的辦公室也將會是最接近我的，不是同樓、便是鄰座 >,<

周嘉怡第一天到 HSB 上班，似乎挺不錯。郭婉汶今天面試，希望她得到 offer ，可以脫離她那家甚麼怪事都可以發生的 ACB ，投入 ABC 的懷抱!

半島自助餐

為了慶祝各人轉工/ 出 bonus/ 賣樓賺大錢，今晚和何曉珊、梁善儀、金詩韻、鄧詠琳及雷碧華到半島酒店的今佐日本料理吃日式自助餐；我們還邀請到蘇婕大王與我們共眾晚餐，榮幸之至 *,*

酒店的格調是一流的，何曉珊走上往一樓的樓梯時，想起慧雲李在《亂世佳人》中傲慢地站在樓梯上的場景。至於食物 ... 我想除了海膽、銀鱈魚和柚子雪糕較美味外，其他都是一般嘞! 四百三十元的價錢，好像有點不值 --- 大部分都是場地格調的消費，不在於食物的質素 ... 不過到了半島酒店一遊，還是有其紀念價值的。

《阿嫂》

以為《阿嫂》會是一齣不錯的電影，怎知道劇情只是如此，結局只是那樣 ... 哎吖，挺失望嘞 @_@

Tokyo vs Bali

Completed daily reporting and ad-hoc jobs of the day by 7.30pm something, I ignored Jeffrey's request and escaped from office right away =P

Rushed to Causeway Bay at once to join Emily, FK and Clara. Siu Kam was there as well, and they were still selecting travel package. Finally they couldn't make the trip to Tokyo due to flight availability and fare; instead, they picked the tour group to Bali. Totally different style.

After that, we had dinner at Li Garden. Had funny chat all the way round =P Sister Cat finished with her church stuffs at 10.30pm something, and we headed to Leighton Road Starbucks to have drink. I had my favourite cold drink Vanilla Cream Frappuccino, yummy *,* Sister Cat kept on asking Siu Kam to look for colleagues suitable for her ... haha ... what an interesting scene ... haha

CUHK gathering at HSBC

Cecilia told me that when she took elevator back to our office floor, she met someone from Shaw College CUHK who was 3 years older than her. That guy said he knew another guy from CUHK who worked for placement in another department under CIBM, and arranged for lunch on L28 this afternoon. Cecilia invited me to go with her. No big deal to go, right? and actually I was curious to see what's going on =P

That guy was named Kelvin, who worked as an IT Officer; another guy, named Brian, was attached with financial reporting of CIBM. Kelvin was very talkative, kept on asking me this and that, said that he knew Choy of SCBA and was a close friend of him. Brian has just completed his year 2 Engineering study in CUHK and will work for placement for a year before going back to CUHK.

Soon after the buffet started, I was able to capture a picture of the whole situation. Brian as a student was really glad to meet so many big "sisters and brother" from the same university, and he was quite clever to decide not applying for HSBC right after graduation for his own reasons. Cecilia as a fresh graduate was a 100% honest girl. She told her true feeling without hold back even to strangers, which was a bit dangerous for her future development if she met someone who was cunning. Kelvin as a guy who has graduated for 3 years was a bit over enthusiastic. After he got some basic information, he put too much effort in getting to know others' remuneration package. More than half of his conversation was on that. He couldn't get any pay figure or even pay range from me, as I tactfully avoided that. He started changing the direction to ask what actually were years of experiences, requirement and qualifications needed for my position. Again, I bypassed the question, saying that I was an exception and kept laughing.

After all, I was old enough to see through all these stuffs ...

Thoughtful lunch

Spent half of my lunch time wandering around Central, pondering next step to take.

Decision made by 12.45pm. Let's see whether it'll work out fine.

The Happiest vs the Worst

The Happiest

It'd certainly be my weekly lunch with Florence! This time we'd it at "Pearl" the small Vietnamese restaurant. So glad that Florence has decided to move on, very happy about that =) Looking forward to have lunch with her at Admiralty 2 months later.

The Worst

I dislike Jeffrey's style of work and behaviour very much. It has been years since I could actually name a person at work whom I was not happy with. I saw Cecilia was shocked at his requests and questions, and didn't know how to response. Afterall, it's her first job and she couldn't imagine people would make unreasonable requests in such an implied way. What's on my mind was to stop Jeffrey from saying rubbish and freed us home asap; however, I couldn't stop him right away simply because he's a manager. If I was still in ICBCA, I would certainly scold him and reject him; but sorry, here's the so-called "the world's local bank". Together with other concerns which popped up my mind earlier and many other added elements, I was driven to think carefully whether it's really worth to stay. Yup, I gotta think it carefully before it's too late.

Cecilia

Finally I was able to have lunch with Cecilia. Just we two girls alone, but we're happy with that. We settled at "Mix" and tried out new dishes there. Soup pumpkin was so tasty, yummy *,*

We both felt weird towards our colleagues' culture of not hanging out in group. For me, I've still got ex-colleagues and friends going out for lunch sometimes; for Cecilia, the case was worse since she's fresh graduate. Her u-mates were busy with their "happy and exciting" (per Cecilia) working lives, mainly in Big 4. Seemed like she's the only one who got into a company with such culture.

Anyway, we had nice chat on a lot of topics, even on CUHK and GPA ... haha =P It's really fine to have leisure talk in such a comfortable dining place. We didn't wanna get back to office ... but we had to as the Main Building was just adjacent to "Mix" ... Gosh @_@

Lunch with Michael and Jeffrey

I though Michael might forget what he said again, but he kept his promise of having lunch with me and Jeffrey So this time. Actually I didn't "know" Jeffrey. He was a legacy-AA staff who was in the same division with me in PwC, but for no doubt he couldn't be classified as my "hi-bye" friend at all --- I was quite sure that I've never talked to him in PwC. Anyway, he's quite close with Michael, and that's why Michael asked him out for lunch together.

Michael reserved a table at "Heaven and Earth", and we could go straight into the shop while there're tones of people queuing up outside the restaurant. All our topics were banking related, as we're all from banks. Jeffrey's girl friend, Elaine, joined a while later. She had her first day work with ABN today, and just came over to have a quick chat before she went attending her afternoon training session at IFC II.

Was it so-called a "business" lunch?

Wedding photos

It's a hot summer night, let's start with something good. Got my roommate's wedding photos from her hubby some days ago, and finally roommate sent the link to me "formally" tonight =P They just looked the same as when they're in university if roommate didn't put on make-up!!! Was it really 4 years after our graduation, or 6.5 years after they started dating? Really hard to believe *,*

家庭主婦

天氣不好，留在家中收拾家居。由下午三時多至晚上近八時，還沒有清理完，可已經疲憊不堪，而且腰酸背痛嘞 @_@ 真的比行山要辛苦得多。所以說，千萬別看輕家庭主婦這工作，天天如是，說不定比上班出賣腦力 + 勞力還要折磨 ...

Big King at Nagoyaka Tei

Sum preferred to have Japanese dish at TST, but it's too late when he made the decision. All restaurants were fully booked. That's why I and Emily decided to go to TST earlier to wait for seats --- she queued up for Nagoyaka Tei, while I and Ming went to Ka Ma Do Japanese Restaurant.

Finally we got into Nagoyaka Tei at around 7.30pm, we couldn't stop ourselves picking up sushi from the conveyer belt. Delicious! Food quality of this branch was much better than its Mongkok branch. So Tsit the Big King came joining us an hour later. Along with her was Lily, her Indonesian roommate at Harvard campus. Lily went for shopping while we went on with our dinner. With Big King, there're always unlimited funny topics ... haha *,*

Headed to Haagen-Dazs right after the dinner, Lily and Michael joined us for this ice-cream session. We gotta tone our conversation to both English and Cantonese due to Lily's presence. Sum always yelled for opportunities to polish his oral English, but it turned out that he dared not to talk much when the chance really came; as a result, he was teased by Big King =P Nice chat anyway. We finally left by 11.30pm something, after which Big King and her friends went for drink with another group of friends in Central. See, that's Big King, always busy with work and parties and then complaining about insufficient sleep ... haha =P

Tokyo

My dear friends decided to go to Tokyo in late Aug ... so happy, I wish I could go as well ...

I'd better stop pondering before completion of my 6-month probation ...

Question & praise

Just before I went out for lunch, Jeffrey asked me a question which made me felt a bit uneasy. I guessed he didn't mean to make me feeling annoyed but I did feel quite odd with it.

Just before the roasted pork "eating", Trevor praised me and asked if I've any comments or feedback. I guessed he didn't mean to make me feeling superior but I did feel quite happy with it.

Scarlett & Kenny

Today's Scarlett & Kenny Chan's wedding day. They had it held in City Hall at 10am. I told Scarlett that I'd be there at 11am something to have photo-taking, but finally I missed it since their rundown rolled on too fast and everything was done by 10.35am! @_@

Therefore, I just went for lunch with PwCers + Ex-PwCers at 12.30pm at Watami. Only talked to Joyce Cheuk and Kathy throughout the lunch, since they were sitting opposite/ adjacent to me. Happy chat with them =)

Sarah didn't bring any umbrella with her, so I walked by her under the rain on the way back. She'll change her job and had already secured an offer; of course it's a better move. Seemed like everybody is changing job. Suddenly thought of Florence --- would she make a move eventually?

In the afternoon, there's roasted pork "eating" in office for relocation of seats within the section. Actually they wanna have roasted piggy cutting ceremony and worship, but they just didn't have enough time preparing for it. Together with all those delicious foods at Watami, I was really full for the day! *,*

Ming and FK

Both Ming and FK have interviews at 6pm today. Both of them have secured banking offers already, but are seeking for further offers in FI field. Coincident, right? So, that's why both of them didn't perform well in their interviews!!! @,@

Anyway, I do sincerely hope both of them could secure offers from interviews today.

Yaqub Mohamed

Quite surprised when Yaqub invited me to have lunch on L28 together. Anyway, it's better than having lunch alone!

I still remember when I first read the organization chart and noticed the name "Yaqub Mohamed", I thought he must be a foreigner and I'd have to speak English to him! It turned out that he's a mix who spoke perfect Cantonese. Actually he didn't join the bank for long as well, but he's with Treasury Operations previously so that he's totally used to the environment here.

The buffet was great as usual, and got vanilla/ mango ice-cream as one of the today's desserts!!! So happy to have ice-cream for lunch, it brightened my day ... yeah~ *,*

PowerVantage

Arrived at Central by 9.10am, but I was late for work and was in my desk finally by 9.40am … not late to certain extend as we could get back by 10.30am actually, it’s just a bit later than the normal time I went back to office =P

What made me late? All because of the so-called "high-tech", "efficient" and "value-added" Online Banking system.

I applied for PowerVantage account online on 22 July, and an acknowledgement receipt popped, generated a reference number for the application and stated some sentences like bringing the staff card to any branch to complete application. I brought my staff card to Telford Garden branch and Central Main Building branch on 23 July and 26 July respectively, but counter staff there didn't know how to process it at all. I called the customer services hotline twice, the staff just said I missed some grids on the online form, so the application couldn't be captured --- actually I doubted this reasoning very much; if it's really the case, I won't have the acknowledgement receipt at all! What's more ridiculous was that the customer services officer asked me to go to the branch to open the account if I was in Hong Kong rather than applying it online!!! @_@

Okay, I went to the Central Main Building branch to apply for account opening this morning before start of work. So weird that I could see the staff (since I sat at an angle at which I could browse the LCD monitor) retrieving my online application submitted on 22 July when she tried to open an account; she even queried why I came to the branch to open it!!!

See, how "GOOD" the banking service was!

Weekly luncheon gathering

It's Wednesday and it's the day which I have weekly luncheon gathering with Florence ^,^ This time we had Step Restaurant. Dishes were a bit expensive as compared to others, but foods were good and the location was fine.

I shared with Florence about my weird thought, she got the same on mind before! We concluded that it's all due to one-man lunch rather than the job itself. Was it?

Carmen Au Yeung

Finally I could meet with Carmen Au Yeung! Terry as well. We had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant at a lane up the slope of Lan Kwai Fong. It's supposed that the topic should be around our individual funds portfolios managed by Terry, but it turned out that we kept on chatting about personal stuff and left no time for funds =P

Got something ad-hoc to work on today, I felt so happy about that --- at least it made me feel that I was doing some value-added tasks rather than just sitting and surfing!

Weird thoughts during lunch hour

Gotta have lunch alone again. Really feel bad about that, I hate having lunch alone; but the fact is if I wanna survive here, I would have to get accustomed to this culture.

Another stuff which I have to get used to is the working style. Everyday I just keep on waiting, waiting, waiting in the morning, then waiting, waiting, waiting in the afternoon. Wait for what? For completed deals by traders, and for confirmations from counterparties. Dealers won't consider spreading their deals throughout the day, they like to rush to input all deals at the last moment. If they do it the former way, my work could be evenly distributed throughout the day and, with my speedy working pace, I'd have them completed pretty soon and can go home early everyday. I won't have to wait, wait, wait for whole day for nothing, and then rush for completion of all work starting from evening. Maybe I'm used to the free working style as auditor. You'd be able to arrange your own tasks and time, and as long as you can complete stuffs on time, everything would be pretty fine. I hate waiting for nothing.

Hierarchy is a big problem as well. Just looking at simple thing as business cards printing, you would realize their hierarchical way of daily operations.

All these were concerns which popped up on my mind during my lonely lunch. Would I like to cope with them? Still don't know up to now. Let's observe for some more time.

《卵巢瘤》

摘自：電郵流傳

身體給你的微小提示，稍一不留意不加注意，便會十分危險。

《卵巢瘤》

甚麼人會有卵巢水瘤？
基本上每個自從開始有月經和排卵的女性，都有機會有卵巢水瘤，據我的主診醫生說，這是一種非常普遍的婦女病，成因不明。

患有卵巢水瘤有甚麼徵兆？
都沒有症狀，大到一定程度時，才會覺得腹漲，下腹痛等。
若當你並非月經期間，卻無緣無故感到下腹部持續疼痛和乳房脹痛時，應立即求醫，並做超聲波檢查。

卵巢水瘤怎樣形成？
卵巢水瘤的成因不明，但主要是賀爾蒙分泌不正常，大多起因於排卵不良造成液體堆積在卵巢上，水瘤會隨月經週期賀爾蒙分泌變化而變大。若內分泌正常，水瘤自然比較不會長大。

怎樣預防？
我找過兩個不同的醫生檢查，她們都表示卵巢水瘤的成因很多，但基本上，可得出：
1. 先天形成，由於排卵不良和賀爾蒙分泌不正常所致
2. 平時飲食刺激賀爾蒙不正常分泌
若果是先天的話，則很難避免，但不論是否先天的，後者很值得女士們注意，尤其要注意飲食。
我去檢查時，我的主診醫生非常嚴肅緊張鄭重地叫我千萬不要吃雞翼！！我非常驚訝，因為我曾不止一次收到朋友的Forward電郵說女性不要吃雞翼，我還一直以為是傳言，但現在出自西醫的口中，才不敢不信！！（死咩！我到診所那天，午飯還吃了三隻雞翼！！！）

後來，我請她詳細解釋卵巢水瘤的成因和為何不可食雞翼，她說現時香港的雞隻，大多為注射了激素的雞（打針雞），這些激素針都是注射在雞翼的位置，故尤其雞翼不能吃。若我們吃下激素，會直接影響我們的賀爾蒙分泌，也是為甚麼現時卵巢水瘤成為普遍婦女病的原因。隨後，她還給我一張戒口紙，有十多樣食品不能吃（那些食品，都是我平時常吃的呢！），我在檢查期間，醫生也向其他來求診的女人發一張戒口紙。

戒口紙
請各位女士注意，
FOOD TO BE AVOIDED避免吃以下食品：
海鮮類：蝦　蟹　蜆　三文魚
肉類：雞翼　燒鵝　叉燒　燒肉
蔬果類：荀　芒果　荔枝　榴槤　辣椒
煎炸食物　酒類
醃製食物（如咸魚、咸菜、梅菜、腐乳、臘腸等等）

卵巢水瘤有甚麼危險？
卵巢良性水瘤會隨月經週期賀爾蒙分泌變化而變大，大部份在月經來後自然會慢慢消退，就算完全消退也還是會有復發之可能性。當卵巢水瘤因為賀爾蒙分泌不正常一直長大會有破裂的危險，破裂的話會引致腹膜感染發炎或出血現象，甚致有生命危險。

如卵巢良性水瘤體積細小（直徑5cm以下），沒有破裂或扭轉，一般無大礙，可不用理會，否則需手術切除。女生要注意每年做婦科檢查，一般的卵巢水瘤，可到診所做超聲波檢查診斷到。超聲波可檢測到子宮、卵巢、腹部各器官有否生長腫瘤。

行山 ... 退步了 =(

幾經波折，我和郭婉汶終於在十一時廿分開始今天的行山之旅。天氣熱，為免中暑，我們走了大潭水塘的舊路。沿途遇上郭媽媽，我無端端變成了她「最小最小」的女兒，僅次於郭婉汶這「細女」 ... 哈哈 =P

連續幾個星期天都下大雨，沒有運動，覺得體格差了很多；以前輕輕鬆鬆走四十五分鐘必到山頂，今天快步走了一小時才到達，而且還要休息上好一會嘞 @_@ 結果在一時四十五分才走畢全程。是天氣熱，還是真的老了 ...

Woodstock

晚上九時三刻到達機場。今天是甚麼日子嘞，人山人海，好不熱鬧! 在顯示版下找了個座位，打開《An Introduction to Derivatives》繼續閱讀。 CX531 已經著陸了。沒多久，電話響了，蘇海明咕嚕咕嚕地說今天名古屋的所見所聞。真開心，我也想有機會向人家說旅行的種種，不過今年無望了 =(

蘇海明在 B 閘口出現，為了減輕負擔，迅即在機場把手信下卸。有世博的紀念品，羊羊和魚魚。還有陪同蘇海明去旅遊的 Woodstock 。 Woodstock 經常周遊列國，要不就在家睡，真幸福吖! 像現在， Woodstock 跟我乘東涌線回家，沿途又看了欣澳那新開張的地鐵站，回到家又立即睡覺，多寫意 ~,~

Douglas vs Kelvin

今天，忽然覺得某同事在言行舉止、聲音及心態上都和雷炳森很相似。幸好他叫 Kelvin ，不是叫 Douglas 。

美心車仔麵

中午，沒有約朋友吃午飯，也沒有和同事一起吃。天下大雨，不想動。看到某同事買了外賣麵，忽然想吃地鐵站美心的車仔麵。於是不打傘，冒著毛毛雨跑去買。

對上一次吃美心車仔麵，是在 PwC 的時候。那時售廿元的車仔麵套餐，至今只漲價到廿一元，通漲真的不嚴重吖! 回到公司，邊吃車仔麵邊上網。不竟，當人不想動、不想說話的時候，電腦就是消磨時候的最好伙伴。這樣，感覺上就不是一個人在吃，而是兩個「人」一起吃 ... 很笨，對嗎? =P

弟弟生日快樂 ^o^

準午夜十二時，我和弟弟握手，並用誠懇的眼神對他說：「陳俊發，生日快樂!」
弟弟緊緊地反握我的手，然後用感激的眼神回應：「多謝!」
跟著，我非常認真地說：「依家你已經成為老餅嘞 ... 呵呵呵 ...」
弟弟亦很認真地答：「You asshole!」

附註："You asshole"，奇洛李維斯在《魔間行者》(《Constantine》) 的名句，弟弟近期把那隻 DVD 看了又看，以彌補《創世紀》大結局後的空虛。

Miso

Had dinner with Emily, Clara and FK in a Japanese restaurant named Miso, located at the basement of Jardine House. Food quality was fine except for the incompletely unfrozen Salmon Sashimi.

With me and Emily as examples, Clara kicked off her job search this evening. FK was working hard on it as well, and she'd resign from her current position next week no matter she'd have secured an offer by then or not. Seemed that everyone was determined to have some stimulation on career development. To certain extent, I support this type of moves since it's the way to improve oneself especially when one is still young. The greatest asset we still hold is youth. Probably, you won't have courage to seek changes and won't be dare to bear the risk of failure after your mid 30s or 40s. I just don't wanna be the one who kept grumbling in the future of not trying this and that when I was young.

Lunch with Tao

It's one year since last time I've lunch with Tao. Tao didn't change much, still a kind and caring girl living her life with great enthusiasm and ambitions.

We went to Lan Fong Yuen to have the famous stirred noodles for lunch. Kept chatting all the way and felt so great. She's working in the last attaching department for her MT programme with HSBC, and was pondering whether to stay or leave. Here in HSBC her interests were fulfilled with rewarding feedback and tremendous satisfaction. On the other hand, the stringent hierarchy hindered her room of creativity, and the blooming market was tempting. It turned out to be a dilemma, but there's still time before she has to make the final decision. Anyway, I knew Tao would be able to catch the best opportunity for her =)

There're always pros and cons for everything, with no absolute right and wrong answer. What we did in most instances was to take the apparently best choice available. No matter what to pick, just head for it with no regret. After all, the most terrible thing was feeling regretted for what have been chosen and kept complaining, wasting the whole life in rosary dream of having alternative route being selected.

Mountain Fuji

It's now HKT 01.18, corresponding to JPT 02.18. Ming should have started his trail climbing up Mountain Fuji, and would probably reach the top by JPT04.00 – 04.30 to witness the first light of sunrise over there.

I wish so much that I'd be there too *_*

和郭婉汶到餃子園

心血來潮，約了郭婉汶到餃子園吃午飯。這是我最喜愛的午餐食市之一，幸好她也欣賞這裡的食物。

自從沒有放工後的高茶聚，很久沒有和郭婉汶見面了。不過以後可以改作午餐聚，因為我們已經約定以後逢星期三一起吃午餐嘞 =)

So far so good

Started to have a clearer picture on my daily work. In short, tasks were not difficult but tiresome to handle. Frequent communication with counterparties would be required.

Got some tasks from Trevor today, and luckily nil from Jeffery and Simon. To certain extent, I'd like to work for Trevor since every time you'd be able to learn something from him. It didn't mean that the other 2 were bad, only that they've different style of coaching. Like for today, Trevor started to pass a counterparty to me. He quoted an example of previous correspondence so that I could draft mine on my own. He didn't expect me obtaining his approval before dispatching the mail to counterparty, though I finally sought for his proof-reading on my draft as I needed high assurance for my first correspondence to an external party. I'll have to hold responsibilities for that. Hope that it'd be smooth. Hope that everyday would be a better day.

"Normal" working day

Today is the first "normal" working day --- the 2-week daily 1.5 hours training was completed last Friday. Back to office at 9.30am and set up my new seat. They've changed the sitting plan a bit so that people in the same team could have seats closer together; and finally I got my fixed line telephone set ... haha ... so happy with it =P

Fooling around for the whole morning, only performed some test cases for UAT. Got a fresh graduate reporting duty today, she's from CU QFN! What's more, she was once a QFIN cabinet member! Cool, though I've already graduated by the time she joined CU, still feeling happy to meet someone from the school with similar backgrounds =)

On the other hand, my future direct "boss" --- a new manager who would take up my line and some other lines --- reported duty this morning as well. He's busy picking up stuffs whole day long. Didn't know if he'd be nice and helpful; the only thing I knew upto now was that I'll have to report to 3 managers in near future ...

Work came in the afternoon, but still, not much to handle since I'm a freshman with reduced workload; anyway I saw others were working pretty hard and late. I'd better grasp every chance to learn at this initial stage.

Starbucks coupons

和蘇海明到尖沙咀剪髮，順便到 Starbucks 買 gift coupons 。今天才知道 Starbucks 是有 coupons 的，還附送信封，每張 HKD25 ，就是一杯咖啡的價錢。買禮劵來幹嘛? 因為明天是他的 last day ，禮劵是要放到正在內地工作的同事的 locker 裡，代替「散水餅」送給他們。

怎麼我以前想不到這種方法嘞? @,@

Disorder

The computer disconnected from internet for more than 10 times tonight, automatically reboots for 5 times and shutted itself down for 3 times. Do you think there's some problems with it?

Emily's offer

Emily got the offer from Morgan Stanley! Despite the junior grade, pay was fine and much better than her current ones. Sort of shocks to her for being offered the position, she kept on yelling whether it's a dream and would the offer be vanished on Monday ... haha ... so silly =P For me, it's a good news as I would be able to have lunch with her as she'll be located at Central! Maybe we could dine out as well since her off hours would be similar to mine ... haha =)

Set off with Emily and Carrie and headed to Mongkok for dinner with PwC girls. Angel was there when we arrived. Seemed that she has totally got used to the IA work in Science and Technology Park, and also the early off time =P We're all too hungry and couldn't wait to order some appetizers before others came. When we finished with the first round, Monitress Samantha, Christine and Kathy arrived. Seeing Kathy wearing her old glasses but not contact lens, you'd know she's working hard for her AS Watson assignment again! #_#

Nice dinner and nice chat, I was fond of the lively atmosphere. Hope that I could off earlier in future to continue joining weekday dinners with others *,*

SDG

Some of the SDG people went out for lunch with we new comers on L28 this afternoon. Seemed that they're all kind and funny people. Anyway, we all behaved "properly", and that why they said we're "bored" ... haha =P

Day passed as usual. Got involved in part of the UAT, but it's not difficult at all. They would re-arrange the floor plan tomorrow, so I got my stuffs (actually not many) packed and left at 7.25pm ... wahaha *,*

Honeymoon period

Had lunch with fresh gradates G and KI today. Compared with K, they acted much more sensible. Was I too mean to K? @_@ but K still kept on mentioning about PwC even when he was learning how to use Lotus Notes and view group telephone directories; he even said I should be regretful of leaving PwC or else I'd be a manager there by next year ... blah blah blah ... really felt suffocated #_#

Off at 7.45pm today, hurray! Others said it's the honeymoon period, and we should enjoy it when we still could ... is it?

Miranda Shek

Met Miranda, one of the committee members of succeeding CUSA cabinet, inside the female lavatory on Monday afternoon, and arranged to have lunch with her today. Really funny to meet someone whom you didn't see for 4 years inside the lavatory of office, isn't it?

She worked in the same department and same section with me, but under different team. Actually if she didn't mention where her seat was, I would never notify her since I didn't actually walk pass that corner. We caught up with each other about updates of our own cabinet members. Seemed like her cabinet was still sticking to external audit, while most of my cabinet members had left the field already. No wonder, we're a year older than them =P

Didn't have much things to work on today (actually NEVER had things to work on upto this moment =P), so I decided to complete all those mandatory online training sessions by the end of the day. Those fresh graduates said tests attached with those trainings were difficult, that's why I placed extra attention to the course contents. Anyway, they're just some basic concepts on compliance and occupational safety issues, so it turned out that I could luckily get a pass by working on them once. Good, then I didn't have to go on with those materials again =P

Still stuck to reading those ISDA definitions, but decided to leave at 8pm finally. Let's work on it again tomorrow.

Lonely Lunch

Nobody went out for lunch with me this afternoon =( Felt really upset about that. Got used to have lunch with a big group of people in my previous jobs. Seemed that it's not the culture here.

Went to "Dumpling Garden" to have dumpling noodles alone. It's one of my favourite places for lunch, though a bit far away (near the Centre). After having a bowl of delicious dumpling noodles, started to wander around before going back to office. I enjoyed the time walking under sunshine out of office; it'd be even better if the temperature was not that crazily high.

Kept sweating when I was back to office. Right at this moment, fresh graduate K was back from lunch. He kept on asking question about PwC, saying that he just had lunch with a PwCer working in the tax department who knew me (but whom I didn't know and couldn't even recall her name or face at all @_@). Seemed like he couldn't stop having PwC spinning around his brain everyday, and, as a listener, I was really annoyed. He even browsed JobsDB webpage in office! Quite naïve indeed even he's a fresh graduate (Well, to be more accurate, a graduate with Physics bachelor degree and master degree in Finance). Hope that the situation would improve later on.

Obtained some coaching from Trevor and Jeffery this afternoon, and started to do checking work on a piece of confirmation. They used to call it as "Confo". Other than that, I kept on reading FIM and some ISDA definitions. Off at 8.15pm. Would the off time move earlier and earlier each day? =P

My First Day with HSBC

1. Didn't put on any make-up. If the HR manager didn't ask me to dress in suit for staff card photo-taking on the first day, I wouldn't bother to wear my old suit in such a hot summer day at all >_< "

2. Gotta wake up at 6.30am and arrive at HR Department at Olympic at 8.30am. Super tired!!! That's why I got onto the MTR heading for wrong direction at Lai King @_@

3. Arrived at Central by 9.45am something. Same as last time, waited at the reception area on L15. Met Trevor the Line Manager after several minutes. What's different from last time was, he said "Myra, welcome to HSBC."

4. After a brief introduction by Trevor, I realized that I'll be working on something which I was totally fresh, something which haven't been developed in reality when we're studying finance in University --- Credit Derivatives.

5. Knew that I've missed 6 days training. If I learnt about the training beforehand, I'd rather leave ICBCA earlier to join.

6. Had lunch with Trevor on L28. HKD34 for full set of buffet lunch! Crazy!!! Anyway, I had neither HSBC credit card nor L28 messing card, so Trevor gave a treat this time =P

7. Reading FIM whole day long, felt so sleepy especially after lunch.

8. Finally got passwords for computer access by 5pm something. So many e-mails already!

9. One of the fresh graduate K who will work in the same team with me kept on asking stuffs about PwC, salaries, way to join Big 4, etc ... felt a bit annoyed indeed -_-"

10. Trevor finally squeezed some time by 7pm something or 8pm to have a talk to me and K about credit default swap. It's completed by 8.45pm which marked the end of my first day work here!

蘇婕大王

為恭迎蘇婕大王自美國回港避暑，一眾莊員今天下午到糖街的 Neway CEO 莊聚。除了在日本的陳普建和在家待產的郭麗珊以外，大家都到齊了，大王的「吸引力」真是沒法擋 >,< !! 蘇婕大王貴人事忙，今天為了不爽我們的約而把工作延後到黃昏才做；眾莊員齊在大王離開時到門口扮演官差唸著「威 ... 武 ...」，以答謝王恩浩蕩 ... 哈哈哈 =P

再說蘇婕大王，自放洋後，衣著就變得暴露，今天亦以低胸 V 領長裙示人。據報，大王在哈佛，隔天就出席晚間派對，夜夜笙歌；難道不用做功課嗎? 噢，正是。為什麼大王的課程這麼閒，而陳普建的則這樣緊? 其實同是 MBA 課程嘞 ... 只好說 --- 世界是不公平的吖 ~

Snoopy Award

昨晚開了一個 PPS 戶口，得來一本免費的《Milk》雜誌。其實只要是十五元以下的雜誌都可以換，不過蘇海明指定要這一本嘞 -_-"

今期雜誌的內容提及美國太空總署的載人太空船升空計劃。原來 NASA 設有 Snoopy Award ，每年只頒發給署內 1% 的基層員工，以表揚他們在工作上的卓越表現。另外，據有一張相片所示，有一位小姐抱著一個大大的 Snoopy 公仔，即將進入太空艙的太空人用手摸 Snoopy 的鼻；我想那該是一種叨好運的舉動罷!

嘩， Snoopy ，你好不厲害!!! *,*

Dinner at Langham Place

After attending the convocation of HKICS, I and Emily headed to Mongkok immediately. It's the place suggested by Mr Lui Ping Sum and we supposed that he should be waiting us over there; but the fact was --- he went watching movie alone without giving us any advance notice >_< Anyway, I and Emily went ahead with our dinner at Langham Place at 9pm something when we're still not able to locate Mr Lui (though I guessed he might have gone watching movie). Just had some ordinary dishes in a Taiwanese restaurant, nice talk, nice food, nice drink. Mr Lui called back at 10pm and came to Langham from Yamatei on foot. We teased him on all aspects --- he deserved it!!! ~,~

Last Day with ICBCA

Thanks Edmond our department head for treating all of us lunch at his favourite “Po Wu” (though he was forced by me to give a treat actually =P). Thanks Angus and Rita for helping me to take those Cova cakes and Godiva chocolates back to office during lunch hour. Thanks all IAD colleagues in office and guests from other departments for coming to 34/F pantry to share cakes with me. Thanks and Goodbye, ICBCA!

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye! [Sunny]

"So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye!"

These are lyrics from one of my favourite musicals "The Sound of Music", which serve best to describe my present feeling on my last day with ICBC (Asia).

Even though my time here was short (exactly 22 months by today!), it has been a fruitful and pleasurable experience. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those whom I've worked with, particularly my dear teammates in IAD, and our Department Head, for giving tremendous guidance and supports during my stay.

Please keep in touch with me at myra@alumni.cuhk.net. May I express my sincere wishes for good luck on all of you, and for the continued success of ICBC (Asia) in future!

Best Regards,
Myra Chan

收拾細軟

有些同事明天要出 job ，於是今天開始拍照了。現在才想起，我早該開始拍照，因為有些同事這兩天都不在 office 嘞 @_@

放了很多東西在辦公室，明天放工後又不能立即回家，唯有今天便要收拾細軟 ... 一個大紙袋給擠得滿滿的，幸好紙袋繩子長可單邊背在肩膀上，不然要我只用雙手拿著回家，一定痛極了 >_< "

回到家，開電腦，看了一些東西，和老朋友們非常「認真」地討論了一些東西，大家一起笑了。好像差勁了一點 ... =P

賺外快

先前去配眼鏡，給抽籤成為市場調查的被訪者之一，有五百大元作報酬。起初還怕是推銷手法或騙局，不過經過聰明謹慎的我明查暗訪後，證實沒有問題，於是便應允對方的邀請，今天去出席座談會。

座談會在高登的辦公室進行，有八個被訪者和三個市場調查人員，整個過程都給拍攝下來，好像很專業的。席間只需要就調查人員的問題輪流發表意見，「吹吹水」就成了，而且還有肯德基家鄉雞晚餐供應，安排挺不錯吖!

結果，用了兩個多小時成功撈到五百元「外快」，真好運。好，就用這筆錢在 last day 買「散水餅」給同事吃 =P

秘密的自助晚餐

中午很忙，要到銀行替媽媽辦事，要幫蘇海明買旅遊保險、到上環「牛記」兌換日圓，買同事買 gift cheques … 嘩，到處跑，很熱吖 @_@

今晚，部份同事請我到銅鑼灣 Park Lane Hotel 吃自助晚餐，除了現在還在公司的同事外，還有三個在去年辭職離開了的同事也有出席，很開心吖 *,*

其實先前也留意到這家自助餐餐廳，只是不知道它是屬於 Park Lane 的。食物也挺不錯，將來可以再試 =P

最後的高茶聚

放工，替蘇海明到連卡佛大廈取了機票後，便到對面的麥當奴出席我、郭婉汶和周嘉怡最後一次的高茶聚。日後，我不可以在下午五時半放工；周嘉怡跑到九龍灣去工作；剩下同在中環但準時放工的郭婉汶，唯有自彈自飲了 ...

香港公園的午餐

中午有 Compliance and Legal Department 的前度 auditee 請吃飯，到了香港公園中央那間餐廳。一看餐牌，連最簡單的 Set lunch 也要港幣一百零八大元 + 加一，實在有點不好意思，因為我其實和這個 auditee 不是太熟絡嘞 ... =P

《頭文字 D》

今天看《頭文字 D》。有了前一天看《War of the Worlds》的經驗，也不敢對電影有太高的期望嘞! 沒有抱希望地進場，倒覺得電影挺好看，情節和漫畫頗相近。黃秋生飾演的藤原文太很出色，影帝的演技，果然是不同凡響。

大王駕到

晚上，收到蘇婕的電話，行跡鬼秘的大王終於現身嘞! 她說，在回港以後的兩個月，她花了一個月到東南亞旅遊，另一個月則開始在 Goldman Sachs 的暑期工。先前不找我們，因為她的工作完全令她預算不到自己的時間，使她成為名副其實的「飛機王」。往後的八個星期，她仍處於「放飛機」的高峰期，且看她能否如時出席下星期的莊聚。

和蘇婕越說越興奮，突然想起她回哈佛前應該和郭麗珊即將出世的 BB 仔有一面之緣，於是慫恿她打造一條金錬給小寶寶、訂一個王冠給自己，即時換來連番責罵 ... 嘩哈哈 *,*

築地銀だこ

和蘇海明到旺角，給我們發現了一家新開張的燒墨魚丸店「築地銀だこ」。一看到用來盛燒墨魚丸的那條「船」，就讓我想起涉谷那一家燒墨魚丸店。買了六粒裝的「小舟」套餐，和蘇海明一起品嚐。這是迄今在香港吃到最美味的燒墨魚丸，不過還是不及涉谷那家。我記得，涉谷那家的，丟到桌上會彈彈跳；這家的，皮是脆卻因有點過熟而變硬，彈不起來了。

《War of the Worlds》

和蘇海明看《War of the Worlds》，得來滿腦子的疑問：為什麼電影的譯名是《強戰世界》? 為什麼這片子的主角毫無英雄特質? 為什麼主角偷來的車可以開動而其他所有車都不能? 為什麼主角的女兒只懂尖叫? 為什麼外星人要用人血為樹施肥? 為什麼主角的兒子這麼怨怒? 為什麼主角的兒子還可以生存著? 為什麼外星人是三隻手指而外星人的攻擊座駕是三隻腳? 為什麼外星人+攻擊座駕會像樹一樣枯萎而死? 為什麼主角前妻在波士頓的娘家絲毫無損而周遭卻頹垣敗瓦? 為什麼 ...

點解吖 @_@